[attach id=522137 size="medium"]Ralph Fiennes is playing King Richard III at London’s Almeida Theatre. Photo: Carlo Allegri/Reuters[/attach]

British actor Ralph Fiennes has compared the current infighting among British politicians to William Shakespeare’s portrayal of England’s 15th century War of the Roses.

Fiennes, the award-winning star of films such as Schindler’s List and the English Patient, is for the first time playing King Richard III at London’s Almeida Theatre.

Richard was reinterred last year at Leicester Cathedral in central England, after his remains were found under a car park in the city in 2012. Some 530 years earlier, he had been slain at the Battle of Bosworth Field - the last significant battle of the War of the Roses, a 30-year conflict for the English throne.

Fiennes likened Shakespeare’s villainous king to the actions of current politician Michael Gove after David Cameron announced last month he would quit as prime minister following the Brexit.

Gove was accused of betraying Boris Johnson by withdrawing his support for the ex-London Mayor’s leadership bid and announcing his own intention to run for the top job.

“His endless protestations that he was not fit to be leader isclassic Richard,” Fiennes said.

“Whatever side of the political divide you’re on, you see that once the head has been cut off, chaos ensues and that’s what he (Shakespeare) foreshadows,” said the theatre’s artistic director, Rupert Goold.