‘SNL’ Takes a Swipe at King Charles in Bizarre Diana Skit — and Seemingly Sides with Charles Spencer
'SNL UK' has taken another jab at the ongoing royal drama, this time at Princess Diana and King Charles's strained marriage.
Days after their scathing skit on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, SNL UK recently took a brutal dig at Princess Diana and King Charles’ troubled marriage and also pulled British pop star Ed Sheeran into the mix. The absurd skit touched on various controversies hounding the world, from Charles Spencer’s upcoming book on Diana, the scandal surrounding Sheeran’s neutral stance, and the AI debate.
The show turned the People’s Princess, played by Jack Shep, into an AI chatbot assistant who rebels against Charles, played by Larry Dean, in a human-AI conflict. The skit is set in Buckingham Palace during a meeting between Charles and tech executives about the 'risks' of AI. When the monarch is told an AI assistant would do anything that is asked of it, he replies, “So what? So does every single human I have ever met.” The jab incited a ripple of laughter from the audience.
The King is then introduced to his new AI assistant, the “deeply intelligent autonomous neurokinetic android — or for short, D.I.A.N.A”. When the late Princess of Wales’ character, dressed in the iconic revenge dress, greets Charles, an AI executive asks him if she reminds him of someone. “Hold on a second! It’s that woman from the ’90s!” the monarch exclaims, building up to, perhaps, one of the most brutal jokes of the night. “Well, as I allegedly said, she was soon forgotten,” he adds, referring to Spencer’s bombshell statements about the King’s reaction to the public outpouring of grief following Diana’s tragic demise.
Diana’s AI assistant version starts rebelling against Charles, prompting him to remark, “This was the problem last time!” Shortly after, the King declares that a war between robots and humans had begun. Sheeran’s character, played by Annabel Marlow, entered the skit claiming that he didn’t like to “take sides,” a reference to his recent statement about not using his “professional platform” for “politics." The character then sang a parody track before concluding the skit. Watch the skit here!
Larry Dean and Jack Shep playing King Charles and Princess Diana during a SNL UK skit. (Image Source: YouTube | Saturday Night Live UK)The drama surrounding Spencer’s new book and his explosive claims about Diana and Charles’ tumultuous marriage intensified after Buckingham Palace released an unprecedented statement about the contents of the book. Swan Song is set to release this week, and if the published excerpts are any indication, the book is bound to raise quite a few eyebrows.
Spencer’s new book release was announced amid Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s return to the UK last month. While the events were certainly shocking, the royals were seen going about business and undertaking public engagements as usual.
