Prince Charles’s Company

Prince Charles’s Company or Prince Charles’s Men was a playing company in early modern London. The group was formed in 1608 as the Duke of York’s Men after Charles, who was then Duke of York and the second son of King James I and Anne of Denmark. When Charles’s elder brother, Prince Henry, died in 1612, the company gradually became known as Prince Charles’s Company. Andrew Gurr identifies this company as Prince Charles’s Company (I) to distinguish it from the company established in 1631 after the birth of the future Charles II, also called Prince Charles’s Company, but usually referred to by theatre scholars as Prince Charles’s Company (II) (395).