On a sunny September day near Killruddery House, an Elizabethan mansion outside of Dublin, Jonathan Rhys Meyers strides imperiously across an immaculately seeded lawn. Clad in a purple velvet cloak and an elaborately embroidered rose-colored doublet, he looks every inch the king he is portraying.
Relaxing in his trailer later, the 29-year-old actor admits that the spirit of King Henry VIII, his role in Showtime's new 10-part series, The Tudors (Sundays at 10 pm/ET), has inhabited him so thoroughly that his demands — mainly along the lines of "Get us a cup of tea, love," he says — have become more regal, too. "There is a certain level of arrogance that has to seep into your system if you are playing the king," Rhys Meyers says with a smile. "Although I'm sure it was there before."
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