The Crown bows out. This Thursday, Netflix is putting online the first final chapter of its historical series, which, for six seasons, has retraced the reign of Elizabeth II from her coronation in 1953 to her golden jubilee in 2002. A queen in the spotlight in a new light, through his personal torments, his moods and the vagaries of his sentimental and family life. But Elizabeth is not the only one to shine in The Crown.
Many secondary characters emerged over the seasons, sometimes even stealing the spotlight from the sovereign. We obviously think of her sister, the rock’n’roll Princess Margaret, or of Philip, the impetuous husband of the Queen. There is also Peter Townsend, Alice of Battenberg, Penelope Knatchbull… A brief overview of these little-known or little-known personalities highlighted in the series.
The whimsical Princess Margaret
Explosive, passionate, fiery. Everything opposes Elizabeth and her rebellious sister, Princess Margaret. One devotes herself body and soul to the crown while the other experiences the pleasures of the flesh outside of marriage, sets the dance floors ablaze and stubs out more cigarettes than her lungs can handle. Princess Margaret’s portrait of excess, sentimental desolation and insubordination paints a more human face of the royal family. The queen’s youngest daughter, played by Vanessa Kirby in her younger years, illuminates the first two seasons of The Crown. His character literally radiates the series and gives a breath of freedom to a crown imprisoned in a traditional and dusty image.
Life in the Shadow of Philip Mountbatten
Incredible Matt Smith who plays the youth of the prince consort. And what a strange existence that of Philip Mountbatten, spent alongside a queen who was as adored as she was scrutinized. If we knew his very British phlegm and his legendary borderline humor, the first seasons of the series shed light on other facets of his life and his personality. We discover him prisoner of an inflexible royal protocol and a wavering union which suffocates him. The Crown also paints a portrait of him as ardent and fiery, cut short by his status as “husband of the queen”, forever in the shadow of his wife. We remember the second episode of season 2 where Philip, gone to sea with his Navy comrades, tastes freedom and adventure in the warm waters of the Pacific.
Alice of Battenberg, a hidden figure
Forgotten in royal history, Alice of Battenberg nevertheless had a rather unusual destiny. Season 3 of The Crown puts the spotlight on the mother of the prince consort, played by Jane Lapotaire. A philanthropist, this woman, born deaf and diagnosed with schizophrenia, devoted part of her life to orphans and the needy before creating a monastic community in Greece to continue her good works. She attends her son’s wedding as well as Elizabeth’s coronation in a nun’s outfit. During the colonels’ coup d’état in 1967, she was forced to leave her Greek convent. She was invited by the Queen to live at Buckingham Palace where she died two years later. Her story hidden by the crown is one of the most memorable of the season and shows how the royal family deals with mental illness.
Peter Townsend and Antony Armstrong-Jones, the princess’s loves
Margaret’s existence is marked by an undeniable sense of style, excessive consumption of alcohol and cigarettes but also by her devouring and unhappy passions. Starting with his first love, Peter Townsend, discreet squire of Elizabeth II and brilliant aviator. He and Margaret had a hidden affair in the 1950s before the young woman formalized her wish to marry him. The problem? Townsend is divorced and the royals forbid the princess from marrying him.
She eventually marries Townsend’s extreme opposite: Antony Armstrong-Jones, a libertine and unconventional photographer. After a nude photo of the princess caused a scandal, Margaret became one of her many mistresses. Despite the cultural gap that separates these two lovers a little destroythe couple ended up getting married in 1960, then breaking up twenty years later.
The rebirth of Penelope Knatchbull
It is a touching relationship that Prince Philip forged with Penelope Knatchbull in the early 1990s. Penelope Meredith Mary Knatchbull, née Eastwood, is the wife of Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma (a slightly pompous title), the cousin of Prince Charles (are you following?). In 1991, she lost her five-year-old daughter Leonora to kidney cancer. Devastated by grief, she finds comfort in Philip and becomes his confidante. A complicity told in season 5 of The Crown, in which the aging prince is played by Jonathan Pryce and Penelope Knatchbull by Natascha McElhone. Philip introduces her to her passion for carriage driving and helps her set up a charity in honor of her missing child.
Porchey, the queen’s favorite
Elizabeth the coquette. During the first three seasons of the series, we discover an old, long-time friend of the queen. This is Henry Herbert, Lord Porchester, known as “Porchey”, an intimate of the Queen with whom she shares one of her great passions: horse riding. Together, they set out in search of the best horses and Elizabeth appointed him director of her racing stables. The fictional narrative of the series suggests that the sovereign was not indifferent to Porchey’s charm, and vice versa. A simple friendly crush? The mystery hovers…
Harold Wilson, the favorite Prime Minister
The Crown has particular attention to each of Elizabeth II’s Prime Ministers, starting of course with Winston Churchill. But we will undoubtedly remember the Queen’s first Labor Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. First suspected by Elizabeth of being a KGB spy, he later became a reliable ally of the crown. Wilson’s character goes through season 3, the best of the series, with anthology episodes. Compassionate and intelligent, without arrogance. Efficient and very attached to serving the State in a transparent and ethical manner, Harold Wilson embodies the left side of the Queen’s character. The scene where, after resigning because of her Alzheimer’s disease, the queen comes to dine at his house – an extremely rare honor – is moving.