At 79 I grew up through the entirety of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. I can remember seeing her coronation on News Of The World when we went to the movies and watching it on TV. We had one of the first TV's in our neighborhood and all the kids came over on Saturday mornings to watch, The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Sky King, Hoppalong Cassidy, Zorro and the Cisco Kid. The Cornation was on the evening news for days.
My parents loved movies and we went frequently. In those days there was always a double feature, news reels AND a cartoon! The Saturday matinee was a nickel.
Despite my mother's family, my grandfather being a direct descendent of the White family on the Mayflower, I never had much interest in British history. I rooted for Robin Hood and during history classes always disliked Britain and agreed America needed to break away from British rule. As an adult I became more aware of Britain's ruling of her empire and liked it even less.
I missed the first broadcasts of THE CROWN on Netflix. Recently friends talked about it but since I no longer have Netflix I went to our library. The Palm Springs Library has 1,000's of DVD's, just about every BBC series that I have watched and love. So, through them I have learned much about English thought and customs.There I found Season 1 of THE CROWN.
Prepared to dislike it I was captivated by the first show. I was not prepared to see first the glamor but the darker undertones beneath the glamor. I especially felt it was out of place first in the 20th Century let alone the 21st! It was BRIDGERTON in the 2000's. The world had moved on, the monarchy hasn't.
DOWNTON ABBEY did a wonderful job showing how life changed for the great family's after WW I. The monarchy however, did not. Did a person need maid's to wake you, bring you tea, open curtains, dress you? And not just one person but 100's? I was amazed at how many people were in the "royal" family and what their upkeep must have cost Britain.
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| Just a smattering of the Royal family. |
Starting with King George VI with frequent appearances of his brother, Edward VIII who abdicated because a king could not marry a divorced women in the Anglican church, as a king or queen are the supreme leader's of said church, you soon understood how marriages were "designed" to optimize the crowns power even though kings or queens have no power today other than by persuasion. It's an archaic holdover from the past that, to me, has no place in today's world.
I was surprised to learn the queen raced horses for money and sired animals for profits that were her's. The most shocking lesson was to find Czar Nickolas II asked the King George V, in 1917, to save them from the Russian revolution by sending them a ship. Nickolas was the British kings first cousin and his wife was Queen Victoria's granddaughter as Kaiser Wilhelm was Victoria's grandson. The request was denied by Queen Mary and the entire family was soon assassinated.
For those that didn't know it Britain entered WW I as the House of Saxe-Coburg-Getha, the German House of Hanover. King George V changed the name to The House of Windsor to deflect hatred of Germans and the monarchy during the war.
We all know the saga of Prince, now King Charles III, and his affair with Camilla. What many may not know is that when Charles was dating Diana but remained close to Camilla a family pow wow made the decision for Charles to marry Diana and Camilla to marry Parker-Bowles. The Spencers ranked higher than the Shand's. Charles had no say in the matter and you watch as their marriages deteriorates. Part of the problem was Charles resented Diana's popularity over him. This family decision doomed both marriages.
I was also surprised to learn that William's marriage was in a sense arranged by Katherine's mother Carole Middleton. They are in fact distantly related. Kate is William's 15th cousin, once removed. This show paints a picture of duty, with disfunction that mirrors the lives of their subject's. The Queen's "stiff upper lip" in all crises and an unwillingness to bend. Prince Philip himself even more.
One of the more disturbing issues with the show was having lived through and seen these people repeatedly all these years. Most of the characters rarely looked like who they really were. The third actress portraying the Queen came close but not so much the other's.
Fact checking many of the key moments the creators took some license. private conversations are mostly invented or quoted from letters and diaries. Romantic and sexual affairs were exaggerated, motivations exaggerated for dramatic effect with politics of mixed accuracy. After all this is dramatized versions of real events NOT a documentary.
The photography and detail to locations is splendid, costumes beautiful, residences accurate. It is both a show with a softer more dramatic history lesson whose failures we can all learn from.
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