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Lord Duke

Lord_Duke

Their most honored and exalted excellencies; the Three Good Fairies! Mistress Flora, Mistress Fauna, and Mistress Merryweather!Lord Duke announcing the arrival of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather

Lord Duke, also known as The Duke or just Duke for short, is one of the characters in the Sleeping Beauty franchise, serving as a minor character in Disney's 16th animated film of 1959, Sleeping Beauty, and a supporting character for his official appearance in the first segment of Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams. He is the fussbudget, but loyal, majordomo of King Stefan and Queen Leah. He speaks in a Royal British with a Royal British accent.

In the beginning of the original animated film, he was voiced by the late Hans Conried (possibly), who also acted out as a live action reference and demo voice for King Stefan in the same film and had voiced Horton and Dr. Hoovey in Horton Hears a Who, Grinch in Halloween is Grinch Night, and Thorin Oakenshiled in The Hobbit. In Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams, he was voiced by Jeff Bennett, who also voiced King Hubert and the Sultan.

Biography

Sleeping Beauty

Lord Duke is one of the servants of King Stefan's royal court, serving as his majordomo and head messenger. He makes his possible cameo appearance as the royal herald. The herald that almost resembles Duke (same black hair and nose, but only wearing blue and purple clothes and a yellow hat) is only seen when he announces the presence of King Hubert and his young son, Prince Phillip, as invited guests to the christening birth of the infant daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah, Princess Aurora. Duke's voice is heard again when he announces the arrival of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, the Three Good Fairies who have come to bestow the gifts on Baby Aurora.

Afterwards, Lord Duke is not seen or heard anymore for the rest of the film.

Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams

Lord Duke makes his official appearance in Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams. Here, he is assigned by his master, King Stefan, to assist Aurora in ruling the kingdom while King Stefan, Queen Leah, Prince Phillip, and King Hubert leave to attend the Royal Conference for Hubert's speech. He also acts as a comic relief in several mishaps such as accidentally ripping his tunkhose, falling from the bookcase while trying to get the remaining note for Aurora, falling into a moat while trying to get another paper that is reveled to be Hubert's speech he forgot for the Royal Conference, and getting headbutted by a cow, due to Aurora's inexperience of using the magic wand Merryweather gave.

The next day, Duke told Aurora that she will deal with the townspeople and assisted her in dealing with the townspeople. He also advised Aurora to stick with her problems, when dealing with a redheaded farmer who wanted more chickens.

When Duke comes back from getting the forms he forgot, he witnesses the room being filled with cows, green pigs, and giant chickens, thanks to Aurora's inexperience of using magic. He gets headbutted by a cow, sending him out of the castle ground where he warned Stefan (who came back from the Royal Conference, along with Leah, Hubert, and Phillip) about the magic incident in the throne room. However, Aurora was able to solve the problem without magic by providing the townspeople some cows just before Duke, Stefan, Hubert, Leah, and Phillip entered the throne room.

Lord Duke is seen at the end of the first segment, attending the royal banquet Aurora planned, along with Prince Phillip, King Stefan, Queen Leah, King Hubert, Flora, Merryweather, and Fauna.

Trivia

  • Though no sources confirm this, it can be assumed that the late Bill Scott (known as the voices of Dudley Do Right in The Dudley Do Right Show and Mister Peabody in Peabody's Impropable History) possibly recorded two lines as Duke (you can listen to the voice that clearly resembles him) before he was dropped out, as his alleged actor for the final cut, the late Hans Conried, was also himself replaced by the late Taylor Holmes as the voice for King Stefan in the film's final cut.
  • He shares some similarities with the Grand Duke from Cinderella and Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast.
    • They serve as head servants for their bosses and in charge of the castle staff (Duke for King Stefan, the Grand Duke for the King, and Cogsworth for Prince Adam)
    • All live in France (Duke lives in 14th Century France, Grand Duke lives in 19th Century France, and Cogsworth lives in 18th Century France)
    • Always worry when things go wrong
    • Serve as allies for the French heroines (Duke for Aurora, Grand Duke for Cinderella, and Cogsworth for Belle)
  • It should be noted and implied that his character was the possible inspiration for Lady Gerda, an original character of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the 2019 sequel of Maleficent, as they’re both stewards and advisors to the monarchs (King Stefan for Duke, Queen Ingrith for Gerda). However, unlike Duke, Gerda is an evil female who follows Ingrith’s evil deeds and went too far in killing almost all the fairy creatures of the Moors, even Flittle (Merryweather), except Knotgrass (Flora) and Thistlewit (Fauna).
  • For his official appearance on Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams, he is referred as Duke onscreen, but is only credited as the Duke in the ending credits.

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