My Thoughts On "The Crown"
Or, the death of Princess Di and why Prince Philip seemed pretty terrible
I won't pretend to be one of those people who remembers exactly what they were doing when they learned Princess Diana had died. I was 14, so I was old enough, but I wasn't enamored with the British royal family. I feel like I vaguely remember the funeral, however this could all just be the nature of the mind trying to piece together the past.
I can say that my interest in Diana and the royal family grew in recent years thanks in large part to The Crown.
For the past five and a half seasons, the Netflix series riveted me as a watched the story of Queen Elizabeth II unfold before my eyes.
Having just finished the first half of season six, I won't give a run through of my thoughts on the full series thus far. Each season warrants enough words I don't have the patience to write nor (I'm guessing) you to read.
I will stick with my thoughts on the first four episodes of this season.
Wow, do they make Camilla out to be an old hag.
I know people age (and plastic surgery is better) these days, but I had to get over my disbelief that this season included the celebration of Camilla Parker Bowles 50th birthday. I know plenty of women who are 50 who look nowhere near as old as they had Olivia Williams looking to play the future Queen Consort. I didn't do the work to see how she compares with the real CPB, but if they could cast a decidedly more handsome Dominic West to portray Prince Charles as a dashing future King, surely they could have made Camilla out to be a little less dowdy.
Of course all of this served to make Princess Diana look like the essence of youth and beauty. This was personified by juxtaposing scenes of her sunbathing in the South of France with Camilla looking sensible in England.
Who's to blame for Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's death?
For 26 years, there's been a clear culprit in the tragic death of these two people. No doubt that horrific car crash drew attention to the relentless behavior of the media.
This season suggests that Mohammed Al-Fayed, Dodi's Anglophile father, initiated the paparazzi frenzy over Diana. He wanted to get things moving along, so he paid a photographer to force the world to pay attention.
And pay attention they did.
Still, the elder Fayed didn't make his son take Diana to Paris.
So was it Dodi's fault?
Perhaps it was their driver, who looked like he was knocking a few back before they hit the road.
Dare we blame Diana herself for her love/hate relationship with drama and her desire for validation she desperately wanted from the Crown?
And, what of the Crown and its insistence in refusing to acknowledge Diana as a part of them, whether they liked her or not?
Society would do well to reflect on our role in all this. Our desire to shame, humiliate and get those “gotcha” moments for celebrities has not waned.
As a mom, I felt awful watching the Princes William and Harry cope with the divorce of their parents and the death of their mother.
I have seen the footage of that funeral procession and I thought Rufus Kampa did a fine job of capturing Prince William. I could only imagine how terrible it must have been for him to try and process all that all while his grandfather, Prince Philip was scolding him for engaging with the crowd and trying to act like a human being.
Which brings me too …
Prince Philip is the most unlikable character in the series.
Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to bring up other seasons, but from his early days of going around the world to screw women to his later years of seeming to show no compassion for any of children or grandchildren, Prince Philip lands on the bottom of the sympathy pile for me.
Of course, I did not know this man, but I am hearing he was pretty racist, so perhaps my feelings are warranted.
I could write more, but I am tired. Looking forward to the second half of the season.