While the central characters in the series are real-life people, the situations in the series are a fictional dramatization inspired by true events
The Crown. Pic- The Crown's Instagram
The month of September saw the Royal family taking over world news with the demise of Queen Elizabeth II. She reigned as Queen for 70 years, the longest in the history of the British monarchy. Weeks after her demise, the makers of 'The Crown' dropped the trailer of season 5 of the much-talked-about and loved Netflix show.
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The trailer begins with actor Imelda Staunton, who plays Queen Elizabeth II saying, “In light of the events of the last 12 months, perhaps I have more to reflect on than most." The time is the 1990s. The season will focus on the events that happened in the Royal family in that time period and the biggest among them was the failing marriage between Prince Charles and Princess Diana. While Princess Diana rose to popularity among the people, she was also dealing with a dying marriage.
While the central characters in the series are real-life people, the situations in the series are a fictional dramatization inspired by true events.
Ahead of season 5, we look back at 5 moments from 'The Crown' that shook us:
The Queen breaks protocol and unveils her political side
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to enter a private audience with the Queen since Queen Elizabeth II took over the crown. As shown in season 4, the PM was unwilling to support sanctions in apartheid-rattled South Africa. Adding to this, Thatcher was not a fan of the commonwealth, while the Queen loved them. According to the British constitution, the Queen is not allowed to express political opinions, as it would be looked at as an attack on the government and an attempt to sway the public. In the show, we see the queen breaking the protocol. The rift eventually becomes a national headline and the Royal family takes measures for damage control.
The life of Princess Alice
The life of Prince Philips's mother, Princess Alice, who was born with congenital deafness, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and helped rescue Jews from Nazis was featured on 'The Crown'. Season 3 focuses on the trauma and insecurities that Philip harboured and his complicated relationship with his mother. According to the show, Princess Alice moves into a small attic room at Buckingham Palace where she shared cigarettes and secrets with her granddaughter, Princess Anne. Princess Ann secretly gets a journalist to interview her grandmother Princess Alice. While the journalist uncovers shocking secrets about her past, they only feature the tip of the iceberg. However, the interview is a fictional part of the series and never happened in real life. Historians believe she was a private person and even burned all her letters before her demise.
Also Read: Netflix clarifies 'The Crown' is a 'fictional dramatization'
Buckingham Palace has a spy
The first episode of season three introduces us to the Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, Sir Anthony Blunt. He held the position for 27 years. For the first 19 years of his term, he worked as a spy for the Soviet Union and went undetected. After serious suspicion and multiple interrogations, he confessed in exchange for immunity from prosecution. However, he got much more than the prosecution and remained and kept his role for another 8 years. 'The Crown' shows how the royal family kept Blunt in his role despite his confession. It was implied that this was to protect the reputation of Britain's intelligence forces. We also see Blunt blackmail Prince Philip with a portrait of him done by Osteopath Stephen Ward. This was in reference to the scandal that rocked the royal marriage in season 2. However, the larger reason seemed to be the protection of the royal honor that made them not reveal Blunt's truth. H
However, when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, she publicly outed him in the House of Commons in November of that year and a media storm followed. Following this, the Queen stripped Anthony Blunt of his knighthood and though he remained in London, Blunt lived as a recluse until he died of a heart attack in 1983 at age 75.
Royal Cousins
In an episode that puts the spotlight on mental health, Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II discovers that five of her cousins whom she thought to be dead were alive and living in a mental hospital in 1941. Princess Margaret, who faces her own mental health issues in the episode, confronts the Queen Mother. She is horrified by her mother's justification of the family's decision to erase the memory of the pair from public knowledge. She blamed it on the 1936 abdication that thrust her husband onto the throne and suddenly made the purity of her family's bloodline a subject of international interest. "Their professionally diagnosed idiocy and imbecility would make people question the integrity of the bloodline…can you imagine the headlines if it were to get out? What people would say?” she said on the show.
When an intruder broke into the Queen's chamber
In what can be called one of the biggest security scandals in British history, a man entered the royal residence through an unlocked window. The 31-year-old, Michael Fagan scaled the walls of the palace and entered the Queen's chamber while she slept on the morning of July 9, 1982. He broke into the palace after a night of heavy drinking and he was an unemployed decorator back then. When the Queen woke up to find him, she used the phone at her bedside to call security, but when nobody got back she got out of bed and went to fetch the guard. However, it was not his first break-in in the palace. "I walked straight in," he said during his trial about the first incident, in which he claimed to have tried out several thrones. "I was surprised I wasn't captured straight away. I could have been a rapist or something. I knew I could break the security system because it was so weak," Fagan said.
On 'The Crown', we see the Queen arranging a private meeting with him to listen to his problems. But Fagan was also informed to never mention his private audience with the Queen.
Season 5 of 'The Crown' will start streaming on Netflix from November 9.
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