Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown Photo: Netflix/Justin Downing
As the last half-dozen episodes of The Crown Arriving at Netflix, it's certain that Peter Morgan, his co-creators, and the series' various historical consultants listened to the outcry caused by the numerous fabrications and embellishments of the truth in previous seasons, and decided to double down on their signature combination of invention and speculation.
After the relative sobriety of the (excellent) first and second seasons, which combined documented facts with a generous dose of dramatic license, it seems that as the series delves deeper into events that have occurred within living memory, its creators have decided that the only way to maintain interest in well-documented recent history, it is possible to use a level of fiction that will either outrage or excite the audience, depending on how they view the subject.
The Crown never pretended to be anything other than a fictional drama increasingly based on the lives of the royal family. If you're still watching it in the final stretch, you'll know better than to expect accuracy. But how suspicious is this really?
Episode 5: WillsmaniaPrince William accused his father of complicity in his mother's death?
There were hints in earlier episodes of The Crown that Morgan would at least nod to some of the conspiracy theories surrounding Princess Diana's death – witness Prince Philip told her at the end of season four: “Let's just say I don't I see.” will end well for you” if she decides to leave the royal family. However, it is still a significant shock to me that there is a moment in this episode where a frustrated and emotional William directly asks Prince Charles at Highgrove, “Don't you think there might be a connection between where we are We are all here now, and is your participation in this?”
His shocked father replies: “I hope you're not implying what I think… your mother's death was a terrible tragedy.” ” before William justifies his question by saying, “She should never have been around the Fayeds… you shouldn't have driven the car, but you drove her into the arms of those who did, making her so miserable loving someone else ”
It's a stunning moment that, intentionally or not – and ironically, given the theme of this season's ninth episode – will fuel a lot of conspiracy theories, even as Dominic West's Charles replies: “If you're trying to make that connection, then you're right.” , but I find it deeply distressing and unkind… this accident was in no way my fault, and to even suggest that it was is outrageous, and I resent this accusation.” Of course, this has absolutely no basis. While Prince Harry suggested in January of this year that his mother's death was “a lot of things unexplained,” even he never suggested that his father – or anyone else in the royal family – had anything to do with the tragic incident.
Did William receive bags full of fan mail while at Eton?
In a touching scene early in the episode, when a grieving William returns to school for the autumn term shortly after Diana's death, he is shown receiving hundreds of letters of support from his classmates, even those who have never met him and know him only by reputation. This was indeed true; more than half the school (about six hundred boys) wrote to William to express their condolences and, as one student put it, “it was just a show of solidarity.” This was undoubtedly more comforting to William at Eton than the welcome that greeted Prince Harry at his Ludgrove prep school, where the subject was simply not mentioned by teachers or students.
The episode's treatment of William's time at Eton is a strange mixture of small details that are observed quite correctly and larger examples of fiction. At one point, William's tutor Andrew Gailey suggests that he has some idea of what his charge is going through, as his wife suffered from leukemia several years ago; this is true as Gayley's wife Shauna was actually diagnosed with the disease ten years ago.
However, Gailey is also shown carrying huge bags of fan letters, which fans (mostly women) sent to William's bedroom before eventually getting rid of them at the prince's request. There is no record of this, and although William undoubtedly received letters from well-wishers and admirers as a schoolboy – and especially after the death of his mother – this image seems exaggerated for dramatic effect.
Luther Ford as Prince Harry Photo: Netflix Was the relationship between William and Charles bad after Diana's death?
In addition to the tense moment when William asks his father about his supposed guilt in his mother's accident, the episode features the two constantly bickering, with Charles complaining about his son that “he's so one-dimensional these days that he almost hostile” and offended by him. what he calls his “pop star” status. Meanwhile, William is shown angry during a private family ski trip to Whistler in early 1998 when he is asked to take part in a photo call with journalists and complains, “[I] hate the press, I hate the crowd,” leading to his father and grandmother are concerned that the future king hates the people he will one day rule.
Eventually, Charles and William reconcile through the medium of Prince Philip, who describes the emotional turmoil with the euphemism “pain in the shoulder”, and the episode ends with father and son emotionally embracing in the grounds of Highgrove. It is impossible to say whether any of this has any basis in accuracy, but Whistler's portrayal of the unhappy William may be partly true; Contemporary news reports said that while Charles and Harry made time for well-wishers upon arriving in Vancouver, William neglected the spectators and headed straight to his hotel.
Of course, the relationship between father and son was not always easy; as royal journalist Robert Jobson wrote in his recent biography of King Charles: “William was even known to speak harshly to his father. One conversation between them was so heated that Charles was shocked.” However, it is impossible to know whether the levels of tension depicted here are due to something real or are simply a dramatic invention.
Charles and Camilla did not see each other for a long time after Diana's death on the grounds that he was a “prisoner of public opinion”?
There is a scene where Charles and Camilla are talking on the phone and bemoaning the fact that in the tense atmosphere that has hung over the country since the events of August 31, 1997, they could not see each other without causing outrage. This is generally true. Although Charles had taken steps to introduce Camilla to both his wider social circle and his family before his ex-wife's death, he had to temporarily pause their public appearances together, mindful of public opinion.
However, by the spring of 1998 they were seen together again, hosting a party for close friends at Sandringham in March that year, and 16-year-old William met Camilla for the first time at St James's Palace on 12 June 1998. , it was apparently a spontaneous and unplanned meeting not depicted in the series. The media statement released by the royals confirming the meeting was a miracle of neglect: “Yes, Prince William and Mrs. Parker Bowles met. “The children's encounters with Mrs Parker Bowles are a private family matter which we are not prepared to discuss and we hope for their sake the media will now leave this very private matter alone.”
Episode 6: Ruritania Was the Queen annoyed by Tony Blair's popularity?
After being stuck on the sidelines for the first half of the series (presumably trying to stay in the territory outlined in Morgan's earlier script for The Queen), it's time for Bertie Carvel's Tony Blair to step forward and take center stage. The opening fantasy scene, in which the Queen imagines Blair being crowned in the new British republic, sets the tone, although the show's suggestion that American newspapers dubbed him “King Tony” is a fantasy.
The antagonistic relationship between them dominates the episode, as the Queen calls the new Prime Minister a “unifying national symbol” and tells him – with some envy – that “you are in some ways the most celebrated leader on the world stage.” . Yet did she sincerely believe, as the series suggests, that Blair's popularity would surpass that of the royal family, leading to a potential existential crisis for the organization?
It is undeniably true that after his landslide victory in the 1997 election – and, to speak of events omitted in The Crown, his deft management of public reaction after Diana's death – Blair became an extraordinarily popular prime minister; one poll taken in late September 1997 found that 93 percent of the public thought he was doing a good job. However, the Queen did not like his presidential style of leadership, refused to comply with his request to call her “Tony” rather than “Mr Blair” or “Prime Minister”, and was irritated by his desire to distract their weekly audience from his presidential style of leadership . usual spot from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday so he could prepare for the Prime Minister earlier in the day. It also didn't help – as this episode clearly suggests – that Blair's wife, Cheri, was far from a monarchist and did not show the respect for members of the royal family that was usually expected of the wife of a prime minister. Therefore, when it is suggested that Blair was one of Elizabeth II's least favorite prime ministers, it is generally assumed to be correct.
Bertie Carvel as Tony Blair Photo: Netflix Did Blair propose radical reforms to the institution of the monarchy, to the consternation of the Queen?
With contemporary polls showing the royal family out of touch with public opinion, with only 10 percent agreeing that the monarchy should continue in its current form, this episode suggests that the Queen turned to Blair for advice on how to make the monarchy more popular. His proposals—from reforming primogeniture so that the eldest daughter could inherit the throne, to abolishing apparently anachronistic ceremonial roles such as “herb-spreader queen” and “swan-keeper”—were received extremely poorly (although Charles suggests that “one or two concessions ” might not be a bad idea) and the potential “honor purge” is ignored and the queen remains victorious.
This is an interesting idea, but complete fiction. Blair was, and appears to remain, an inherent monarchist, unlike his wife, who said in 2002 that the monarchy is a “fundamentally better system” and said of the Queen that “people see her surrounded by the pomp and ceremony of the monarchy, which is an integral part of it.” Although he has not yet commented on the accuracy of The Crown's storylines – or its presentation by Carvel – Blair foresaw many of the exaggerations and lies associated with the royals, saying: “When I became prime minister and started to know a little bit more about what's on actually happened, I almost stopped believing everything you read about the royal family.”
Was it expected that the Home Secretary would be called to witness the birth of the Queen's first child before George VI vetoed the practice?
One of the more bizarre stories covered in this episode involved the detail that the then Home Secretary was a routine witness to the birth of the next in line to the throne, and this would have been the case… then Princess Elizabeth and the birth of Prince Charles, if her father did not decide that this was an archaic and intrusive custom and did not put an end to it.
The King and Queen were initially in favor of maintaining the tradition, but then-Private Secretary Alan “Tommy” Lascelles thought it was ridiculous. When he met Norman Robertson, the Canadian High Commissioner, he complained about his existence, and then Robertson offered him a surprise withdrawal clause, noting that if the British Home Secretary was present at the birth, then another Home Secretary should also be present. Secretaries of the Dominions of the Commonwealth, meaning that a total of seven politicians had to be present at the birth. This was clearly ridiculous and impractical, so the tradition was buried and will never return.
Bertie Carvel as Tony Blair Photo: Netflix Did Blair fail when he approached the WI in early 2000?
While it is generally accepted that it was Iraq that contributed to Blair's enduring reputation, there were signs early in his premiership that he was only human after all, and one of these is depicted in amusingly vivid detail at the end of the episode. Blair addressed the Women's Institute's national conference in June 2000 and, in what the pro-Labour Guardian newspaper called “an extraordinary error of political judgment”, attempted to turn his speech into a political address, extolling his party's triumphs. He was greeted with slow applause and booing, with his spokesman Alastair Campbell subsequently saying in an embarrassed tone: “I'm not going to get into a war of words with the WI.” The contrast with the Queen, who, as shown in the previous episode, was a devoted member of the WI and remained a member of the movement for 80 years, often speaking at its meetings, illustrates the difference between them both in fact and in fiction.
Episode 7: Alma Mater Did 15-year-old Kate Middleton and her mother Carol see Diana and William sell The Big Issue in December 1996?
There have been several different versions of when William and Kate first met. It is common knowledge that they first met each other when they were students at St Andrews in 2001, both studying art history. However, royal biographers have suggested that their paths first crossed when William was nine years old and came to play in a hockey match at Kate's prep school, also called St Andrews, and that although they are unlikely to have met then, it has also been suggested that Kate may have met William when she was in sixth form at Marlborough College through mutual friends and an ever-expanding public school network.
None of these meetings are shown in the seventh episode of The Crown. Instead, the series shows a teenage Kate and her mother confronting Diana and William selling The Big Issue in December 1996. Although the late Princess of Wales was a strong advocate for the homeless and campaigned on issues related to the issue, she never took to the streets. sell a magazine, and she was not accompanied by her son, so such a meeting with his future wife would never have happened.
Was William dating a girl named Lola Kincaid before Kate?
The episode reveals that before William and Kate became a couple, he dated an aristocratic girl named Lola Kincaid and that there was a certain degree of coldness between them when, after a chance meeting in the library, it became apparent that William was more attracted to Kate than to the middle class, attracted him more than his prospective girlfriend. The whole thing is complete fiction, right down to the very existence of “Lola Airdale-Cavendish-Kinkaid”, which may or may not be a version of William's girlfriend Carly Massey-Burch, a self-described “country bumpkin” who briefly dated the prince in what she called it “an ordinary university romance.”
The portrayal of Kate's affair with fellow student Rupert Finch is generally accurate, but the appearance of Lola arguing with photographers as she and William leave a screening of Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother, released in August 1999, more than two years later back. the action is given – pure fiction.
Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton Photo: Netflix Did Kate Middleton's mother, Carole, plan to bring her and William together?
The incomparable Eve Best, who plays Carole Middleton in the series, also played Lady Macbeth at the Globe in 2001. Some would say it was a fitting experience to portray the woman who is said to have forced her daughter to study at St Andrews with the intention of meeting and falling in love with Prince William. Although the episode portrays Carol in a relatively balanced way, suggesting that her desire for her daughter to meet William is for her sake as well as his – “That poor boy needs a nice, normal girl” – those who believe that the former air hostess manipulated Kate into enrolling at St Andrews rather than her chosen university, Edinburgh, their suspicions will be confirmed by the storyline here.
But is it? Carole has never publicly commented on the rumors, and in a rare interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2018, simply said she no longer reads any stories about herself: “Well, I thought it would be better to know what people think. But it doesn't matter. I'm not really sure how I'm perceived right now.” Others were less ambiguous. In Tina Brown's impeccably sourced Palace Papers, Brown writes: “It is unlikely that Kate would be where she is today without her mother's cunning help in negotiating the royal romance” and, describing Carole's “considerable strategic flair”, suggests, that “Carole's fingerprints all control Kate's first move on the royal chessboard.” From the cart to grandma to the next king, it's a remarkable journey: only those who are truly dedicated – even ruthless – can make it.
Was William the only member of the royal family to achieve an A-level at A level?
There is a funny scene in which the royal family gathers to see William announce his A-level results, and although Prince Philip jokingly suggests that he expects his grandson to get excellent grades, the family is delighted with William's achievement: an A Geography, a B in art and a B in biology. Princess Anne cheerfully points out that he is the first member of the royal family to receive an “excellent” rating, which may well have been true at the time. It is not known what A-level grades she, Edward and Andrew received, but Charles received a B in history and a C in French – at one time this was enough to guarantee him a place at Cambridge – and Harry received an “excellent” grade in history and French. B in Art and D in Geography.
Other members of the royal family subsequently achieved greater academic success; Kate achieved A*s in maths and art and A*s in English, Princess Beatrice achieved A*s in drama and A*s in history and cinematography, and Princess Eugenie achieved A*s in art and English and a B ” in art history was considered so impressive that her parents issued a press release praising her achievements.
Ed McVeigh as Prince William Photo: Netflix Did William almost drop out of university?
Much of the episode shows that William's life in St. Andrews was lonely and miserable; eats noodles in his room, is forced to apologize to Kate after objectifying women as “appropriate” and considers leaving university, saying of his course: “I'm having a hard time making sense of it.” This is exaggerated. It is true that he did find his first term unsatisfactory, but his biographers have suggested that this was more because he found St Andrews small and provincial compared to his previous surroundings. Robert Lacey suggests that Charles agreed to change universities to Edinburgh, but it was believed that the Firm would be so embarrassed if he dropped out – even to transfer elsewhere – that Prince Philip's advice to “lean in and not slack out” was taken into account. and instead a transition was obtained to the more sympathetic subject of geography.
By this point, William had met Kate on the course and become friends, and Tina Brown claims that “in a series of serious conversations, she persuaded William to give up art history, a subject in which he had little or no interest.” This episode shows it simply as Kate sending him a message advising him not to drop out of university: a necessary shorthand for a more complex situation.
Episode 8: The Ritz. Did Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret leave the palace incognito on VE Day?
The main recurring theme in this episode – which pays off heartbreakingly at the end – concerns the famous incident when the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were allowed to leave Buckingham Palace and mingle incognito with the celebrating revelers on VE Day, May 8, 1945. While the basic details themselves are accurate, the show takes significant dramatic license with some of the events depicted. Although Elizabeth was indeed dressed in her service gear (she had been a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service since 1944, after she turned eighteen), she and Margaret did not go out, accompanied by Margaret's future lover Peter Townsend and Elizabeth's friend Porchie, as the episode suggests , but with their former nanny Marion “Crawfie” Crawford, their French teacher Marie-Antoinette de Bellegue, several guards officers and the royal equerry.
However, these are relatively minor fabrications. What will be even more surprising to many is the episode's suggestion that at some point Elizabeth broke free from the bonds of her protectors to dance the Jitterbug with a group of American soldiers at the Pink Sink, the basement bar of the Ritz Hotel, and that she hints at the end of the episode with the kiss of one of the soldiers.
Although the Pink Shell did exist – and was a favorite location for illicit homosexual encounters – there is no record of Princess Elizabeth visiting it then or at any other time, nor that she (and ultimately Margaret ) danced the “Jitterbug” with cheerful energy. . The episode follows in the footsteps of several other books and films that have depicted what the royal princesses were doing the night they left Buckingham Palace, and has no more to do with the facts than the relative lack of knowledge about their licensed escapade.
The king wrote in his diary of the day's exploits: “Poor beloved ones, they have never had fun before.” If they were having as much fun as this episode showed, he would be less optimistic.
Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret Photo: Netflix Did John Betjeman write a dirty poem about Princess Margaret?
Before Princess Margaret is shown suffering a “little, tiny” stroke in Mustique, she is seen wooing her friends and aides and reciting a lewd poem she claims former poet laureate Sir John Betjeman wrote about her and sent to a friend. Sir Maurice Bowra. It's an undeniably powerful piece, opening with the lyrics, “Green with lust and sick with shyness/Let me lick your patent-leather toes,” and then continuing with equally salacious detail, much to the delight and horror of the hangers-on around her.
The poem does exist, but it is not Betjeman's. Instead it is Bowra, the famously caustic Oxford professor who, amused by his poetic friend's emotional reaction to Margaret's Duff Cooper Prize in 1958, wrote the raunchy lines as a parody of Betjeman's much less shocking play In Westminster Abbey. (“Let me take off another glove/While the human voice swells”)
It's unclear whether this implies that Margaret herself is unaware of the poem's misattribution, or – what I suspect is more likely – that the show's researchers were either misled or simply didn't care, but it's a slight on memory . from Betjeman. However, his affection for and friendship with Princess Margaret was true; his longtime companion Lady Elizabeth Cavendish was her maid of honor, and the three often socialized together.
Did Princess Margaret celebrate her 70th birthday at the Ritz in the company of the Queen? And did the queen give a eulogy? Was Prince Philip absent?
The episode shows the gradual deterioration of Princess Margaret's condition following a series of strokes that have impaired her mobility and enjoyment of life, including a horrific incident when she was badly scalded in the bath because she was unable to turn off the hot tap. All this is accurately shown. However, one element of dramatic license is evident in the depiction of her 70th birthday celebrations at the Ritz when she returned to the stage for VE Day celebrations in August 2001, just months before her death on 9 February 2002.
While the setting is certainly accurate, the episode puts some emphasis on the Queen being present without Prince Philip, feeling emotionally abandoned by him and instead wanting to be there in the company of her longtime friend Porchie, and also making a heartfelt and emotional We're talking about Margarita. While it is impossible to know whether the Queen made such a public address, photographs and the event's guest list indicate that she attended with Philip – as usual – and that the rift between the couple in the episode is fictional.
However, speaking of Corruption, one seemingly strange detail is completely accurate. He actually died of a heart attack after watching 9/11 on television, and his death was ignored by the media.
Episode 9: Street of Hope. Will William and Kate first become the subject of attention after she appeared at a 'risqué' themed fashion show in St Andrews?
By this point in The Crown's final episode, it was clear that Morgan and his fellow writers wanted to cover more ground than they had available screen time, and so numerous events and timelines were lumped together, resulting in a misleading and even confusing confusing effect. The portrayal of William and Kate's romance is the most obvious example. On Hope Street, it appears that William and Kate declared their mutual feelings for each other after she appeared in a see-through dress at a student fashion show and shared their first kiss before William's security officer was forced to interrupt to tell him. that the Queen Mother died that same day.
However, the two have now become an official item and William is shown meeting Kate's family over the Golden Jubilee weekend before rushing back to Buckingham Palace to take his place next to his family on the balcony. The two are then shown moving into a house on Hope Street in St Andrews, along with some other students; The symbolic impression of the name is far from subtle.
Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton Photo: Netflix
There are a lot of factual inaccuracies in this storyline, and it more or less deviates from the truth after describing a fashion show at which William was famously fascinated by Kate, telling one friend, “Wow, Kate is hot!” However, the two didn't become the subject of discussion until much later (reports vary, but most suggest it wasn't until the following year, 2003), meaning that the entire plot of “Golden Jubilee” is fiction, as is the juxtaposition of their first the kiss and death of the Queen Mother; The fashion show took place on March 26, 2002, and William's great-grandmother died on March 30. Although they did move into a house with two other friends in the fall of 2002, they were housemates rather than a romantic couple. .
Coincidentally – or not – the Princess of Wales opened a women's refuge in Southampton in June this year, designed to house women in the justice system with their children. His name? Street of Hope.
Why did Operation Paget happen?
As the show's penultimate episode continues to delve into the aftermath of Princess Diana's death, it depicts the Metropolitan Police's investigation into the circumstances of the events of August 31, 1997, which was largely sparked by Mohamed al-Fayed's increasingly crazed and violent comments. about the royal family's alleged involvement in the deaths of Diana and his son Dodi. The reason for the need was that al-Fayed had made several comments suggesting that the royal family and security services were responsible for either killing the couple or at least conspiring to cause the accident.
The two-year investigation led by Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens interviewed a number of witnesses, including Prince Charles, and the episode featured Diana's letter to her butler Paul being read to Charles. Burrell, in which she writes: “This particular phase of my life is the most dangerous. My husband is planning an accident with my car. Brake failure and a serious head injury clear the way for him to marry Tiggy. Camille is nothing more than a bait, so this man is using us in every sense of the word.”
Salim Doe as Mohamed Al Fayed
The details are broadly accurate, but the chronology is again misleading. It is implied that al-Fayed gave a television interview in 2002 in which he spoke of the “British Dracula royal family” and stated his false claim that Diana was pregnant with Dodi's child, that this prompted Stevens to begin his investigation and that he ended with Stevens making a televised address refuting all of al-Fayed's and his lawyers' claims, before al-Fayed announced his intention to leave the country following the announcement that the royal family could burn in hell.
Stevens published his 832-page report in December 2006, followed by a coroner's inquest between 2007 and 2008, which concluded that Diana and Dodi were unlawfully killed as a result of the gross negligence of their driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi pursuing them . . Stevens did not make the standard public speech, and although al-Fayed did make disparaging and vampiric remarks about the royals, he did so in court in February 2008, during which he criticized Stevens' account as “totally false” and suggested a cover-up “Dark forces” are responsible. And al-Fayed never left the country, remaining in Britain – although never with his long-awaited British passport – until his death earlier this year.
The episode also exaggerates the public's belief that Diana was murdered. The character Robin Janvrin, the Queen's private secretary, cites a poll showing that 78 percent of Britons believe that “some element of foul play may have been involved in the disaster.” In fact, although many polls were taken between Diana's death and the conclusion of the investigation, no credible poll ever suggested that more than half the population believed that there may have been more to these events than just a tragic accident. The only evidence to the contrary was a Daily Express article (admittedly self-selected) from September 2007, which stated that 89 percent of its readers believed Diana was murdered; This may have been based on endless front page articles suggesting just that, without any credible evidence.
Luther Ford as Prince Harry Photo: Netflix Did the relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry fall apart by 2002?
The estrangement between the royal brothers is now so widely publicized that it has become common knowledge, and it is not surprising that the episode foreshadows modern events, since after the death and funeral of the Queen Mother, William and Harry are shown arguing, with the Future King criticizing his younger brother for He fools around and smokes weed, but Harry replies, “To be a likable scoundrel, you first have to be likable,” resulting in both having to apologize to each other while attending the Queen Mother's Funeral. While William remained silent about the couple's breakdown, Harry detailed his falling out with his brother in his memoir Spare and elsewhere.
Although he suggests that things between them only truly fell apart after Harry and Meghan's wedding in November 2018, there has been tension between them dating back to at least 2005 – the year of the Nazi uniform incident – and possibly dating back to their time in Eaton, when William allegedly said: “Pretend we don’t know each other,” although this, frankly, is hardly known when the older brother does not want to be embarrassed by communication with the younger one.
However, there is no indication that the two were arguing or were on unusually bad terms at this stage of their relationship – Harry would undoubtedly have revealed details in his memoirs if this residual tension existed – so this incident can be put aside as this happens often. , to dramatic license in general.
Episode 10: Sleep, darling, sleep. Was the Queen seriously considering abdicating the throne and announcing her intention to do so at Charles and Camilla's wedding?
The idea of the Queen's potential abdication has been used in several episodes of The Crown, most notably in the first part of the fifth season, “The Queen Victoria Syndrome”, in which Charles unsuccessfully tries to persuade John Major to persuade his mother to give up the throne to him. and the season's final episode, “Decommissioned”, in which he has a similar – and apparently more fruitful – conversation with the modernizing new Prime Minister Tony Blair. So it's no surprise that the show's ending revolves around the idea of the Queen giving up the throne so the Prince of Wales can take it, or that she decides the time to abdicate will be shortly before her eightieth birthday. the birthday when Charles marries Camilla; it is, as Prince Harry noted in the episode, “the wedding gift dad wants most, for him and Camilla.”
It wouldn't be The Crown without stunning moments of inventiveness, and so, not content with offering provocation – which really has absolutely no basis – Morgan imagines Imelda Staunton's Queen talking to two previous versions of her younger self. A lively and serious incarnation of Olivia Colman (“No need to continue… your first loyalty has always been to the Crown… resigning is the right thing to do as a Queen and a mother”) and a more idealistic younger model Claire Foy, who declares: “I have never heard so much nonsense… have you forgotten the oath you took?” After initially deciding to abdicate (and her self-written speech saying so being seen as a “big announcement”), she does no such thing, instead making jokes about the Grand National Day and a “small family wedding” ” in the Windsor area.”
A recurring theme throughout the episode is that the Queen is the last worthy holder of the office of monarch, and this is made clear when Foy's version tells Staunton, “It's natural for you… they seem to mess things up like that.” . Naturally, Elizabeth II did not abdicate the throne, and despite the introspection she engaged in, she continued to reign for another 17 years, dashing her son's hopes until he was seventy years old.
Dominic West as Prince Charles and Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles. Photo: Netflix Did Charles' family object to his wedding to Camilla?
While it is unknown when or where Charles proposed to Camilla (the series refers to a breakfast at Highgrove), it is generally accepted that the Queen was not thrilled with the news, as this episode makes clear. The royal objections to Camilla had less to do with her personally than with the fact that the monarch, as a religious woman, was unfavorable to the idea of two divorced people remarrying in a church service; hence the scene in which Elizabeth calls a meeting of bishops to ask their advice before deciding that it would be more difficult if Charles lived in sin with Camilla if she died than if he married into secular service and then got blessing to the church.
All of this is generally true, but it is unclear how much truth there is in the episode's portrayal of the antipathy that Harry, in particular, felt towards Camilla. The details of him saying “Why can't they just carry on as they are” and telling his brother that he was a “damn company man” for not objecting to the match owe much to his memoirs by Spare. In it, Harry described Camilla as “dangerous” and a “villain” who threw her future stepson under the bus to boost her reputation and thereby ease her path to marry Charles, and wrote that both he and William begged their father not to marry on her, describing her as a “wicked stepmother” – a description that was leaked to the newspapers that hurt Camilla.
Given that the episode depicts a seething and resentful Harry – and a more accommodating William – it's interesting to wonder whether Morgan or his researchers read Harry's memoirs, or whether the animosity he felt towards Camilla was simply well… known in palace circles.
Prince Harry dressed up as a Nazi for a fancy dress party?
One aspect of Harry's personal knowledge is that in 2005 he attended a “colonial and native” themed fancy dress costume dressed as a member of the Afrika Korps, and photographs of him in the costume were sold to newspapers by another guest who surreptitiously filmed them your phone. Harry subsequently called it “one of the biggest mistakes of my life,” and The Crown's fairly truthful portrayal of the event will bring back unpleasant memories for him – unless, of course, he decides to watch the series with far more trauma than it contains. Harry subsequently claimed that William and Kate egged him on – which was hinted at when he angrily called his brother “Mr. Morality” – although the episode shows Harry picking out his outfit with the two of them rather than telling them over the phone. how it really happened.
However, it is pure fiction, albeit an amusing one, that the princes' friend Guy Pelly dressed up as their grandmother at the same party and at one point appeared on stage in full Elizabethan attire. sing “I Want To Break Free” by Queen. But it is true, as this episode suggests, that Harry was punished by his father forcing him to work on the farm. The revelation, which appeared in the Sunday Mirror, subsequently became part of Harry's court case against the Mirror Group newspapers as he claimed the story was obtained through phone hacking.
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