| Prince Ludwig the Indestructible | |
|---|---|
| Blackadder character | |
| Portrayed by | Hugh Laurie |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Prince, con artist, master of disguise, evil genius, barmaid, stable boy, sheep, queen of england |
| Nationality | German |
Prince Ludwig the Indestructible is a fictional character played by Hugh Laurie in the BBC sitcom Blackadder II. He appears in "Chains", the final episode of Blackadder II, as a German master of disguise who kidnaps Lord Blackadder and Lord Melchett, in 1566 and imprisons them in his dungeon under the watch of German guards and a Spanish inquisitorial co-conspirator. From a real-world point of view, this is part of Hugh Laurie's continuous set of appearances in Blackadder, but the last of those in which he is only credited as a guest actor.
While Prince Ludwig does not appear nor get a mention in previous episodes, he claims to have encountered both Blackadder and Melchett many times in the past. Because of his mastery at concealing himself, he claims to do: "...a vewy good Mawy, Qween of Scotth". On meeting Blackadder, he claims to have been disguised as "Big Sally", a barmaid Blackadder knew at a pub in Dover called The Old Pizzle he once frequented. It is revealed that Blackadder went to bed with Big Sally but was too drunk to perform. After some teasing by Ludwig, Blackadder responds that his best disguise is in fact the one he is doing now, "the fat-headed German chamberpot standing in front of me".
Due to the year in which the episode took place, it is possible that Ludwig is a fictional son of Maximilian II.
He further claims to have met Melchett when diguised as a Cornish sheep called Flossie, and it is suggested that Melchett had a sexual relationship with that sheep. He also claims to have worked as a stable boy in the English court during the Queen's childhood, and held the horse that she used to "...kithth and fondle in the thtable yard". Later, in exchange for commuting their death sentences to a life in prison, Blackadder and Melchett tell the Prince how to get close to the Queen so he can kill her: by dressing up to look like Nursie at a fancy-dress party. He does this, but Blackadder and Melchett escape and the former stabs him twice; although they told Ludwig that Nursie always went as a cow, Blackadder knew that Ludwig was a master of disguise while Nursie was merely a 'mad old woman with an udder fixation', so all that he would need to do was kill the one that looked like a cow.
However, Ludwig seemingly survives this attack, and, as shown in the episode's final shot, he has returned, disguised as the Queen, has seemingly murdered the entire Royal Court, and thereafter rules as Queen of England for 37 years. Hugh Laurie's later character is also a monarch of German descent, suggestive perhaps of a familial relation between Ludwig and George, the Prince Regent (as is the case for all other characters played by the same actors in Blackadder). However it is highly unlikely because the Prince Regent is the product of the Hanoverian succession.
Blackadder speculates that Ludwig's megalomaniacal tendencies may have been the result of childhood bullying. It seems Ludwig's mother forced him to wear shorts right up to his final year at school, and that he had greasy hair and acne, the mention of which he reacts to badly, especially the nickname 'Shorty-Greasy Spot-Spot'.
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