King & Conqueror is a new historical drama for BBC One depicting events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The series, however, is far from historical and misrepresents both the Anglo-Saxons and Normans, and, in turn, the history of the English people.
The first inaccuracy is that both William the Conqueror and Harold Godwinson are not portrayed as they are depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, created in 1077 by the Normans. William is depicted in the series with a moustache, akin to depictions of Harold on the Tapestry, whilst Harold is depicted as clean-shaven, akin to William's depictions on the Tapestry (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1: Top image of William the Conqueror (left) and Harold Godwinson (right) in King & Conqueror compared to their depiction in the Bayeux Tapestry in the bottom image.
Another major inaccuracy in BBC One's King & Conqueror is the armour and clothing. Typical of most modern, misinformed Hollywood productions, King & Conqueror follows the trend of using mismatched, dark, gritty leather armour.
The Bayeux Tapestry depicts both the Normans and Anglo-Saxons in almost identical armour, wielding almost identical weaponry (Fig. 2). This is because 11th-century chainmail and nasal helmets represented the most up-to-date technology in terms of armour at the time, and most European nations used similar equipment.
Fig. 2: William the Conqueror outfits Harold Godwinson in armour as depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry.
King & Conqueror also fails to accurately depict the 11th-century fashion and hairstyles of the Normans and Anglo-Saxons. The Normans in King & Conqueror are depicted as having a range of medium to long hairstyles, whilst the Bayeux Tapestry depicts them as being clean-shaven with shaved back and sides.
One of the most striking inaccuracies in King & Conqueror is the diversity of the Normans and Anglo-Saxons, and the inclusion of sexual degeneracy by Edward the Confessor's wife, Edith of Wessex, misnamed as Gunhild in the series.¹
The reason why BBC One's King & Conqueror portrays women as sexually degenerate and Anglo-Saxons and Normans as racially diverse (i.e., of Sub-Saharan African ancestry or other) is because of an anti-European (anti-White) agenda aimed at targeting White European peoples.
This is done by portraying White European women in historical settings as morally corrupt and sexually degenerate, and placing non-European men in place of European men. King & Conqueror is an immoral misrepresentation of European history - specifically, English history - and falsifies historical realities to undermine the accuracy of historical European cultures and the strong, rigorous morality that the ancestors of modern English people adhered to.²
¹ The wife of Edward the Confessor was Edith of Wessex, the daughter of Godwin of Wessex and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir.
² Historical Christian and pre-Christian European cultures and their peoples lived with virtue, righteousness, and had a strong moral compass which is explored in various texts such as, but not limited to: Germania by Tacitus and Hávamál in the Poetic Edda by Snori Sturluson.