Gertrude of Flanders

Gertrude of Flanders is a fictional character in the popular BBC sitcom Blackadder (series 1). She was played by Elspet Gray.

In the series, she is the Queen of Flanders in her own right and the wife of King Richard of England and Scotland and mother of Princes Harry and Edmund.

In attitude, Gertrude mainly seems to be rather distant and absent-minded. She once had an affair with a Scottish laird, which may have resulted in Edmund's birth. Even Gertrude doesn't seem entirely sure who his father was.

She appears mainly to give Edmund unwanted advice and embarrass him. In the first episode, "The Foretelling", when Edmund asks her not to tell anybody he overslept and missed part of the battle of Bosworth Field, she reveals her husband has small private parts, and Harry is afraid of spoons. In 'The Archbishop' she flicks Edmund's large phallic codpiece and reveals that she smacked Edmund's bottom the previous week. In the episode "The Witchsmeller Pursuivant", it is revealed that she is in fact a kind-hearted witch and uses her secret powers of witchcraft to save Edmund from being burned at the stake. When Edmund pleaded with her to use whatever power she had to save him, she claimed that she had not had any power for years but her magic is resurfaced in order to save Edmund. When her 11-year-old daughter-in-law Leia is about to tell the King that Edmund is going to die, Gertrude silences her and assures her husband that she has "sorted it all out". She then breaks the fourth wall by winking at the audience and a sparkle of stars fly from her eyes.

She dies in the final episode, "The Black Seal", along with the rest of the royal family, by accidentally drinking poisoned wine.

External links

• The Queen at the Internet Movie Database