Word: guilford
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...February 12th, 1554, 16-year-old Lady Jane Grey and her husband, 19-year-old Lord Guilford Dudley were executed for treason at the Tower of London. Innocent pawns in a plot engineered by the influential Duke of Northumberland to alter the plan of royal succession as drawn up by the late King Henry VIII, the two young nobles were imprisoned by the allegedly rightful heir Queen Mary after a nine-day period during which Jane ruled England as Queen...
Suspense comes with the underhanded, dastardly intrigues of Lord Guilford's father, the historically in famous Duke of Northumberland. The controlling force behind the during the latter portion of Edward VI's reign, it was Northumberland's lust for power that prompted him to arrange the marriage between his rather impish Beau-Brummel-of-a-son and the potential inheritress Jane, then fourth in line for the throne...
CARY ELWES as Northumberland's wayward son, Guilford, is solely responsible for the film's comedic angle. A frequent client at all of greater London's bars, bawdy houses, and brothels, the unscrupulous Guilford would seem the least likely martimonial candidate for the solemn and studious Jane. Thanks to the wry wit of screenwriter Edgar, Guilford is never at a loss for words. Countering his nervous bride-to-be's request that they live "as cousins," Guilford tells her that when he was informed of the marriage he was "sampling the pleasures of a certain lady of the evening...
There is more to Guilford than meets the eye, however, as Elwes is careful to point out in his interpretation of the character. Removed to the solitude of a country priory after his marriage to Jane, his formerly Falstaffian antics are revealed as a cover for his profound discontentedness at the current state of affairs in the country. His emotional grasp of the politico-economic situation complements Jane's intellectual ponderings--they are, as Guilford later points out, "two sides of the same coin...
Their intellectual union presupposes a physical one, the consummation of their love is possible only after they discover themselves to be politically compatible. This "coming together" is one of the film's most charming scenes, with Guilford asking Jane to outline her religious beliefs as he surreptitiously moves closer to her on their bed, tossing aside the book of Platonic theory that had been holding the bride's attention before he entered the room...