Prentis Popplewell … Kate McKinnon
Duchess of Clerkenwell … Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Jimmy J Robertson … Kenan Thompson
Charles, Prince of Wales … Beck Bennett
Duchess of Clerkenwell
[Starts with Royal Romance intro]
Announcer: You’re watching Royal Romance, a BBC special event.
[Cut to Prentis Popplewell]
Prentis Popplewell: Good evening. I’m Prentis Popplewell. When prince Harry fell in love with a gorgeous American Starlet, we all went, “Ah.” But when Meghan Markle wanted to do things a little differently, some went, “Ah.” But this isn’t the first mixed raced royal couple who had to endure this sort of hostility. Tonight, we look back at the lesser known, Duchess of Clerkenwell, and the relationship that almost brought down the entire monarchy. This is Royal Romance.
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Duchess of Clerkenwell: The year was 1972. I had made my first journey to America. And there I met the man of my dreams. His name was Jimmy J Robertson.
[Cut to Jimmy J Robertson]
Jimmy J Robertson: But I was known up and down these streets as thunder stick, and my ass was about to live in a castle.
Prentis Popplewell: Thunder stick was a comedian, street poet, and Blaxploitation actor. Perhaps best known for his films, “The Return of Petey Biscuit Bits” and “Bitch, I Will Shoot You Right In the Face.”
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Duchess of Clerkenwell: But when I met Jimmy, he told me his primary occupation was karate, and I found it so refreshing.
[Cut to a clip from action movie where Jimmy J Robertson is fighting]
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Some of the other royals, they just didn’t understand Jimmy.
[Cut to Jimmy J Robertson]
Jimmy J Robertson: Yeah, I was both ahead of and way behind my times.
[Cut to Charles, Prince of Wales]
Charles: I’ll admit, when my niece brought Thunderstick over, I was a bit skeptical, mainly because he threw a bag of cocaine on the table, and said, “Nobody leaves the room until this big is empty”.
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Duchess of Clerkenwell: Jimmy brought fun to the royal family. He would stay up all night drinking, reciting Limericks about how unattractive our mothers were. Yet he would also vow to have sexual relations with all of them.
[Cut to Jimmy J Robertson]
Jimmy J Robertson: And then I demonstrated exactly how I was going to do it using an ottoman. Wore that thing down the threads.
[Cut to Duchess of Hertfordshire]
Duchess of Hertfordshire: At official events he requested to be introduced as the duke of dookie, and I’ll never forget the poem that he performed.
[Cut to Jimmy J Robertson saying his poem]
Jimmy J Robertson: I got me a palace surrounded by class.
I got two corgis going to bark at your ass.
When I raise my royal scepter, all my lady subjects bow.
They say, damn Thunderstick, give them the thunder now.
Come on red. We doing this?
[Cut to Charles, Prince of Wales]
Charles: He performed that at the christening of Prince William.
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Duchess of Clerkenwell: But for all his foibles. Jimmy helped modernize the monarchy. He knighted the first black American transforming mix-a-lot into sir mix-a-lot. And Jimmy was fabulous with children.
Cut to Jimmy J Robertson telling story to the children]
Jimmy J Robertson: Take a wild ride to Banberry cross. See a fine lady up on a white horse. Rings on her fingers, bells on her palms, that funky bitch was loud when I blew that orgasm out her drawers. You all are 18 right?
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Duchess of Clerkenwell: But the media could be ruthless.
[Cut to Jimmy J Robertson]
Jimmy J Robertson: You better believe they hated my catch phrase, “Take a look at my big black ass”.
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Duchess of Clerkenwell: And in the end we drifted apart.
[Cut to Jimmy J Robertson]
Jimmy J Robertson: Yeah, as much as we had in common, we were from different worlds.
[Cut to Duchess of Clerkenwell]
Duchess of Clerkenwell: Also he cheated on me with a waffle house waitress.
[Cut to Jimmy J Robertson]
Jimmy J Robertson: I did do that, bot it scattered, smothered, and covers, baby.
[Cut to Prentis Popplewell]
Prentis Popplewell: Let’s take a quick break. When we return, a clip from Thunderstick’s Kung Fu censor film “Ho Ho Hi-Ya!” on Royal Romance.