Synopsis
KING NICOLAS OF THE BELGIANS has the distinct feeling he's living the wrong life. His bossy queen is certainly no source of joy. His Chief of Protocol stifles his mind. His Press Attaché crushes his spirit. His valet is, in fact, his only friend.
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This modern fairytale begins on the eve of an economic mission to Turkey. There's no better place to launch the Queen's campaign called 'bridging divides' that's meant to give some polish to the dull image of the kingdom. But the Queen, struck by a fierce cold, is grounded. So off the King goes without her. Once in Istanbul the King is escorted here, yanked there, dressed up, fed speeches, told to do only this and certainly not that. Business as usual.
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Meanwhile, a full-blown solar storm is brewing in the heavens above. Just as this cosmic chaos starts to disrupt all things earthly, alarming news arrives from Belgium: Flanders has declared independence. The kingdom has collapsed! The King, suddenly bursting with purpose, must return home at once to save his kingdom. And for once, dammit, he will write his own speech!
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But the solar storm causes communications to collapse, satellites to fall from the sky and Northern Lights to come shimmering even as far south as Istanbul. No phones. No planes. Turkish security will hear nothing of protocol's foolish proposal to head home over land via the Balkans. The King and his entourage are trapped in their luxury hotel.
Meanwhile, a sassy paparazzo photographer convinces them to escape in the midst of a Bulgarian female folklore troupe. So, disguised in frilly dresses, the King and his entourage manage to flee Turkey. The King finds himself not only in drag on a rundown bus but squeezed up against a most marvelous woman... Ana.
Hence begins their Balkan odyssey that involves drifting Ottomans, hairy men wearing cowbells, blind tourists, evasive kebabs, a Serbian warlord, a passport-eating goat, a detour on the Adriatic and an Albanian jail. Plus an epic duel between Beethoven and 99 Bulgarian bagpipers.
Things spiral definitively out of control towards a grand finale in Sarajevo that involves guns and chaos, as well as the grandest disappearing act in the history of royals.
At the heart of it all is a lonely man who finally finds the courage to take his own destiny in hand. A King who just chucks it all and takes the plunge.
In the name of love.