Beautiful and touches the heart. If only this love of our sceptred isle was in all of us. ❤

John of Gaunt would weep bitter tears for the state of England now...

These films were so good

I am not into Shakespeare, but I came to this speech for his actor name, John of Gaunt. What a presentation of a speech! It was like he was thinking out, 'as we do, ' what he wanted to say. So, moving .....a love for 'this England' is in your social history. Hence, leaving the EU is such a modern outcome of your relationship with Europe. Truly amazing acting.

The moment he breaks the fourth wall is so powerfull. Sometimes directors overplay this trick, but here it is done masterfully, for just a moment, and, to me at least, it takes my breath away, so emotional. And Sir Patrick... masterclass in acting.

This speech alone made Richard II one of my favourite plays!

Very very good Patrick.

His voice has has simultaneously thinned and darkened but is as charismatic as ever. Even more interesting now when you hear the breaks and imperfections.

This is insanely good, makes me cry, beat my chest and thank God for being English .. utterly spectacular

Sir patrick could read from the phone book and still make it compelling listening.

The Richard II hollow crown was my favourite of the whole series... the whole series was great but this was the best & can’t wait to watch it again sometime...

Shakespeare is astonishing. Four hundred years after it was written, still it moves us with both its sentiments and the poetry of his language. The first four of the Hollow Crown which were produced in 2012 were all marvelous. Ben Whishaw as Richard II was mesmerising and Simon Russell-Beale was outstanding as Falstaff. There are many fine scenes is all of these four plays, but none was more moving for me than the short scene which includes the line "we have heard the chimes at midnight" in Henry IV Part II.

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, KG (6 March 1340 - 3 February 1399) was an English nobleman and member of the House of Plantagenet, the third of five surviving sons of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was called "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent, then rendered in English as Gaunt. When he became unpopular later in life, scurrilous rumours and lampoons circulated that he was actually the son of a Ghent butcher, perhaps because Edward III was not present at the birth. This story always drove him to fury. As a younger brother of Edward, the Black Prince, John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority of Edward's son, King Richard II, and the ensuing periods of political strife. Due to some generous land grants, John was one of the richest men in his era. He made an abortive attempt to enforce a claim to the Crown of Castile that came courtesy of his second wife Constance, who was an heir to the Castillian Kingdom, and for a time styled himself as King of Castile. John of Gaunt's legitimate male heirs, the Lancasters, include English kings Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. His other legitimate descendants include his daughters Queen Philippa of Portugal and Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter (by his first wife Blanche of Lancaster), and Queen Catherine of Castile (by his second wife Constance of Castile). John fathered five children outside marriage, one early in life by a lady-in-waiting to his mother, and four by Katherine Swynford, Gaunt's long-term mistress and third wife. The children of Katherine Swynford, surnamed "Beaufort," were legitimised by royal and papal decrees after John and Katherine married in 1396. Descendants of this marriage include Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, a grandmother of kings Edward IV and Richard III; John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, a great-grandfather of King Henry VII; and Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots, from whom are descended all subsequent sovereigns of Scotland beginning in 1437 and all sovereigns of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom from 1603 to the present day. The three houses of English sovereigns that succeeded the rule of Richard II in 1399 - the Houses of Lancaster, York and Tudor - were all descended from John's children Henry IV, Joan Beaufort and John Beaufort, respectively. In addition, John's daughter Catherine of Lancaster was married to King Henry III of Castile, which made him the grandfather of King John II of Castile and the ancestor of all subsequent monarchs of the Crown of Castile and united Spain. Through his daughter Philippa, he was grandfather of King Edward of Portugal and an ancestor of all subsequent Portuguese monarchs as well. Through John II of Castile's granddaughter Joanna the Mad, John of Gaunt is also an ancestor of the Habsburg rulers who would reign in Spain and much of central Europe. John of Gaunt's eldest son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, the son of his first wife Blanche of Lancaster, was exiled for ten years by King Richard II in 1398 as resolution to a dispute between Henry and Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates and titles were declared forfeit to the crown, since King Richard II had named Henry a traitor and changed his sentence to exile for life. Henry Bolingbroke returned from exile to reclaim his inheritance and depose Richard. Bolingbroke then reigned as King Henry IV of England (1399-1413), the first of the descendants of John of Gaunt to hold the throne of England.

Wonderful

This video cuts out the most important and pertinent part of the speech which has a strong resonance for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island: "... is now bound in with shame, With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds. That England that was wont to conquer others hath made a shameful conquest of itself."

Gee that’s a beautiful rendition- how to act Shakespeare on screen, it often feels staged and distant but Stewart inhabits the language beautifully and works the camera at precisely the right moment. Nicely directed too.

John of Gaunt if only your words could protect from modern globalisation.

Cannot have been done better.....beautifully done

Wonderful❤!

Stewart does the best John of Gaunt speech IMO. It's just a shame that they left out parts of the speech... one of the most famous speeches.

A fine Yorkshireman from Mirfield West Yorkshire. Playing John O'Gaunt. One for all the Yorkshire Gaunts like me

Oh Shakespeare! We gave the Sceptered Isle away to the brown people. We sold the hapiness of our sons and daughters to the masses of the world. We gave away what our fathers and mothers bequeathed to us. My poor England! Look at what we have done to you.

Gets me every time that shit

I have seen this in several versions. This is the best.

Against infection ... hey it still could work

Perfection

Could there ever have been a more sapient author, or more excellent an actor, at this time of national emergency? [COVID-19 coronovirus UK civil lockdown, March 2020, UK]. On! On!.

What is shameful is that they cut out some of the most potent lines of the speech

Patrick Stewart... when Chuck Norris wanted to know HOW to act in movies... he spoke with Patrick. :P

I wish I never lost my hollow crown DVD.

THIS KITCHEN!

I cannot see how Stewart can run straight on from 'Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.' to 'This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle.' This is the start of a new thought entirely, not the sort of thing you can catch yourself saying in surprise. Most viewers here have probably seen the Gielgud version (The Demise of Old John of Gaunt). But I have found one I think better than either and posted it on KZfaq. Listen to Michael Redgrave playing John of Gaunt in Vivat Rex.

Beautiful reading of the lines. Whenever I read/hear that speech, it feels almost like England is, in some ways, being used as a stand-in for the whole world itself. This very beset and troubled "other Eden" that we somehow exist in, who knows how or why.

Discribing the Liz truss government.

England under the European Union

Tywin Lannister is definitely inspired by King Edward the first and John of Gaunt.

i prefer John Gielgud's version

This dinghy landing strip.

Prince Philip before this speech. Take the photo !

England will soon have its life back and we will re discover ourselves. Goodbye by Scotland Ireland and wales. Not sure about wales.

is this low key about brexit?

God Save England, Lady Dee and Margaret Tatcher against infection of Argentinian people (less happier land).-

I wish they got rid of the thees and thous

So much racist crap in the comments - very disappointing to see. Shakespeare is a treasure of the world. Please don't reduce him to the state of contemporary debate. He was not a jingoist - he critiqued those types mercilessly. Read the clerics in Henry V.

His pauses aren't long enough. To compensate, he strings out his delivery too long, when speaking.

How r there so many views And sub to pewdiepie we must beat t series

I love Patrick Stewart but I really don't think this is a good reading. His voice and the music are good, but he sounds like he's just reading random words.

Pretentious twoddle

He is one of the reasons of peasants revolt right?

Wonderful