Princeton NJ Events Calendar

Film: "The Duke", Princeton Public Library

Share:

Wednesday January 4, 2023
3:00 PM

This British comedy-drama starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren chronicles the 1961 theft of the portrait of the Duke of Wellington. Tea and cookies will be served.

"The Duke" is set in 1961 when Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television for free to the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge – a startling revelation of how a good man set out to change the world and in so doing saved his son and his marriage. Rated R for language and brief sexuality; 1 hour and 35 minutes.