The People's Princess was a radio play written by Shelagh Stephenson

Shelagh Stephenson

Shelagh Stephenson is a playwright, born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. Her stage plays include The Memory of Water , An Experiment with an Air Pump, Ancient Lights, Five Kinds of Silence and Mappa Mundi...

. Directed in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 by Eoin O'Callaghan, it premiered as the Afternoon Play

Afternoon Play

The Afternoon Play is a long-running drama programming strand, broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm on BBC Radio 4. Each play lasts for 45 minutes, and roughly 190 new Afternoon Plays are broadcast each year....

 on 11 December 2008 at 2.15pm on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

. It was based around the marriage and divorce of George IV

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

 and Caroline of Brunswick

Caroline of Brunswick

Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was the Queen consort of King George IV of the United Kingdom from 29 January 1820 until her death...

. As the title suggests, it drew parallels with the marriage and divorce of Prince Charles

Charles, Prince of Wales

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

 and Diana

Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...

, such as Caroline and Diana's popularity among the British working classes, Charles and George's unpopularity during their divorce proceedings, the fickleness of such popularity or unpopularity, Caroline and Diana's use by anti-monarchical figures for their own ends, and the power of the press.

Cast

• George IV - Alex Jennings
  Alex Jennings
  Alex Jennings is an English actor whose roles have included Charles, Prince of Wales in The Queen .-Early years:...
  
  
• Caroline of Brunswick - Rebecca Saire
  Rebecca Saire
  Rebecca Saire is a British actress and writer who achieved early notability when, at the age of fourteen, she played Juliet for the BBC Television Shakespeare series.- Personal life :...
  
  
• Henry Brougham
  Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
  Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux was a British statesman who became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.As a young lawyer in Scotland Brougham helped to found the Edinburgh Review in 1802 and contributed many articles to it. He went to London, and was called to the English bar in...
  
   - Julian Rhind Tutt
• Lord Sidmouth
  Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
  Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804....
  
   - Chris McHallem
• Lord Liverpool
  Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
  Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool KG PC was a British politician and the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since the Union with Ireland in 1801. He was 42 years old when he became premier in 1812 which made him younger than all of his successors to date...
  
   - Richard Howard
  Richard Howard (actor)
  Richard Howard is a British actor.His father was a civil servant and he attended a preparatory school and Haberdashers' Aske's School...
  
  
• Sir Robert Gifford
  Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford
  Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford was a British lawyer, judge and politician.Gifford was elected to the House of Commons for Eye in 1817, a seat he represented until 1824, and served under the Earl of Liverpool as Solicitor General between 1817 and 1819 and as Attorney General between 1819 and 1824...
  
   - Mark Lambert
  Mark Lambert (actor)
  Mark Lambert is an American film, television and theatre actor; he is also a singer.-Early life:He was born Mark Luebke and grew up in San Jose, California, where he graduated from Oak Grove High School in 1970.-Career:...
  
  
• Lady Jersey
  Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey
  Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey was one of the more notorious of the many mistresses of King George IV when he was Prince of Wales, "a scintillating society woman, a heady mix of charm, beauty, and sarcasm".-Early life:She was born Frances Twysden, second and posthumous daughter of the Rev...
  
   - Jill Cardo
• Mr Majoucci
  Theodore Majocci
  Theodore Majocchi was an Italian servant to Caroline, Princess of Wales, the wife of George, Prince of Wales. George was the heir of King George III of the United Kingdom. After the death of George III in 1820, Prince George became King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, as George IV. Caroline...
  
   - Nial Cusack

Offstage characters include the Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...

, Caroline's dead daughter Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales

Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales

Princess Charlotte of Wales was the only child of George, Prince of Wales and Caroline of Brunswick...

, William Wood

William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley

William Page Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley PC, QC was a British lawyer and statesman who served as a Liberal Lord Chancellor between 1868 and 1872 in William Ewart Gladstone's first ministry.-Background and education:...

, William Cobbett

William Cobbett

William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...

and Caroline's lover Mr Pergami.