We picked up The Crown at Season 4, having seen most of the first three seasons before growing bored with all the heavy royal accents. Prince Philip was the hardest to take. I had a fairly good impression of him before watching this series but came to loathe the way he was presented. How much is true is anyone's guess but I assume these are fairly accurate depictions.
Season 4 is quite telling, not just as a reminder of Charles' turbulent marriage with Diana but the nature of all the Queen's children. Princess Anne comes off the best. I remembered when she competed in the equestrian events of the 1976 Olympics, a tradition carried on through her children. The Princess Royal got to present the medals to her daughter and the rest of the British team which won silver at the 2012 London Olympics. That must have been a great moment for her!
The series tries to be as sympathetic as possible to Charles, noting that he was a withdrawn child and that sending him off to boarding school didn't help matters much. Philip was determined to beat him into shape, figuratively that is. Elizabeth apparently kept her distance, or so we are led to believe. It was with her second set of boys that she became more of a "mommy." Then along came Diana to shake everything up.
Not a very convincing introduction of her scampering around like a wood nymph while Charles waited for her older sister Sarah to go grouse hunting at the Sandringham estate. There are all sorts of tales surrounding their first meeting. Some say Diana had long set her eyes on Charles and was waiting for the propitious moment to make her introduction. According to this account in Town & Country, Sarah never had any interest in Charles and was glad to further along his budding romance with her little sister, who was still a teen when they first met. It seemed an incongruous relationship on many levels, not least of all the 12-year age gap.
There is a danger in watching a series like The Crown, as it seems so real in its depictions that you take them as truths. No one really knows what goes on in the royal family. What we get are snippets that writers then build into stories. I thought the episode where Diana visited Balmoral great fun to watch, but it was hard to believe that the royal family was so smitten by her, only to turn a cold shoulder when she became part of the family.
To that point, you kind of root for Charles, but soon we find out what an unbearable boor he is. The Queen visited him for lunch one day only to find out he was more concerned with the landscaping of Highgrove than he was Diana's growing anxieties. Charles had chosen Highgrove to be closer to Camilla, as well as create his idyllic country estate. Meanwhile, a pregnant Di sulked in her bedroom watching television.
It's sad to watch, not just because we know what happened to Diana, but that her kids were exposed to this acrimony as well. You get the feeling that the divorce and death of Diana hit Harry the hardest, as he is always alluding to it. I imagine William was no less overwhelmed but has assumed the role of Prince in Waiting and has learned to bury those feelings for the sake of royal duty. All this will come out in the much anticipated fifth season of The Crown.
Today, Charles is once again front and center for the way he is treating Harry. When William and Kate began having children, Harry's rank in the royal family fell, much like it did with Andrew and Edward before. Harry's been good in the sense he didn't let it dog him, as it obviously did Andrew. Still, he didn't see that he had much of a role anymore and wanted to break ranks. I can't say that I blame him, especially given what he remembers of his mother. His father didn't make the situation any easier by turning a cold shoulder on him as well.
I get the feeling it was Charles who wasn't at all happy with his son's engagement to Meghan, although Camilla has been tagged as the "royal racist." Given the history in the family, it is easy to see why the Royals weren't too keen on Harry marrying an American. They would have preferred a girl closer to home. But, Harry went through with the marriage, which eclipsed that of William and Kate in the media. A fairy tale come to life.
For a brief moment, everyone loved Harry and Meghan, but then Harry began suing for independence and soon he and Meghan fell out of favor with the British public, largely thanks to all the scandalous things that were being printed, not least of all from her father and step-siblings. I don't think Harry was looking for a complete break but rather enough freedom so that he and Meghan could pursue their own interests. However, Charles was apparently quite angry about all this, as it was taking far too much attention away from The Crown. How much it was his decision or that of the Queen when it came to stripping Harry of virtually all his titles is anyone's guess, but it did seem like a vindictive thing a bitter father would do.
Harry apparently had to plead with his father to wear his uniform during guard duty on Saturday, as he had been stripped of all royal military rank as well. This I really don't understand as Harry had served in Afghanistan. He didn't join the military solely out of duty as Charles and William had. He requested active duty. It made a deep impression on him, starting the Invictus Games for disabled military veterans.
All this rancor casts Charles in a bad light once again. Whether it was because he didn't measure up to his father's expectations, as depicted in the serial, or didn't receive the warmth from his mother that any child relishes is subject to interpretation. His mother presented herself as reserved in public, but underneath was a vitality that endeared her to the people, and I assume her children and grandchildren. Queen Elizabeth apparently long had a soft spot for Harry, which probably didn't sit well with Charles either, as this was a love he felt he had been denied. Whatever the case, it is hard to sympathize with Charles.
Then there is this whole thing with Camilla, who is now the Queen Consort. The British press presents her as "the love of Charles' life." I don't think Season 5 of The Crown will help Charles and Camilla, as the series will delve deeply into his tragic relationship with Diana. Most Brits still hold Lady Di very close to their hearts. At best, Camilla will have only a begrudging respect from the public.
To this point Charles has been given a free pass during these long proceedings and has accorded himself well under the circumstances. However, we have already seen rumblings in the Commonwealth. Republicans want to see him abdicate the throne permanently. Australians don't want him on their currency and a move is underfoot to do away with their state's constitutional monarchy so that he will not be their head of state. For the most part, these anti-monarchial sentiments have been swept under the rug out of deference to the Queen.
His ascension to the throne actually begins today with the burial of his mother. To this point, her spirit still lay over the United Kingdom. Much depends on how he conducts himself over the next few months leading up to his coronation. Will we still have the vindictive prince or will a compassionate king finally emerge?
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