The Crown
3 Leading Ladies Share Why They Love It Too
I have been watching The Crown since it first premiered in 2016. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it is my favorite show of all time to date. I also happen to think that it’s an excellent series, excellently done all the way through: from the script to the acting to the directing to the set and costume design to the editing. There isn’t a single piece missing and how each episode comes together as a whole is exactly what I hope for television to be.
Okay, I admit: I might be slightly biased. After all, anglophilia is in my blood. Growing up, I was perfectly primed to be the ideal Crown viewer.
My parents were both history buffs. My mom studied in Oxford during a summer in college. After that, she drank English breakfast tea every morning. My aunt lived in England with her husband, who was stationed there in the Air Force for a period of time. My mom has been to England multiple times, and my dad went with her at least once. One of my dad’s favorite things to quote and say at random was “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life!” I can still hear him saying it!
I remember the day that Princess Diana died. I remember where I was — a donut shop in Ocean City, Maryland with my dad, my uncle, and my cousin. I remember my parents talking about Diana, and my dad especially took the view that the Royal Family was, in some way, culpable.
I inherited this love of England and fascination with the Royal Family in a way that I don’t think my brother did. It just clicked for me. Of course, it was appropriate to then be placed in the House of Queen Elizabeth I at The King’s College when I attended from 2011 to 2015.
One year after I graduated, the first season of The Crown dropped.
I watched this season, one episode per week, with my Scottish roommate. It was our Sunday evening ritual, and it was perfect. I asked Thea lots of questions about the royal family and how people in the UK feel about them. I proselytized the show to my parents, which was not a hard task, given their affinity to all things England and history. I got to rewatch several episodes with them while home on Christmas break.
My mom and my late father and I have been hooked ever since.
Often, when I talk about The Crown with someone, two broad charges are leveled against the show: first, that it’s slow and boring. Well, I have to agree with Mister Rogers that most of our entertainment is too fast-paced. Slow can be very good.
Second, there is general dislike that after two seasons, we jump forward a couple of decades and have new actors playing all the parts. What about Claire Foy?, they say. And what about Olivia Coleman? I reply. And what about Imelda Staunton? Both are incredible actors, and I honestly think its appropriate that more than one portray the woman-become-legend. Besides, Elizabeth II reigned for seventy years. We had a lot of ground to cover and we couldn’t wait for Claire Foy to grow old.
I hope to address these critiques more in the spring, as I’ve decided to cover The Crown in depth in the coming year. I’ll be re-viewing each season and writing/talking about it, rather than trying to cover the show as a whole in one piece! While I’ve rewatched bits and pieces over the years, I’ve never revisited it straight through and I’ll be inviting you to do it with me!
So while you can expect to see more from me in future on The Crown, I wanted to plug it now because on Thursday, December 14, Netflix dropped the final six episodes of its sixth and final season.
Instead of going on and on in this short note (although I’ve already gone on longer than I intended!), I asked three friends — and leading ladies! — if they would share a few thoughts about why they love The Crown.
Don’t take it from me! Well yes, do, but take it from them, too!
My friend and fellow film + television buff Tory Crowley summed it up beautifully:
The Crown is brilliant because it chooses the most unlikely hero to show us what true leadership is. Elizabeth was never supposed to be queen. She’s not the smartest, strongest, or most charismatic person. But she is dutiful, loyal, and willing to die to herself, over and over again. With those qualities, we see her forged as a Queen in the fires of twentieth-century British politics. Elizabeth’s growing confidence inspires the least among us to rise to the challenges we face, whether we asked for them or not.
Along similar lines, another friend and original skeptic of the show, Haley Towles wrote about what drew her in:
I was skeptical going into watching The Crown, thinking it might bore me. But I also felt a social pressure to watch as everyone was talking about it, and my mom, sister, and best friend kept urging me to start. At first, it took me a while to get into it. I even stopped after the first few episodes and picked it back up about a year later when Queen Elizabeth finally reeled me in. I have loved the entire series, even leading up to the latest season with how wonderfully they portrayed Princess Diana’s story, but what really captured my attention and love for the show was Claire Foy as young queen Elizabeth. Once I realized the gravity of the role that was unexpectedly placed on Elizabeth overnight, at such a young age, my heart went out to her and I really became fascinated with what that emotion and weight must have felt like for her.
The Crown is a dramatization of so many real events and Claire Foy amazingly leaned into that. I can still remember how I felt so nervous for Elizabeth at times, or proud of her, or mad at her even! Being able to watch the longest reigning monarch in British history grow up and evolve (knowing it’s not all true of course) has been my favorite part of watching season after season. There are so many characters in the queen’s life — the people she rules over, her husband, prime ministers, siblings, children, grandchildren, employees etc. and they all want a piece of her. She tries to give as much as she can and we, as an audience, get to see her rise above challenges and temptations but also make mistakes. My favorite part, however, is when we see her fall to her knees in prayer at the end of every day knowing that she cannot be everything for everyone and, just like me, knowing that her strength can only come from the Lord. I’m not sure if The Crown writers were trying to convey that, but I definitely got that message. God save the queen!
And the last leading lady we’re hearing from is none other than my own mother and Cate family matriarch, Linda Cate. Anglophile and history buff extraordinaire, here’s what she had to say:
The series makes history come alive! Quite nice to think the Queen herself enjoyed seeing her life remembered. And it brings back events that I myself lived through. I remember getting up early at the summer camp in Massachusetts that July day and creeping between sleeping cabins to get to the only staff member who had a small black and white tv to watch the wedding of the century — Charles and Diana. I also remember exactly where I was 17 years later when the news reported the car crash in Paris: my parents’ house in Ocean Pines with us and my sister’s family there. You and Claire were out on a bike ride with Tom and daddy, and the ladies were watching the news back at the house. I also learned about fascinating true events I hadn’t known about before… Prince Philip’s family history in Greece and Germany, Charles learning Welsh, the tragedy in a coal-mining town in Wales, and more.
So, if you’re looking for a good show to start on your holiday break, we recommend The Crown. If you’ve never watched it, it’s a great time to start! Pour yourself a cup of tea and settle in.
If you’ve watched some, but dropped off after a while, this is your sign to start up again!
And if you’d like to watch it with me, this is an early invitation. More to come on that! Stay tuned!
In the meantime, if you watch an episode from Season 3 and beyond, and have questions about historical accuracy or why the writers and directors made certain choices, check out The Crown: The Official Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Thoughts on The Crown? Do you love it too? Are you interested in watching along with me? Let me know what you think!