Saturday Night Live UK just added two very recognizable new faces to its repertoire—King Charles III and Queen Camilla—dropping them straight into a full-blown constitutional absurdity.
Played by cast members Larry Dean and Emma Sidi, the royal couple made their SNL UK debut Saturday in a cold open that saw them stranded midair on a flight home from their state visit to the United States—one that’s abruptly commandeered by Keir Starmer.
The sketch sees George Fouracres reprise his Starmer as a leader clinging to power with increasingly illogical conviction—here taking over the cockpit and announcing the plane will turn back to America. His reasoning: a conveniently rediscovered legal provision that supposedly prevents a Prime Minister from being removed while the monarch is out of the country, prompting him to keep the King airborne indefinitely. “So long as we keep circling the skies, I keep being Prime Minister,” he insists.
Angela Rayner (Celeste Dring), initially disguised as a no-nonsense flight attendant, reveals herself mid-sketch—and rather than backing Starmer, is out to undermine him with a scheme of her own, attempting to seize control of the plane before it can return to Britain.
Starmer, the UK’s Labour Prime Minister, has spent recent weeks under mounting pressure tied to an ethics controversy involving his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. Rayner—his former deputy and a major figure within the party—has meanwhile walked a careful line between publicly backing him and positioning herself as a potential successor.
With Charles and Camilla’s state visit to the U.S. dominating headlines stateside this week, there’s a fair chance NBC’s Saturday Night Live will take a crack at the royal couple as well—potentially teeing up another round of dueling impressions just three weeks after both shows portrayed Melania Trump on the same night. That time, SNL drew praise for Chloe Fineman’s technical polish, while SNL UK’s version—courtesy of Emma Sidi—landed as the more inspired swing.
Watch SNL UK‘s complete Charles and Camilla cold open at the top of this post.
