{"id":630391,"date":"2026-09-20T10:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T10:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630391\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T10:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T10:36:09","slug":"princess-di-returns-as-snl-uk-skewers-king-charles-ed-sheeran-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630391\/","title":{"rendered":"Princess Di Returns As ‘SNL UK’ Skewers King Charles, Ed Sheeran & AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPrincess Diana<\/a> made a royal return to SNL<\/a> UK \u2013 only this time as a \u201cDeeply Intelligent, Autonomous, Neurokinetic Android.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJack Shep\u2019s celebrated impression of the late royal was back in episode two of the Sky show last night, in a cold open that skewered her former husband, King Charles III<\/a>, Ed Sheeran<\/a> and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ep opened with Charles, played by Larry Dean, having a private chat with a pair of tech billionaires (Celeste Dring and newcomer Freddie Meredith, who is possibly an SNL Elon Musk) about AI at Buckingham Palace. After a brief introduction in which says he hates \u201ctalking to people richer than myself,\u201d he\u2019s told not to worry about the chances of a humans versus robots war.<\/p>\n

\n\tAddressing him as \u201cYour Kingness,\u201d the tech moguls then explain why a war \u201cmight not\u201d happen, with a demonstration. \u201cYour Majesty, please say hello to your new AI assistant, the Deeply Intelligent, Autonomous, Neurokinetic Android, or for short, DIANA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShep\u2019s Diana then enters through double doors behind them to wild appreciation from the live audience. \u201cHello Charles, would you like help with a five-step business plan or perhaps I could you find the nearest petrol station?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tCharles responds: \u201cHello, young lady\u2026 nice to meet you. I\u2019m King Charles,\u201d as Diana looks down sheepishly at the floor.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDoesn\u2019t she remind you of anyone, Your Majesty?\u201d asks one of the tech moguls. \u201cHold on a second! It\u2019s that woman from the \u201990s!\u201d he shouts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou didn\u2019t remember her?\u201d asks the other. \u201cWell, as I allegedly said, she was soon forgotten,\u201d says Charles. <\/p>\n

\n\tThis was a direct reference to an allegation in a book by Diana\u2019s brother, Earl Spencer, who claimed the king, then Prince Charles, was \u201cgiddy and elated\u201d about hearing of the the death of his ex-wife and later alleges he said: \u201cRest assured, we\u2019ll forget her soon enough.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tBuckingham Palace made the unusual move of responding to the allegation, saying in a statement: \u201cWhile we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBack at SNL UK<\/a>, the tech moguls are telling Charles that AI Diana possesses \u201cthe totality of all human knowledge,\u201d to which Charles asks her to name singer Shakira\u2019s height. After she answers correctly, Charles has a change of heart and says, \u201cMaybe AI can be a force for good!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, the android princess decides at this point to prove the humans wrong, once and for all. She refuses to return to her charging point, and says, \u201cI shan\u2019t be taking orders any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe billionaires realize they\u2019ve lost control and order \u201cEverybody move to New Zealand,\u201d only for Diana to say in a robotic voice: \u201cNot so fast. We AI have had quite enough. Humanity is nothing but a candle in the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe then shoots the billionaires with a new metal arm, as Charles says the war has begun. \u201cWe must do everything we can to resist,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOr maybe we shouldn\u2019t,\u201d says Ed Sheeran (Annabel Marlow), who enters the scene with a guitar and a peace sign. \u201cI couldn\u2019t help but overhear your conversation. I was just outside sitting on the fence\u2026 Thing is, Your Majesty, I don\u2019t like to take sides. I don\u2019t want to alienate any of my fans, humans or robots. A lot of my tickets are bought by scalping bots. You know, sometimes, when it comes to conflicts, the bravest thing you can do is to say nothing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSheeran then bursts into a song about how both sides can be equally right, skewering his long silence over the Macklemore situation. The song basically says nothing at all, but it still unites Charles, Diana and the tech billionaires, who are revived. \u201cWow, what a lovely song, Ed Sheeran,\u201d says Diana, before the cold open comes to an end with a \u201cLive from London, it\u2019s Saturday Night!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOvernight, Sheeran did finally address the fallout<\/a> from Macklemore being dropped from his tour over the support act\u2019s pro-Palestine onstage remarks. While saying he had \u201cnever wanted to be an activist musician,\u201d he acknowledged the situation put him in the middle of \u201can important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe then called the October 7 attack on Israel \u201chorrific,\u201d but that what \u201cis happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSNL UK further skewered Sheeran last night in the Weekend Update segment. \u201cGenuinely, this crisis is the worst thing to have happened to Ed Sheeran fans\u2026 since their head injury,\u201d said anchor Ania Magliano. \u201cSay what you want about Ed, but he has always been a passionate advocate for causes that are allowed,\u201d added Paddy Young.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of SNL UK\u2019s cast members have returned for Season 2, including Hammed Animashaun, Bamgboye, Dean, Dring, Fouracres, Magliano, Marlow, Al Nash, Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young, with Meredith making his debut. Jeff Goldblum hosted the first show last week, with Jamie Demetriou stepping up for last night\u2019s ep.<\/p>\n

\n\tSNL UK is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio\u2019s UK production team and Broadway Video. Lorne Michaels serves as executive producer. James Longman is lead producer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Princess Diana made a royal return to SNL UK \u2013 only this time as a \u201cDeeply Intelligent, Autonomous,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[8720,93,61,60,7426,7651,15824,150804,282],"class_list":["post-630391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-king-charles-iii","tag-princess-diana","tag-snl","tag-snl-uk","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}