Edward II
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Of all the British monarchs – and there have been a LOT – Edward II is the best known to the LGBTTQ community.
Edward and his Piers having a laugh, painted in 1872 by Marcus Stone.
Edward’s devotion to his favourites was a major factor in causing political unrest during the early part of the 14th century and his “excessive, immoderate, beyond measure and reason” obsession with Gascon knight Piers Gaveston was notorious. Whether their relationship was a sexual one can only be conjectured. Learned historians shy away from the idea and hum and haw and say there is no evidence and that the relationship might have been one of ‘adoptive brotherhood’. I say that we can make up our own minds. Christopher Marlowe, playwright contemporary of Shakespeare, obviously thought there was more to the relationship than being jolly god pals. His play about Edward and Piers is one of the first on stage depictions of a same sex relationship.
Music and poetry is his delight;
Therefore I’ll have Italian masques by night,
Sweet speeches, comedies, and pleasing shows;
And in the day, when he shall walk abroad,
Like sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad;
My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat-feet dance an antic hay.
Sometime a lovely boy in Dian’s shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,
And in his sportful hands an olive tree
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring; and there, hard by,
One like Actaeon, peeping through the grove,
Shall by the angry goddess be transformed,
And running in the likeness of a hart
By yelping hounds pulled down and seem to die.
Such things as these best please his majesty. (I.i.53-70)
The play, a tragedy, was written in the 1590s and continued to be played until the Civil War put an end to the theatre. It was revived in the 20th century and many well known actors, including Sir Ian Mackellern, have played in it and Derek Jarman adapted the play for the silver screen. [There are dutch subtitles for anyone who needs them :)]
Edward cetainly wasn’t the only English king to have been gay – William Rufus, Richard I and possibly II, James I [and VI of Scotland], Charles I, reputedly Charles Edward Stuart – but is definitely the one that has had the most attention.
Elin Gregory 
Poor Eddie. What a horrible, agonising death he suffered. They say you could hear his screams in the village near the castle. Love the BBC poster. Wasn’t Sir Ian a good looking guy. I had a bit of a crush on him when he was younger. 😉 Great post as usual, Elin.
I’ve got a copy of Macbeth with Ian MacKellern, Judy Dench and Peter Woodvine – Wow! Just – wow!
I saw a wonderful production by the Red Bull Theater company in NYC a few years ago. I was lured by Ellen Kushner’s review mentioning “tall skinny naked boys kissing” but came out of it thinking “I’d forgotten how much I love heightened language plays.”
Long ago, I had a role-playing character whose gay subtext in th source material I decided to make text, and I named his partner Gaveston.
I sort of miss role playing – or rather I miss the character I role played. He was a sweetheart.
I enjoy Shakespeare on stage but have never seen any Marlowe.
I’m serious, get hold of the recent Doctor Faustus. I forget whether it was New Globe or RSC or what, but “Arthur Darvill” should turn it up. (I was lucky. A friend livestreamed it for me.) I’d never seen it before, but I loved it.
For his sake I hope he was strangled in the Berkeley castle and didn’t suffer the horrible death as rumors say. Though everything is possible given how his latter favorite was treated.
Ninja minion checking in. I hope you are enjoying the challenge! 🙂
Thanks Ciara. It’s more fun than I thought it would be. Thanks for checking in.
I was really enjoying reading this, and I then I had a frightening thought about just how biased all my history classes have been that I never realized any of those monarchs were/might have been gay. I suppose that part was conveniently left out. It makes me want to go do a lot of research for myself. Thanks for a great post, Elin.
I remember how shocked I was on seeing The Lion in Winter and how they depicted the relationship between Richard and King Phillip of France. Just like you I thought “they didn’t mention this in school”. The film was made in 1968 JUST as homosexuality was legalised in the UK and very racy for the time. I wish I could find a video of the clip because it was a beautifully constructed scene
Philip: (shouting now) And what else?
Richard: I never wrote because I thought you’d never answer.
Philip: You got married.
Richard: Does that make a difference?
Philip: Doesn’t it?
Richard: I’ve spent two years on every street in hell.
Philip: That’s odd. I never saw you there.
MY HEART. IT CANNOT STAND IT.
(or did you mean the heartbreaking “It wasn’t like that!” later in the film?)
(yes, I know this movie well, and adore it, and quote it a lot)
“Every family has its ups and downs” – absolutely brilliant script.
The whole Richard and Philip situation makes me whimper, both for them and all the others through history who didn’t dare touch each other or exchange a kind glance in public.
I should really get into Marlowe. I bet his plays are chock full of footnotes and goodness.
I haven’t read any of them, just remembered about Ed II, but I bet you’re right. Just in the snippet up there there’s ‘hard by’ and ‘seem to die’. I guess a lot depends on the reading.
Better performed than read, like all plays! See if you can get your hands on recent production of “Doctor Faustus” with Arthur Darvill as Mephistopheles. BRILLIANT. (And slashy as anything…)
I really like your posts. I am now following your blog.
Denise at Organization and Inspiration for Fellow Writers, participant of A to Z Blogging Challenge