Prince Charles plays Hamlet in brilliant BBC sketch alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Dame Judi Dench

The Prince of Wales – briefly – became the Prince of Denmark on Saturday.

Prince Charles appeared on stage at Stratford as part of a stellar cast in Shakespeare Live, a light-hearted tribute to Britain’s most famous writer, 400 years to the day after he died.

Prince Charles uttered Shakespeare’s most famous line “to be or not to be”, managing to achieve not just every actor’s dream, but trump Dame Judi Dench.

His short contribution came as part of a complex and witty homage to Shakespeare and his soliloquy from Hamlet known the world over.

Prince Charles appeared alongside Tim Minchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Harriet Walter, David Tennant, Rory Kinnear, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, and the RSC’s current Hamlet, Paapa Essiedu.

It was a fitting finale to a day of celebrations in Stratford that mixed solemnity, pomp, quite a bit of low farce – and royalty. William Shakespeare probably would have approved.

Thousands gathered in Stratford-Upon-Avon on Saturday to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the death of Britain’s most famous writer – and his birthday too.

Tributes were led by the Prince of Wales, who – before his appearance on the Stratford stage – laid a wreath on the grave of the playwright in Holy Trinity Church, and had a tour of New Place, the site where Shakespeare spent the last 19 years of his life and wrote some of his most famous works, including it is believed his last play, The Tempest.

Now an archeological site, in the process of being turned into a garden and visitor centre, Prince Charles inspected some of the finds: medieval dice, dominos and a thimble that could have been used by Shakespeare’s father, who was a leather worker. Or at least that is the optimistic interpretation of the curators.

His wreath was made out of generous sprigs of rosemary — reference to Ophelia’s final act of handing out the herb, “for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.”

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source: telegraph.co.uk