Over the weekend, the Daily Mail published another hysterical screed about The Crown Season 5, this one by Robert Hardman. The embargo has been lifted, so more detailed reviews are coming out now, but don’t mistake this for a review. Hardman’s piece is a genre we’ve already seen before, and we will continue to see in the days and weeks ahead. That genre? “This one thing is not completely factual, therefore the entire series is trash!” Hardman also sprinkles in some whining about how The Crown hurts the Windsors’ human rights and image. As I said, hysterical. Some highlights:
Wounded Windsors: Should they ever watch this catalogue of tasteless distortions, errors and, at times, curated malevolence masquerading as quality drama, then I am sure they would be very wounded indeed. Clearly rattled by the backlash, The Crown’s makers have added the words ‘fictional dramatisation’ to the blurb for the trailer — which feels rather like adding a sticking plaster to a fig leaf.
The established pattern: We now have an established pattern for each new series. Royalists wince at the implausibility of the dialogue while nitpickers delight in all the mistakes: Churchill dying in midsummer, people wearing the wrong medals and so on. The cast and producers counter with gushing interviews praising creator Peter Morgan. Doe-eyed fans and Netflix apologists tell the critics: ‘It’s only a drama, get over it.’ And, of course, the Royal Family say nothing, for fear of giving any further publicity or credence. This time, though, it feels different; a line really has been crossed.
How dare the Sussexes! Having covered this period in great detail for newspapers, books and television, I refuse to accept any weasel protestations that the producers are merely deploying ‘dramatic licence’. They have invented entirely fresh canards and amplified them. How the Duke and Duchess of Sussex can pocket their Netflix dollars after watching this will beggar belief.
A chilling nonchalance. That is clear at the outset with the appearance of a sick child, Leonora Knatchbull. Her tragic death, aged five, is used purely to establish an inuendo-filled subplot involving her mother, the Duke of Edinburgh and carriage-driving. A friend of the Knatchbull family tells me they are beyond horrified.
The Windsors won’s sue: Up until now, Morgan and Netflix have worked on the (correct) basis that the Royal Family will neither sue nor enter into a slanging match. The problem, though, is that as we move closer to the present day, there are more and more people outside the Palace who can — and will — point out glaring howlers in the script because they were there. Additionally, there is a growing section of the British public who will be disgusted that, in the aftermath of the deaths of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, this will be the prism through which millions remember them both. And believe me, millions will, as they do already. At the start of the reign of a new King, this is manifestly not in Britain’s interests — or his.
So much of the criticism of The Crown mirrors the criticism of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It’s really extraordinary that there are so many royalists, royal journalists and royal sources whining about this or that, and ultimately, their complaints are: this looks bad for the Windsors. Like, that’s not a real argument? That’s not a “reason” to critique a piece of art, nor is it a reason to smear the Montecito royals. Who gives a sh-t if it “looks bad for the Windsors”? If they were worried about optics, they shouldn’t have behaved so poorly for so many years. They shouldn’t have run the exact same play on Princess Diana and the Duchess of Sussex. They shouldn’t have been such degenerate cheaters, liars and racists.
Photos courtesy of Netflix/The Crown.
Charles admitted he cheated. Is he going to challenge that in court. What a joke
I’m not a native speaker of English. The first time I heard the word “vicious” was my mother describing the English press around the time of the divorce. The English word just covers it much better.
And she meant it as in: throwing all the RF dirty laundry out without mercy.
So, what happened that they’re now so whiny and protective of Charles, when they once loved tearing everyone (including, but not limited to, him) down?
Can’t help but think it’s in the elite’s interest to do so.
I would love it Tessa.
I would love for them to sue and have to evidence in a court the full extent of what they did and didn’t do as factual record to be able to make any kind of claim against Netflix.
I would love for every interview he did in the 90s smearing Diana, smearing the Queen, smearing his father to be read out under oath and transcribed for generations to come. “And when you said you were having an affair, in this interview, what did you mean by that?”
But they won’t because that would implode the monarchy when the people of England realise royals are perhaps worse than us and so why have they been elevated to such lofty, holier than thou positions. Sigh. I didn’t really care much about royals when I moved here but I’ve really come down hard on one side in the last few years.
This line – “curated malevolence masquerading as quality drama” – lol. As Kaiser said last week, Don’t threaten me with a good time!!!!
Making the Windsors look bad is not a crime. And they don’t need Netflix’s help for that, they do it all on their own.
Penny Knatchbull – anyone who watches that and wonders “this can’t be true” is going to google and realize she was invited to Philip’s funeral, and they’re going to draw their own conclusions from that.
I love how now the RRs etc are insisting that charles is keeping calm and ignoring this, like we all don’t know who placed a phone call to Judi Dench or who is telling these “reporters” to keep writing stories about how awful Netflix is for this.
@Becks1 says:
November 8, 2022 at 9:07 am
“Making the Windsors look bad is not a crime. And they don’t need Netflix’s help for that, they do it all on their own.”
As Duchess M would say: ‘I meeeeaaaaNNNN!” lol
Srsly, neither the ukTrashMedia that have chronicled the ukroyals’ degeneracy over the years, with and without the co-operation of the said royals, nor the royals themselves with their known bad behavior [pedophilia/sexual misconduct/dead bodies of young females found on their estate with no follow-up investigations/cash-for-access/stealing from nations they colonized/racism…] have ANY legitimacy to talk about being made to look bad by The Crown.
I tell you, gaslighting is such a powerful propaganda tool!! And the royals have wielded it successfully for over a hundred years. Its still their number one tool today. But more and more of us are on to them.
@Kingston — whoa dead body of young females on their estate with no investigation? Tell me more!
This is where the British elites don’t realize how irrelevant they are globally. This season is going to break records and win a ton of awards. No one watching this cares about how precise the medals are or other picayune nonsense. The Crown gets the gist of the story correct and this season in particular it looks like it will fit with the general recollections of the people who were alive at the time it first happened.
I am sticking to reading reviews from the usual tv critics that I read, like Alan Sepinwall and he doesn’t have the emotional hissy fits that these British types do.
They are hoping their targeted audience is as dumb as the Fox News/ODAN one where critical thinking and actual research (not my aunt said this from some conspiracy theory facebook site) is not required.
It doesn’t take much google searching or even going to look at the old videos/interviews/newspaper articles to see the truth.
Another unhinged screed masquerading as a “review”. It’s not the job of The Crown to make the Windsors look good. That’s an impossible task anyway. And now that both the queen and her husband are gone, nothing The Crown says can hurt their feelings.
The criticism about the death of the little Knatchbull girl has appeared in other “reviews”. But my understanding is that this was exactly what brought Philip and Penny Knatchbull together. So, on the one hand, they complain of “inaccuracies”, while, on the other hand, they roll out their fainting couches for something which is very accurate.
TQ had Leonora Knatchbull on the Balcony as a treat. It was commented on by all media. She looked very Ill and it was maybe a time when sick kids weren’t so publicly paraded for sympathy. But yes it brought PP and Penny together. Showing empathy is a positive thing isn’t it?
It is in Britain’s interest to criticize the ruling class. It’s not the first time they’ve trotted this argument out but it is beyond bizarre to me that they’re using it in 2022 and no one over there- in the papers of all places- finds it weird enough to push back about.
That’s what struck me also. Don’t infantilize literally all of Britain. As Brexit demonstrated there are still some elements who want to live in the mythological world of Britain’s fictional past. But look at what that fantasy has wrought politically and economically. Maybe ten hours of beautifully dramatized reminder that the RF is a living soap opera on taxpayer funds is exactly what Britain needs.
These ‘royals’ are just the most basic, dull lumps—they should be thanking Netflix. Soap opera is really all they have to make them interesting or relevant. Their best ‘stars’ are in America now and Tampax Charlie and Shrieking Bill are just gross.
Exactly. This is media, not propaganda.
The government uses it as an argument some times as well which is even more distributing. Its why royal wills get sealed and why they don’t have to disclose more about their wealth, because it might be embarrassing
It’s like they’ve forgotten about the history of British political cartoons – they’re pretty much merciless in criticizing the RF. I remember a hilarious one about Meghan from The Guardian (last year?) – about how dare she tear Harry away from the bosom of his totally dysfunctional family, and how she made the Keeper of the Royal Stool cry.
Years ago I remember seeing a wonderful exhibit in the British Museum about the history of political cartoons. That was fantastic! I think the earliest ones they had were French, but the Brits kicked in early too & could be quite cutting!
But the Royal Family has not remained silent about the Crown. Their complaints have helped to hype the show.
Exactly, like Ummmm if Chuck is so upset I REALLY need to watch. That’s what they put out there. Idiots.
I have never had any interest in watching The Crown before but I will definitely start watching now. I think they doth protest too much! They wouldn’t be so triggered if there was no truth to what is being portrayed on the show. Also, I believe they are grasping at straws by nitpicking about medals and the like because they know they can’t pick apart the historical accuracy.
This makes them look silly because they didn’t put up this fight from Season 1 nor challenge the countless biographies and documentaries from before.
I don’t remember was there a smear campaign for Andrew Morton’s book?
It’s soooo close!!
RRs still trying to rewrite the history that they blasted all over the British gossip rags, and was then picked up internationally and is now a Google search away. I hope someone calls them on their bs, specifically naming names, re this real soon.
Why do they think the Sussexes will watch it? Prince Harry is now well aware that his father is and always has been a selfish and evil A-hole. Oh, and btw RRs, the world saw how you truly felt about “TQ” when you all showed your entire asses during her mourning period, so kindly stfu.
“Clearly rattled by the backlash”
He misspelled “thrilled with the free publicity” lolololol.
The salty old men over there are deranged!
I wonder if nobody ever realized what would actually happen once Chuck became king. Which is THIS. The second he decided to publicly air his dirty laundry, the respect and reverence – however misplaced it may be – the Queen received was out of reach for him. Maybe she was just lucky to be the last monarch to live a large part of her life before mass media but how did they all bungle this from the very start? I know many think the not complaining/explaining approach was old fashioned but …. it kind of worked for her? Not for the rest of them but for her, it was the best policy. And if we’ve learned anything from The Crown, it’s that that is all that matters.
As soon as the tapes came out, Charles was forever going to be The Tampax King. People forget about Penny K because while nobody was particularly discreet about it, they also didn’t advertise or talk about it to ghost writers.
The hacked phone call is probably the one thing where I do feel a little bad for him only because it was illegal. It’s a huge breach of privacy and they were not discussing state secrets. They also hacked calls made by Harry and William as well.
The rest of the stuff, like the interviews and books etc. that’s all stuff they chose to do and I don’t feel bad at all about all of that.
Yeah, I’m not blaming him for that one in particular. The effect was the same though. I do wonder why they never released anything similar from his sons’ phones. The entire 90s were completely bonkers and I feel like the royals got caught up in it. The Queen must have had the worst time behind closed doors.
Interestingly enough, the Tampongate hacking was not deliberate, some radio geek was playing with a new piece of equipment and accidentally tapped into the call. He recorded it and hung onto it for several years before he sold it to the tabloids. Same with Squidgygate, an elderly man who was a ham radio enthusiast stumbled onto the call and also waited several years to sell it. After that the tabloids went all out trying to hack into everyone’s phones. I’m sure they’re sitting on a treasure trove of highly embarrassing stuff.
“like adding a sticking plaster to a fig leaf” … what does that even mean?
In American English, sticking a bandaid to a fig leaf… and still, no… nothing.
Anyone?
Wild guess: If you were using a fig leaf to hide your nakedness and added on a plaster it wouldn’t be any more useful.
* “people wearing the wrong medals and so on.”
I found this hilarious since the majority of those medals are given for nothing more than decorations to boost the egos of the worthless Royals. Who cares if they get them wrong when they are not merit based or earned.
I wonder if that’s on purpose though. I would think it would be illegal to make a legit-looking fake.
Agree with equality; apparently the Netflix description that this was a ‘dramatization’ wasn’t enough of a disclaimer for this person.
How does the RF see all the human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and still accept gifts and bags of cash? I find that a more interesting question than how do H&M work for money from Netflix.
Word Kaiser. Every damm thing you just said
What’s fascinating to me is how deeply sympathetic The Crown is to the royal family. It’s really the only piece of royal-focused media I’ve taken in that shows the audience how difficult it is — how duty and tradition prevent everyone in that bloodline from living a fulfilling and happy life, how the Queen had to essentially excise her own personality in order to be an effective ruler and how that impacted her ability to connect to her own children… I mean this seriously, no other piece of media has really driven home to me the extent of the generational trauma in that family. Season 4 did more to humanize Charles for me, personally, than anything else I’ve ever seen or read.
But I suppose that’s the problem, isn’t it? If this series shows how damaging it is to be a member of the monarchy, if it shows that the lives of the monarchy are actually pretty pathetic and wretched from all the pressure of upholding archaic tradition… what then? If public opinion shifts toward thinking it would be more humane to abolish the monarchy, what are the knock-on effects? If the monarchy doesn’t exist, neither do any of the associated institutions on which everything about British class structure depend. So of course the British media has to whip the public into a frenzy with overblown bleatings of disrespect and dishonor.
I completely agree. I was never able to really empathize with the Windsors (apart from Diana, pre Harry & Meghan) before I saw The Crown. I felt it gave real insight into how hostile that system is to the humanity of the people inside it.
But like many families, the Windsors cannot abide truths about themselves–they depend on a common story that everyone must uphold. Truth is the enemy of the agreed upon myth, which is why truth-tellers are dangerous.
Well said, Lizzie — I see echoes of my own family dynamics in the way the Windsors behave with each other and in the way they have treated Harry, especially once he and Meghan made the decision to leave. When you refuse to uphold that common story any longer, the reaction is swift and brutal. And so much of what Harry says about his life and about that decision really strikes a chord with me, having had to make a similar choice (albeit on a much much much smaller scale, obviously).
They really are prisoners in a gilded cage aren’t they. Yes, we rag on the BRF for being such useless, hypocritical, spoiled, lazy leeches, but in the end they are broken people — emotionally stunted and completely out of touch with the public they’re meant to represent and work for. But there’s a cancer eating them up from within and I can’t see the structure, as it currently is, going on for much longer. Charles is showing his true colours now that he’s regent and if all he can do is waste time getting his tabloid minions to rail against The Crown’s so-called deceptions, he’s not doing his job. I imagine he’ll go down as one of the worst monarchs the UK has seen in a long time.
Agreed, Jade — I have running bets with a sibling and some friends about how much longer the institution can limp along like this. None of us can see it lasting long enough for George to take the throne, and many of us question if it’ll last long enough for William to get a crack at it.
Agree, and add that the antagonist of The Crown *is* the Crown – the institution – and that has been clear since season 1, episode 2 to anyone who bothered to pay attention and look past the program’s stunning production values and terrific acting. Which apparently the UK media and many viewers have not.
RIGHT?? I know British tabloids cater to the lowest common denominator so I expect them to deliberately miss the point, but man, seeing folks like Dame Judi roll out to whine about The Crown being mean to the poor monarch is just… ugh
Tells you everything you need to know about the difference between Elizabeth’s and Charles’s self control and ego. She watched the Crown depict decades of her life and was amused by it — even the fictional storylines. Charles, the fragile ego maniac manbaby, is throwing a tantrum over a fictional but basically accurate depiction of him in the 90s.
I read a few reviews yesterday. The NYT and Washington Post were the American ones, and they generally praised the season, though only the Post did so enthusiastically.. The British ones on the other hand? All about how it’s “lurid,” a “soap opera,” “bad,” “a shadow of itself,” etc.
They can’t handle it when a dramatization portrays things that…….actually happened. I guess they were OK with the show depicting Elizabeth and Philip’s fights and the betrayal of Margaret because that was decades ago. Enough time had passed. This is showing the 90s, which is just too recent for them to handle. And now Charles is King.
The RF supplied the material. They’re public figures living on the money earned by their subjects. They’re fair game. And as others have said, if anything the show is sympathetic to them.
Like others, I do have some sympathy for Charles about the Tampon call being leaked. Because it was a private phone call about private matters that the public had no need to or business knowing, and it was a terrible invasion of privacy. I don’t exactly fault the amateur radio hacker for selling it. That person might have really needed the money. But still, it wasn’t right for everyone to have access to it.
Interestingly, one review said this season is particularly sympathetic to Charles.
Anyway, bravo Netflix. Enjoy your champagne!
The RF lifestyle sort of is like a soap opera.
The BRF brings the bad press on themselves with their public foolishness. Why would the Sussexes watch; they had/have front row seats to the Windsor mess. Keep giving this show more publicity.
I mean m, sure, the Crown isn’t in the best interests of those shady oligarchs the wWindsors and their long con to amass and hold onto money and power. That is exactly why we all want to watch it!!
Charles should be extremely grateful that the Crown isn’t showing his friendship with former BFF Jimmy Saville. Horrifying as it is, I’ve wondered if Charles ever left Saville alone with Will or Harry as children.
Andrew was HARDLY the only royal buddying up with pedophiles.
Saville raped girls and women, not boys. And we know how the BRF views girls and women.
One definition of “carry on” from Merriam-Webster:
” to behave or speak in a foolish, excited, or improper manner.”
This is the King Charles version of keeping calm and carrying on in the face of the new Netflix season.
What a bunch of whiners he and his sycophants are.
Hopefully I can post this but if not just Google their names. This is from Vanity Fair. They don’t look anything alike but a still shot in sunshine where complexion is hard to gauge and they both have brilliant smiles with perfect teeth, it’s two women of a similar age who at least in this one moment in time are both wealthy, moisturized, in love, and glowing happily. That’s the extent of any resemblance but compared to people who are not things on that list 🤷♀️
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/07/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-pippa-wimbledon
But that’s why we love it, isn’t it? Because we fought a war to quit that bitch and we knew 200 years ago to dump them. This series validates that very prescient action, in case anyone wondered why we chose to throw the trash out.