After Elizabeth makes a tone-deaf speech at a Jaguar factory, she and the monarchy come under public attack by an outspoken lord.After Elizabeth makes a tone-deaf speech at a Jaguar factory, she and the monarchy come under public attack by an outspoken lord.After Elizabeth makes a tone-deaf speech at a Jaguar factory, she and the monarchy come under public attack by an outspoken lord.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA man reads a newspaper bearing the headline "Queen's Critic at it Again." At the right-most portion of The People daily, another story is titled "Diana Found Dead," a foreboding reference to the tragic accident decades later.
- GoofsAlthough this episode begins at a point after the main events have taken place, there's still an error with the Queen's hairstyle, of which much is made - both in the styling scene itself and Prince Philip's reaction to it. It's cut into the shorter, curlier style Her Majesty has favored to this day, but as the episode progresses, the hairstyle on actress Claire Foy reverts to the original, longer style.
- Quotes
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: All to open things up.
Queen Elizabeth II: Yes.
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: Bring us more in line with the real world. Democratize us. And so it goes. The stings and bites we suffer as it slips away. Bit by bit, piece by piece. Our authority, our absolutism, our divine rights.
[footsteps approaching]
Martin (footman): [footman clears throat] Ma'am?
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: The history of the monarchy in this country is a one-way street of humiliation, sacrifices and concessions in order to survive. First, the barons came for us, then the merchants, now the journalists. Small wonder we make such a fuss about curtsies, protocol and precedent. It's all we have left. The last scraps of armor as we go from ruling to reigning to...
Queen Elizabeth II: To what?
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother: To being nothing at all. Marionettes.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this episode is the way that it manages to not only flesh out a completely new character in a short period of time, but to make me root for him despite the fact that he is creating nothing but trouble for our usual protagonists. John Heffernan plays him as a paragon of reason and modernity, and I agree with everything he says in the episode.
And yet, despite the fact that I agree with everything Lord Altrincham says, I also can't help but feel bad for Elizabeth. She's put in a very difficult and painful position in this episode, and though I do believe that modernization was both inevitable and for the better, the episode does also show the enormous toll that it took on Elizabeth and her mother. She doesn't want to reveal her true self, but she is forced to.
In short, this is a fantastic episode which sums up everything The Crown is about, offers the origin of the Queen's famous Christmas address, and features a fantastic showdown between Claire Foy and John Heffernan.
- TouchTheGarlicProduction
- Dec 9, 2017
Details
- Runtime1 hour 1 minute
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1