Armitage as Richard III: Who Should Play Queen Anne

We’re in Day Three of the FanstRAvaganza 3 in THE KING RICHARD ARMITAGE tagteam chain! If you missed Day One and Day Two check out the posts at Fly High and Crispin's Eclipse.

Stained Glass - York Minster

If a series or film based on the historical Richard III of England with the king played by Richard Armitage becomes a reality, then who would be cast to play his wife Anne Neville? 
 (Note: Scroll down to the bottom of the post for poll results- 3/18/12)

Anne Neville (1456 – 1485) was first married to Edward of Westminster and was Princess of Wales and later Queen of England as wife of King Richard III. She had just one son, Edward (1474?-1484), with Richard III who died as a child. Anne died only a few months before her husband was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth (1485).


Anne was a member of the powerful northern English Neville family. Her father was Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.  She knew Richard, then Duke of Gloucester, when they were both children and was briefly betrothed to him when she was 14 until her father changed sides and married her to Edward to secure the alliance with his mother, Margaret of Anjou. The history of Anne and Richard is long and complicated by politics and war and you can read more about it in the King Richard Armitage website HERE.

Anne Neville was buried in Westminster Abbey and on the wall is a memorial erected by the Richard III Society in 1960 with this description:

“In person she was seemly, amiable and beauteous…And according to the interpretation of her name Anne full gracious” REQUIESCAT IN PACE.

(Source: Onthetudortrail.com)

Anne Neville

From what I’ve been able to research there is no accurate portrait or detailed physical description of Anne Neville. In most romanticized versions of her she’s portrayed as being a brunette, though one of the portraits below has her as a redhead. But in those days artists would portray royal personages without ever having seen them.  

Richard III and Queen Anne

Richard III and Queen Anne

Detail from image above - Cardiff Castle Wales

Thinking about who should be cast as Anne Neville to Richard Armitage's Richard III I thought of actors that would be a good match for him in age range, screen presence, and ability. Below is my top three list to play Queen Anne:

Paloma Baeza 

Richard Armitage fans know Baeza for playing Lucas North's Russian ex-wife Elizaveta Starkova.  Of the three women that played love interests to Lucas North in Spooks to me she had the best chemistry with Richard on screen.  She is a graduate of English and Performing Arts from Bristol University and has had roles in several period and historical films and series including playing Bathsheba in Far from the Madding Crowd (1998) and  Kitty in Anna Karenina (2000). It would be great to see Baeza and Armitage together again on screen.

Michelle Dockery

Seems like the entire world knows Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary in the very popular TV series Downton Abbey.  Though there is more of an age difference between Dockery and Armitage than there was between Richard III and Anne Neville they are both strong actors and would make the relationship believable on screen. She is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.  She and Armitage have a connection since she's played Erminia Whythe in the TV series Cranford and he of course was John Thornton in North and South, both series based on the novels by Elizabeth Gaskell. 

Hattie Morahan

American audiences probably know her best for playing Elinor Dashwood in the 2008 version of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility.  Morahan graduated from Cambridge University and has an extensive career on the stage and British television, beginning with her role in The Peacock Spring (1996) at sixteen, directed by her father. I liked her portrayal of Elinor Dashwood and have since seen her in several other UK television series. Her naturalness on screen is very similar to Armitage's own and I think they would be a good match. 

The Poll

So what do you think about the three choices above?  Look at the right hand sidebar and vote on the poll for your favorite of the three, or vote "other" and make your suggestion through the comments below.

I will update this post with post results on March 18.


Update - March 18


Results of Poll - Who should play Anne Neville?


The Winner is:  

Other with 34% of the vote

Suggestions from the comments:

Natalie Portman (Bccmee)

Julianne Moore (Gratiana)

Lucy Griffiths (Anonymous)

Kate Winslet (Anonymous)

Runner Up:

 Hattie Morahan with 30% of the vote

Third Place:

A  tie for Paloma Baeza and Michelle Dockery with 17% each

Thank you to everyone who voted

For more of THE KING RICHARD ARMITAGE In FanstRA 3 see Fly High and Crispin's Eclipse . Tomorrow The KR tagteam continues at Me + Richard Armitage. All F3 links can be found here.

Please support Richard Armitage’s effort by signing this petition and encouraging potential financiers and production investors to support the “Richard III” project - see link below.


http://kingrichardarmitage.rgcwp.com/petition-for-richard-iii/