The Crown

    I wasn’t sure if I was going to write about the fourth season of The Crown or not. It is a hard season to watch. There is a lot of bad behavior on all sides, making it difficult to declare anyone a villain. It definitely keeps me from declaring anyone a saint. Mostly, with each character, there is a lot of pain.      

Tugs of the Heart
Artwork by Kate Dorsey

    The season starts with Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) struggling to deal with the fact the woman he loves is with another man. Married to him, thanks to great-uncle Lord Mountbatten (Charles Dance). Mountbatten did not believe Camilla Shand (Emerald Fennell) was suitable for Charles. It was he who made sure Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles (Andrew Buchan); keeping Charles from doing so himself.

    Eventually Charles has enough. He tells Mountbatten how he feels about the situation. In one of Mountbatten’s last acts before his death, he writes a letter to Charles telling Charles how his feelings are wrong.

    After Mountbatten is killed, Charles reads the letter and takes the words to heart. He decides to look for a “suitable” wife. In this search, he discovers Lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin); the younger sister of a woman he dated.

    Diana is a great deal younger than Charles. She is only about nineteen years old when the first get together. That is a very different stage of life than the over thirty Charles.

    Yet, Charles still brings Diana to meet the family. She is a hit. Everyone loves her. A marriage is arranged. A marriage Charles does not truly want.

    The only two people who see a problem with this marriage is Charles’ sister, Princess Anne (Erin Doherty), and his aunt, Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter). They can see Charles deeply loves Camilla. A marriage to someone else with that kind of love still existing would be a very bad idea.

    Unfortunately, no one listens. The marriage goes ahead.

***

    Things between Charles and Diana do not go well from the moment the engagement is announced. Afterwards is even worse.

    During the engagement, Diana is put into one of the royal homes. The only people she sees are staff and the person teaching her proper royal behavior. Charles is off, traveling for royal duties. The staff will not let Diana visit or speak to the rest of the family. She is very much alone.

    The same happens once Charles and Diana are married. Only now Diana creates the seclusion herself. Every time she is upset, she locks herself in her room and watches TV. This infuriates Charles. Diana won’t come out for anything. Not even to see his mother, Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman). Charles’s anger at Diana’s behavior disintegrates their relationship.

    Charles and Diana’s relationship is in an extremely bad place when the go on a tour of Australia. Diana insists on taking their very young son, William (Elliott Hughes, Jasper Hughes), with them.

    Because of how their schedule is structured, there are times where Diana must be separated from William. This is something Diana refuses to accept. At one point she refuses to go on with the tour until she sees her son.

    This is the breaking point for Charles and Diana’s relationship. They have it out. Afterwards, they decide to give their marriage a true try. Their efforts to repair their marriage is a good thing. For a while.

    Despite the good time he and Diana are having together, Charles starts to realize how differently they are being treated. While he is mocked and made fun of pretty much wherever he goes, Diana is exalted and glorified. This Australia tour was supposed to be Charles’s time to shine. Diana stole the limelight. A fact only Anne, other than Charles, sees a problem with.

    Back home, Diana continues to enjoy the attention. Charles pulls away from Diana, and becomes more reliant on Camilla. After their second son, Harry is born, Diana begins to have affairs.

    In some ways, Charles is happy about these affairs. It gives him a reason to end the marriage. Only his mother refuses to let him do so. Charles falls further into despair.

***

    Dealing with any sort of emotional discomfort is not Queen Elizabeth’s forte. Any time someone wants to talk about emotions with her, she ends the conversation and walks out of the room. Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) is even worse. He dismisses emotions entirely.

    With this behavior, one would think Elizabeth would get along better with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson). Talk about a woman who can’t stand any sort of weakness or vulnerability. She clearly dislikes other women, and anyone who is unable able to pull themselves from the lowest level of society to the top with a snap of their fingers and without help. People, caring for actual human people, are not on her agenda for the country.

    Which is probably why Elizabeth and Thatcher do not get along. Elizabeth does see the struggles her people are going through (unless its her own family), and understands they need help. Unlike Thatcher, Elizabeth can see the concerns of the people are not black and white. There is a lot of grey.

***

    It is too bad Elizabeth can’t see the members of her family in this same light. She certainly does not have the same understanding for her children, or her sister. No matter how many times Princess Margaret tells her, Elizabeth cannot understand all her sister wants is a purpose in life.

    Life is very hard for Margaret. She has very little to do. Oh, yes, she has her charities she supports. Except now they don’t want her attention and appearances. They want Diana's.

    To make the situation worse, Margaret is having health problems. This drives her to find even more meaning in her daily activities. She asks Elizabeth for more responsibilities. Anything she can do to help the royal family. Elizabeth refuses.

    With the help of her private secretary, Martin Charteris (Charles Edwards), Elizabeth tells Margaret she is not needed. Princes Andrew (Tom Byrne) and Edward (Angus Imrie) are now of age for royal duties. They do not need Margaret.

***

    As I have made clear more than once in this post, Elizabeth treats non-family members better than her family. When Michael Fagan (Tom Brooke) breaks into Buckingham Palace to talk to Elizabeth, she actually takes the time to listen to him. That is far more than anyone else did.

    When Fagan went to his MP (Member of Parliament) (Richard Cant) with his concerns about the country, he was dismissed. Told by the MP that MPs do not work for the citizen. Especially not that one. He works for Margaret Thatcher. He then tells Fagan he should go to the queen with his concerns.

    Sadly, the beliefs of this MP are too prevalent even today. Far too many politicians treat people as though they matter only when it comes to voting times. After that, do not bother them. They serve only those in their own parties, and their own power. What happens to all the people affected in their acts of currying favor with other powers that be does not matter. Politicians do not work for them.

***

    The season ends with a lot of unhappy people. Margaret feels useless. Thatcher is pushed out of office. Charles and Diana are in a bad marriage. Anne is lost in Diana’s shadow. Philip is never happy, so that is not a change. And I suspect Elizabeth is not very happy either.

    Having the weight of the world on your shoulders is not a good feeling. Having the weight of the world with no power or ability to do anything about it feels worse. It is something far too many people feel and experience in their lives. Why would Queen Elizabeth, who appears to have everything, yet is unable to truly speak her mind or make change, feel any different?

Survey created by Kate Dorsey with Microsoft Paint3D