The Crown's fake history

[George K]

The Crown's fake history is as corrosive as fake news

Olivia Colman’s sour-faced parody of the monarch on Netflix left us guessing which parts were true and which false. It was fake history. The words and actions of living individuals were made up to suit a plot that could have been scripted by Diana’s biggest supporters.

The historian Hugo Vickers has already detailed eight complete fabrications in the new series, all caricaturing the royal family in the worst possible light. They are:

1. Lord Mountbatten wrote a letter to Prince Charles the day before his death.

2. The royal family laid protocol traps to humiliate Margaret Thatcher on a visit to Balmoral.

3. Princess Margaret ridiculed Princess Diana for not being able to curtsey.

4. Prince Charles called Camilla Parker Bowles every day in the early years of his marriage.

5. Princess Diana threw a tantrum on a visit to Australia and forced the plans to be changed.

6. Princess Margaret visited two of the Queen’s cousins, who had been placed in a “state lunatic asylum” to avoid embarrassing the monarchy.

7. The Queen was responsible for leaking her view of Thatcher as “uncaring”.

8. The Queen was repeatedly shown wrongly dressed for Trooping the Colour.

These are on a par with the “revelations” in an earlier series, one implicating Prince Philip in the Profumo affair and another hinting at infidelity. The intention was clearly to give a shudder of shock to viewers lulled into assuming it was all true.

The royal family can look after themselves, and usually do. I am less sure of history, and especially contemporary history. The validity of “true story” docu-dramas can only lie in their veracity. We have to believe they are true, or why are we wasting our time?

False history is reality hijacked as propaganda. As Morgan implies, his film may not be accurate, but his purpose is to share a deeper truth with his audience: that the royal family were beastly to Diana, and out to get her. Will we next be told they really killed her? Will we have another Oliver Stone falsifying the circumstances around the killing of President Kennedy in JFK?

[George K]

Binged through Season 4 over the last 3-4 days.

It struck me as being a lot more soapy salacious than the previous seasons. Sure, there's all the drama between Charles and Diana. Sure, there's all of Diana's problems coping with being in the Royal Family (should I have capitalized that?). Sure, there's all the drama between Thatcher and Elizabeth.

I'm sure they took lots of liberties, but the whole thing struck me as being an anti-Hallmark movie, if you get it. It was depressing, sad, and, at times contrived.

That said, I enjoyed, in a sick kind of way. I'll probably not return to this season, but watch the next one. I found the first 3 seasons much more enjoyable.

[Mik]

@george-k i too have found this season depressing and much nastier at portraying the Windsors.