Tuesday, April 27, 2010

HENRY XII: SOME TIDDLEYWINKS & A BIT O' WISH-CRAFT

Another curio from the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Beast Below"......

Before revealing herself to be the Queen on board the Spaceship UK, "Liz 10" told the Doctor how she knew about him from his involvement with past members of her family:

"The Doctor: Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz Two… Vicky was a bit on the fence with you, wasn’t she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day! And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"

We've seen his involvement with Queen Victoria and he mentioned how he married Queen Elizabeth the First to Sigma Ood. As for Queen Elizabeth the Second, it's an easy assumption since she seemed familiar with him when he saved Buckingham Palace from the crash of the starship Titanic.

But like Elizabeth the Tenth, Henry the Twelfth is from sometime in the future of Toobworld. I'm hoping that we'll see his story told someday on the show.

However, it could be that Liz 10 was referring to somebody from her family's past....

From Wikipedia:
Henry the Lion (German: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180.

He was one of the most powerful German princes of his time, until the rival Hohenstaufen dynasty succeeded in isolating him and eventually deprived him of his duchies of Bavaria and Saxony during the reign of his cousin Frederick I and of Frederick's son and successor Henry VI.

At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coast of the North and Baltic Seas to the Alps, and from Westphalia to Pomerania.

In 1168 Henry married Matilda (1156 -1189), the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister of Richard Lionheart.

He was exiled from Germany in 1182 for three years, stayed with his father-in-law, Henry II of England, in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany in 1185. He was exiled again in 1188. His wife Matilda died in 1189.


So Henry the XII referred to by Liz 10 might not have been a British monarch at all, but instead a German prince who was an in-law.....

Personally I'm still hoping it's somebody from the future. And as a bit o' Wish-Craft, I'd even sacrifice one of my suggestions for casting a future Doctor to play the role: James Buckley, better known to you Wankers as Jay from 'The Inbetweeners'. I think it would be perfect - Buckley and Matt Smith are close in age, with Buckley only four years younger. I could see him being one of those "boy-kings", reckless and immature, and out for a good time, with the Doctor tagging along at some point to keep him out of trouble. And it could take place in one of those near-futures, maybe from around the era of 'Star Trek', so that they'd still be on Earth but everything would feel... well, futuristic. Or here's another casting suggestion: Bradley James. Same arguments in his defense as those raised for James Buckley, with the added benefit that it might suggest a genetic link all the way back to King Arthur of the 'Camelot legends (as seen in 'Merlin'). Toobworld Central has already decreed that 'Merlin' takes place in an alternate TV dimension, but there's nothing that says Arthur Pendragon of the main Toobworld didn't look like that as a young man.....

That would be my hope anyway.....

BCnU!

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