Trivia / The Accursed Kings

• Completely Different Title: Though most of the novels in this series have English titles that are more or less identical to the French, two do not:
  • Book four, La Loi des mâles, literally translates to "The Males' Law" (a real French concept); its English title is actually The Royal Succession.
  • Book seven, Quand un Roi perd la France, literally translates to "When a King Loses France", but was published in English as The King Without a Kingdom.
• Creator's Favorite: Robert of Artois. Druon clearly enjoyed himself writing the life, crimes, and downfall of this larger-than-life character. The sixth book ends with the following excerpt:
  AT THIS POINT THE AUTHOR, COMPELLED BY HISTORY TO KILL OFF HIS FAVOURITE CHARACTER, WITH WHOM HE HAS LIVED FOR SIX YEARS, IS MOVED TO A SORROW COMPARABLE TO THAT OF KING EDWARD OF ENGLAND; THE PEN, AS THE OLD CHRONICLERS SAY, FALLS FROM HIS HAND, AND HE HAS NO DESIRE TO CONTINUE, AT LEAST FOR THE PRESENT, EXCEPT TO INFORM THE READER OF THE DESTINIES OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY.
• Fake Brit: The French William Sabatier as Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster in the 1972 miniseries. Granted, the English nobility at this point was almost entirely Anglo-Norman French, but still.
• Playing Against Type: Spinello Tolomei's actor Louis Seigner was well known for playing the title role in The Bourgeois Gentleman, a vain and self-centered Upper-Class Twit who gives money to anyone who'll flatter his ego and dreams of social mobility, a far cry from the shrewd but likable banker he plays here.
• Sequel Gap: The King Without a Kingdom, the final novel of the series, was published in 1977, 17 years after The Lily and the Lion.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Hélène Duc played Mahaut d'Artois in the 1972 TV adaptation, and Marguerite de Bouville in the 2005 one.
  • Serge Maillat played William Montagu in 1972 and Bishop Orleton in 2005.

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