A Right Royal Appointment for The Beano

By John Freeman on June 11, 2013

Lady Camilla Parker Bowles opens the refurbished Bash Street Library. How long will it stay refurbished, we wonder? Image © D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2013

The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay – better known as Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall, will make guest appearances in a special VIP edition of The Beano, which goes on sale on this Saturday (15th June 2013).

The special edition features strips on healthy eating and literacy with His Royal Highness starring in The Bash Street Kids strip where, following a monumental school dinner food fight, His Royal Highness sets about educating the Kids on growing and preparing their own lunch. Meanwhile, Her Royal Highness will appear in a Dennis the Menace and Gnasher strip, visiting Beanotown to open the new school library and highlighting the importance of reading.

The Prince of Wales takes on the Bash Street Kids in a Right Royal strip. Image © D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2013

The Prince of Wales takes on the Bash Street Kids in a right Royal comic strip in this week’s Beano. Image © D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2013

Editor-in-Chief Mike Stirling said, “We are thrilled to welcome The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay onto the pages of The Beano. We’ve had a blast creating their characters and storylines. It’s not every day you get to write Their Royal Highnesses into The Beano – we hope they like it!”

On the strips themes, Mike added, “I think it’s vital that kids are aware of the importance of healthy eating and reading and I hope that having some Royal guidance will make kids sit up and take notice.”

The Beano is renowned for drawing iconic British faces into its strips with past issues featuring The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and famous names such as Simon Cowell, Chris Evans and Olympic heptathlete Jessica Ennis.

This special edition of The Beano will also mark the opening of the new DC Thomson press by the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay. Readers can enjoy a fun-filled potted history of the printing press accompanied by a competition to design a new Christmas Jumper for Dennis the Menace, which Dennis will wear in this year’s Christmas issue.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.