# Royal Flash > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Royal_Flash > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Royal_Flash.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flash > Source revision: 1350448736 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|1970 novel by George MacDonald Fraser}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox book | | name = Royal '''Flash''' | orig title = | translator = | image = Image:RoyalFlash.jpg | caption = First edition cover | author = [George MacDonald Fraser](/source/George_MacDonald_Fraser) | cover_artist = [Arthur Barbosa](/source/Arthur_Barbosa) | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = | genre = [Historical novel](/source/Historical_novel) | publisher = [Barrie & Jenkins](/source/Barrie_%26_Jenkins) | release_date = 1970 | media_type = Print ([Hardback](/source/Hardcover) & [Paperback](/source/Paperback)) | pages = 256 | isbn = 978-0-257-65101-9 | dewey = 823/.9/14 | congress = PZ4.F8418 Fp PR6056.R287 | oclc = 29733 | preceded_by = [Flashman](/source/Flashman_(novel)) | followed_by = [Flash for Freedom!](/source/Flash_for_Freedom!) }} '''''Royal Flash''''' is a 1970 [novel](/source/novel) by [George MacDonald Fraser](/source/George_MacDonald_Fraser). It is the second of the [Flashman](/source/Harry_Paget_Flashman) novels. It was made into the film ''[Royal Flash](/source/Royal_Flash_(film))'' in 1975 and remains the only Flashman novel to be filmed. ==Plot summary== ''Royal Flash'' is set during the [Revolutions of 1848](/source/Revolutions_of_1848). The story features [Lola Montez](/source/Lola_Montez) and [Otto von Bismarck](/source/Otto_von_Bismarck) as major characters, and fictionalises elements of the [Schleswig-Holstein Question](/source/Schleswig-Holstein_Question), 1843, 1847 and 1848. It is set in the fictional Duchy of Strackenz, making it the only Flashman novel to be set in a fictitious location. Other characters include: *[Prince Edward](/source/Edward_VII_of_the_United_Kingdom) *[Lola Montez](/source/Lola_Montez) *[Ludwig I of Bavaria](/source/Ludwig_I_of_Bavaria) *[John Gully](/source/John_Gully) *[Nicholas Ward](/source/Nicholas_Ward_(boxer)) *[Lord Conyngham](/source/Francis_Conyngham%2C_2nd_Marquess_Conyngham) *[Richard Wagner](/source/Richard_Wagner) *[Franz Liszt](/source/Franz_Liszt) *[Oscar Wilde](/source/Oscar_Wilde) *[Henry Irving](/source/Henry_Irving) *[Karl Marx](/source/Karl_Marx) *[Lord Palmerston](/source/Henry_Temple%2C_3rd_Viscount_Palmerston) *[Viscount Peel](/source/Arthur_Wellesley_Peel%2C_1st_Viscount_Peel) *[Jefferson Davis](/source/Jefferson_Davis) The book is loosely based on the plot of ''[The Prisoner of Zenda](/source/The_Prisoner_of_Zenda)''. Flashman explains that this is because the story was plagiarised from him by its author, [Anthony Hope](/source/Anthony_Hope). In a letter, Fraser wrote that during his researches into an earlier Flashman book he had discovered that in real life Bismarck and Lola Montez had been in London at the same time. He added that it had been too good an opportunity to miss.Letter from George MacDonald Fraser in the Glenn Christodoulou Collection The book's plot is anachronistic in depicting Bismarck already in 1848 striving for the [unification of Germany](/source/unification_of_Germany). In fact, during the revolutions of 1848 Bismarck was completely opposed to German Unification, which in 1848 was a cause promoted by radical revolutionaries that the conservative Bismarck detested. Unlike his depiction in the book, Bismarck only took up German Unification much later in his career, when he could use it to enhance the power of the Prussian Monarchy and of himself. ==References== {{reflist}} {{Flashman novels}} {{George MacDonald Fraser}} {{The Prisoner of Zenda}} {{Authority control}} Category:1970 British novels Category:Flashman novels Category:Novels set in 1848 Category:Barrie & Jenkins books Category:Novels set in the 1840s Category:British novels adapted into films Category:Cultural depictions of Lola Montez Category:Cultural depictions of Otto von Bismarck Category:Novels set in fictional countries Category:Cultural depictions of Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston Category:Cultural depictions of Edward VII Category:Cultural depictions of Richard Wagner Category:Cultural depictions of Franz Liszt Category:Cultural depictions of Oscar Wilde Category:Cultural depictions of Karl Marx Category:Cultural depictions of Ludwig I of Bavaria {{1970s-hist-novel-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Royal Flash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flash) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flash?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.