After 5 seasons with 46 episodes and a 2-hour movie, The Last Kingdom has come to an end, with Seven Kings Must Die concluding the series.
The Last Kingdom is based on English author Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories. Seven Kings Must Die is a film that focuses on Aethelstan’s journey to becoming King of England.
While The Last Kingdom is based on a 13-part novel series, some of the events took place in real life, and most of the characters did exist. One of which is King Aethelstan.
But with Seven Kings Must Die being a historical fiction movie, it’s expected to have changes from what actually took place in real life. Let’s look at what happened to the real King Aethelstan, and the differences from the one portrayed in Seven Kings Must Die.
Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die. Read at your own risk!
Aethelstan Became the First King of England
As in the movie, Aethelstan did become the first King of England. He was considered by many as the first and greatest King of medieval England.
In the movie, before Uhtred swore Northumbria to Aethelstan, he made the latter promise not to get married and have children so that his half-brother Edmund’s claim to the throne would remain unchallenged. In real life, Aethelstan never married and he had no children. Thus, he was succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I.
Furthermore, Seven Kings Must Die doesn’t show us anything about Aethelstan’s rule after uniting England. It only tells us at the end that he ruled for 15 years.
History, however, records that Aethelstan accomplished many things, and he was described as the one Anglo-Saxon King who bore comparison with King Alfred the Great, his grandfather.
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Was King Aethelstan Really a Tyrant?
History does not record King Aethelstan as a tyrant. As previously mentioned, he was regarded as one of the greatest Kings of England.
After the death of his father, King Edward (Edward the Elder), Aethelstan was accepted by the Mercians as King. His half-brother, Aelfweard, died within three weeks of their father’s death.
But in Seven Kings Must Die, Aethelstan is portrayed as a tyrant at the beginning of his rule. He killed his half-brother Aelfweard because he didn’t want any more threats to his claim to the throne.
He forced pagans to convert to Christianity by committing mass executions just to prove a point. Furthermore, he was only accepted as a King after he invaded lands and killed people as he saw fit.
In historical records, Aethelstan did defeat the Scots and Vikings in the Battle of Brunanburh. But in the movie, he only won the battle because of Uhtred’s influence.
After showing himself to be a heartless king, the warriors no longer listened to him. In the battle, they only listened to Uhtred’s instructions and disregarded Aethelstan’s.
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Was King Aethelstan Really Gay?
In Seven Kings Must Die, Aethelstan starts a relationship with Ingilmundr. The latter appeared as an ally to the King and even clouded his judgment, but then Ingilmundr turned out to be a Danish spy working for the Viking Anlaf.
Ingilmundr portrayed himself as a Christian but was actually a Dane by heart. So Aethelstan had him killed for his betrayal.
As mentioned earlier, before swearing Northumbria to Aethelstan, Uhtred made a condition that Aethelstan should not marry or produce any heirs so that Edmund’s claim to the throne would remain unchallenged.
But this could also be because Uhtred saw Aethelstan in an intimate moment with Ingilmundr, and he wanted to save Aethelstan from having to be forced into marriage with a noblewoman.
History does not record whether Aethelstan was really gay or not. This was a decision made by the author of The Last Kingdom books, Bernard Cornwell.
In an interview with Sharon Kay Penman, Cornwell said that he took some liberties with Aethelstan:
“I also took some liberties with Aethelstan, Alfred’s grandson, who eventually becomes the first king of a united England. History records that he never married, which is unusual in a king because of the desire to leave an heir, and also that he liked to decorate his hair with golden ringlets, and on that small evidence I decided he might have been gay; a choice that hasn’t pleased all my readers, but I was happy with it.”
Additionally, Martha Hillier, the screenwriter for Seven Kings Must Die, shared with RadioTimes.com that there is indeed “some evidence” suggesting Aethelstan could have been gay.
"All of that period is hard to research [but] there is definitely a reasonable amount of debate about it. It's not something we've made up for TV – not at all," Hillier explained.
Whether or not King Aethelstan was really gay, the fact remains that he was regarded as one of the greatest Kings of England.
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