Royal Pantomime 2005

[BeatrixFan]

For those of you who don't know, a popular festive occurance here in merry England is Pantomime. They are fairy tales which are played out to audiences of screaming children and adults acting silly. There's usually a Dame (played by a man in outrageous outfits), a Principal Boy (played by a Girl), a Pretty Princess, an Evil Character, a Fairy Godmother etc. This sort of gets me to thinking - if the Royal Houses held a vast panto - who would play who?

All chip in your casting suggestions for our first Panto : CINDERELLA

Cinderella - Princess Madeleine of Sweden
Prince Charming - Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
The Fairy Godmother - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
The Wicked Stepmother (Baroness Hardup) - Queen Sonja of Norway*
Griselda and Gertrude (The Ugly Sisters) King Juan Carlos of Spain and King Constantine of the Hellenes
The King - King Carl Gustav of Sweden
Buttons - Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

*Queen Sonja isn't wicked I know, but imagine her playing a Wicked Stepmother - I think she'd play a good badee because she's so lovely!

Story

Cinderella, played by the lovely Princess Madeleine of Sweden, is kept downstairs sweeping, cooking and cleaning at the beck and call of her wicked stepmother, played by the glamorous Queen Sonja of Norway. She has only one friend, Buttons, played by Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. As if Cinderella didn't have enough to worry about, she has two evil ugly stepsisters - Griselda and Gertrude, played by King Juan Carlos and King Constantine who make their first entrances dressed as wedding cakes. When she's alone, Cinderella wishes to go to the King's Ball - the aim of which is to find a wife for his son, the Prince Charming (played by Crown Princess Victoria). Suddenly, her Fairy Godmother (Queen Beatrix in fabulous fairy wings and glitter) appears and turns a pumpkin into a carriage and buttons into the pony to pull the carriage - she goes to the ball, dances with Prince Charming and with the jolly King's (Carl Gustav) permission, they marry. The Wicked Stepmother is sent to prison but the King call falls in love with her and they marry and she sees the error of her ways. As for the Ugly Sisters, they become Ladies-in-Waiting to Princess Cinderella and generally enjoy being over-the-top fashion wise!

The End

[JohnnyB]

I believe that Queen Elizabeth II played Aladdin in a royal panto in the 1930s.