User blog:J Fan/R.I.P. Richard Griffiths

 'I have a report. The Spanish have located the Fountain of Youth. I will not have some melancholy Spanish Monarch&mdash;a Catholic&mdash;gain eternal life!'

Dear friends, whether they be pirates or King's men, I just learned today that on the day of yesterday, May 28, 2013, Richard Griffiths aka our beloved King George Augustus, Duke of Luneburg, et cetera et cetera had passed away. This blog is dedicated to him being a part of the world of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Although it was a small role, or arguably a supporting role(given the ending credits), in On Stranger Tides, Richard Griffiths portrayed King George II in his pursuit to find the Fountain of Youth. Long story short for those who haven't seen the film yet(unlikely), the King and his men wanted to reach the fabled Fountain before the Spanish did, mainly so, as you can see in the quote above, that their King wouldn't gain eternal life. Being the King he was, George Augustus gave Hector Barbossa, now his most trusted privateer, the sanctioned mission to find the Fountain in his name. And everything else is of course answered in the movie.

Now some brief info about Griffiths himself. Other than King George, he had starred in many productions on stage, film and television...sadly I've only known him in a few. One is (of course) Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter films, a character I literally grew up with and disliking - not that he was bad but, well, you better watch them to see what I mean. Another role I know of was Magistrate Philipse in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, which also he did get to work with Johnny Depp. Methinks that was a reason that Mr. Depp brought him aboard On Stranger Tides...either that or because Depp was a fan of Griffiths' work on Withnail and I. Maybe both, but back to topic.

So if any of ye have anything to say regarding Griffiths or the King himself...speak now!