Richard E Grant tells of King Charles’ dash to see dying wife, with unusual gift
Legendary actor Richard E Grant on the King’s brilliant gift for his late wife, ‘bucket load’ of chemistry with Claire Foy, meeting Donald Trump and flirting with the Spice Girls
Richard E Grant is one of the UK’s best loved actors(Image: Ben Trivett/Shutterstock)
Playing a dirty, rotten, drunken nobleman in his new film Savage House, Richard E Grant is a natural. He has played rampant boozers brilliantly for years in all their guises – from an unhinged out of work wino actor in Withnail and I in 1987, to a drunken gay grifter in 2018 in the Oscar nominated Can You Ever Forgive Me? Yet Richard is actually allergic to alcohol.
One of life’s brilliant observers, he is utterly convincing in Savage House, swigging red wine by the vat, playing nincompoop Sir George Chauncey – who ends up with one arm thanks to a duel – opposite Clare Foy as his wife, Lady Savage.
The couple are involved in a number of hilarious sex scenes, with Foy’s distinctly unladylike instruction to footman Reginald Halifax (Jack Farthing) who she is cheating with, to ‘lick her bum’ in one scene. Meanwhile, Sir George enjoys a romp with chambermaid Dorothy Neville (Bel Powley).
Richard E Grant in Savage House, 2026(Image: Paramount/Everett/Shutterstock)
Chuckling, Richard, 69, says: “I loved the line ‘lick my bum’. I will take it to my grave.” Charmed by his co-star, Richard says he and Clare, 42, who played a young Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, rehearsed in a north London pub. They had never met before working together, but he says: “Clare and I had chemistry by the bucket load. Life is about having an adventure with somebody.”
Stressing that there’s no guarantee you will connect, he jokes: “She is pregnant with my triplets right now!” According to Clare, director Peter Glanz’s hysterical script – he also wrote it – helped to forge their friendship. She says: “I had not read anything that made me laugh out loud so much in a long time… or ever. I found it so, so funny. There was searing honesty, followed by ridiculousness, which I find true to life. I loved it. It was so much fun.”
As for her co-star? She says: “There is no-one quite like Richard. Richard is an incredible actor and unique person. He was a real pleasure.” Set in the Britain of 1715, as two devious grifters, the Savages are out to impress the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire on a royal visit to their country pile.
Claire Foy and Richard Grant star in Paramount Pictures’ “Savage House.”(Image: Dean Rogers)
Living drastically beyond their means, the comic plot sees their lives unravel until they end up destitute. Richard says it’s a lesson for any of us who are trying to ‘keep up with the Joneses.’ He says: “What animates my character? Oh greed, lust, appetite for all things. Everything everyone shares. We always want more and more. What drew me to the character? Navigating Chauncey’s character arc from a position of enormous entitlement to total destitution, was an Irresistible Rake’s Progress.”
Already being described as ‘Downton on Acid,’ the film – which is getting some great reviews – held its world premiere in London this week and will be released in cinemas across the UK from Friday. It is set against the backdrop of 18th century England, the chaos caused by a massive smallpox outbreak and the Jacobite uprising – an attempt to dethrone newly crowned Hanoverian monarch King George I.
Glanz says his Blackadder-esque romp was inspired by the Washington DC uprising in the US on January 6, 2021, when a wild mob of MAGA supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bid to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory. This brings back some very odd memories for Richard, who interviewed Donald Trump for his old TV show, Richard E Grant’s Hotel Secrets, back in 2012.
Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann in
Withnail and I – 1987(Image: Handmade Films/Kobal/Shutterstock)
Recalling his encounter with Trump in New York, before he was President, he says: “We were in New York. We were told we could have 10 minutes and 10 questions. Anyway, it was like a French farce, as the director went to the toilet, Donald walked in and said ‘who is in charge here?’ I said ‘well, I am doing the interview and the director has just gone to the bathroom.’ Donald replied ‘oh my God, I have got to touch a guy who has just touched his ****?
“I put my elbow out and he said ‘why are you doing that’ and I told him I knew he was a germaphobe. Then the director came in shaking his hands dry. I got up and walked around ‘The Donald’ as I wanted a bird’s eye view of that hair. It is like spun gold and I could smell Elnett. It was like being with a Teflon coated circus master.”
Similarly, entertaining royalty, like Lord Savage – who sells precious family heirlooms to finance a feast for the Duke and Duchess, visiting to escape the smallpox – is nothing new for Richard. He enjoys a close bond with King Charles and Queen Camilla. And the King visited his wife, acclaimed dialect coach Joan Washington – with whom he has a daughter, Olivia Grant, 37, a casting associate – just before her death from lung cancer in September 2021, aged 74.
Actor Richard E Grant and his late wife of 35 years Joan Washington(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Richard recalls: “King Charles came and visited Joan three weeks before she died with a bag of mangos. He knew they were her favourite fruit. Highgrove is 15 minutes away from our cottage. He sat right next to her and said ‘it has been an absolute honour and privilege to have known you’. She went all EastEnders on him instantly and said ‘I am still eere!’”.
There are mutterings that Richard’s latest performance could glean awards, but he retains a healthy cynicism about the showbiz world. He says:”I was at the Governor’s Honorary Oscar Ball and every single face was famous.”
Recalling how everyone from Tom Hanks to Steven Spielberg heaped praise on him, he adds: “It was the number of people that said ‘we saw you in Withnail and I and we’ve liked you since then.’ I thought ‘you may have liked me since then, but you haven’t employed me since then!’”
King Charles III speaks with actor Richard E Grant and broadcaster Adele Roberts during a reception in celebration of community-based initiatives raising awareness about cancer and supporting those living with cancer at Buckingham Palace on April 30, 2025 in London(Image: Getty Images)
Trying to take life in his stride since the devastation of losing his wife, Richard, who has homes in the Cotswolds and in south west London’s Richmond, agrees with John Lennon’s statement before he was murdered, when he said: “Life is what happens in between making your plans”.
And the life that happens has served up some pretty incredible memories for Richard. He chuckles when recalling the fun he had playing Clifford, the beleaguered, fictional manager of the Spice Girls in the 1997 movie Spice World, saying: “I had just turned 40 and they were all 20 – apart from Geri, who pretended not to be 25. To have your bum pinched every morning by Mel B, who would say ‘you aren’t bad for an old bloke,’ was absolutely fantastic.’”
*Savage House opens in UK cinemas on Friday
