Over-Analyzing The Crown: S3E5 Coup

All My Posts on The Crown
S3: 1 & 2: “Olding” & “Margaretology” 3: “Aberfan” 4: “Bubbikins, 5: “Coup” 6: “Tywysog Cymru” 7: “Moondust" 8: “Dangling Man” 9: “Imbroglio” 10: “Cri de Coeur”
S4: 1: “Gold Stick” 2: “The Balmoral Test” 3: “Fairytale” ( + Cinderella References) 4: “Favourites” 5: “Fagan” 6: “Terra Nullius” 7: ”The Hereditary Principle” 8: “48:1” 9: “Avalanche”
The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown; Tiaras/Crowns Overviews: Season 1 ; Season 2

Prime Minister Harold Wilson is unpopular due to all the economic troubles in England, so, pushed by his Cabinet, he fires Lord Mountbatten in an effort to improve things, who then joins an attempt to launch a coup of the government. Queen Elizabeth takes a break from it all to go hang out with horses in France and Kentucky (good for her!).

So that front page of the newspaper shown in the show totally happened, y’all. Here’s the actual one.

• There’s a really intense music at the beginning of this episode (that vaguely reminds me of the “previously on Battlestar Galactica” music? If you’ve watched it, you’ll know what i mean) as we follow Cecil King from the street into the newsroom, where he crosses out the headline and makes it harsher. This is the second episode in a row where the episode starts by following a minor character’s walk from a vehicle into a building to spew harsh truths; in “Bubbikins,” the episode started off with Princess Alice’s accountant getting out of a motorcycle sidecar and walking into the convent to talk to her. I think they’re both even wearing tan jackets. How odd.
  It’s ironic that Cecil King’s own harsh coverage of Labour government is what pushes the Cabinet to urge Wilson to fire Lord Mountbatten from his job as Chief of the Defence Staff. Cecil LOVES Lord Mountbatten and thinks his firing is the worst. They emphasize both in the newsroom and in the cabinet that the Mirror is a Labour-supporting newspaper, and yet they’re STILL criticizing the government really harshly. And then King starts to launch a coup (because his name was just foreshadowing I guess???).

• Can I just say that I love that this show kept everyone’s names, no matter how many of them there were? In this episode, we have a Cecil King and a Cecil who serves as Elizabeth’s racing manager (his surname wasn’t given in the episode but IMDB says it’s Boyd-Rochfort). In the second season, we saw Cecile Beaton the royal photographer (he was in the first season too, i think, but I don’t know if we ever got his name).
  It may seem like a small thing for which to applaud them, but OTHER English “period” dramas haven’t done that. The Tudors notoriously erased one of Henry VIII’s sisters, changed the other one’s name from Mary to Margaret to avoid confusion with Henry’s daughter Mary, and then married her off to the king of Portugal (it was FRANCE, y’all. /sigh/).

• I marathoned season 1 and 2 of the Crown recently, so I enjoy seeing the ways in which the cabinet meetings change over time. This Labour cabinet seems a little more combative then the previous Prime Ministers’, plus I think this is the first one we’ve seen women sit in? Even if there were women in the previous seasons’ cabinets, they definitely weren’t as outspoken or comfortable in the room as the ones we see in Harold Wilson’s cabinet. They’re both pretty fabulous. We’ve got Wilson’s private secretary, Marcia Williams/Falkender (played by Sinead Matthew), who previously yelled “Grow some balls!” at Wilson in the Aberfan episode. We also have Barbara Castle ( played by Lorraine Ashbourne), who served many different roles under Wilson, including as the first-ever Minister for Overseas Development, Minister of Transport, Secretary of State for Employment and Secretary of State for Social Services.

  In this scene, Wilson is back to his pipe in front of a single green lantern that’s lit in the dark, while all the others are off. The women in the meeting wear green. This seems to point to the money focus of the current meeting and crisis. Conveniently, as they talk about how pompous and proud Lord Mountbatten is, we see a scene of him wearing the grandest military uniform ever, in front of a huge number of soldiers. Wilson fights against the suggestion of firing him very briefly, but not too hard, not like when he fought against blaming the queen for Aberfan. 

Harold Wilson with Marcia Williams/Falkender (Credit: PA)

Marcia Williams/Falkender (played by Sinead Matthew) in The Crown

• Wilson kicks him out while sitting in the cabinet room at the gigantic table; they both look very tiny in that large space at that large table. I’ve noticed that Mountbatten basically wears the colors of the Union Jack in every shot in this episode—a blue tie when Wilson fires him and a red, white, and blue tie when his office is being cleaned out.

• Mountbatten sits in his office forlornly as people clean out his office around him and receives a very sad cake with the haphazardly written “Farewell” on it. A bunch of soldiers serenade him with “Auld Lang Syne” as he leaves. HIS PAINTING is literally is being carried out right behind him; that’s a beautiful and dramatic shot, as all the singing military men look down to watch him pass. I’m not positive, but I think the painting is actually of Lord Mountbatten in real life rather than Charles Dance?
  Sidenote: The Aberfan villagers have these soldiers beat when it comes to three-part harmony. 

• That dog is looking up at Mountbatten’s son very intently while waiting for Mountbatten to drive home. Mountbatten also has statues of all his dogs? Huh. The guy really likes his dogs I guess. Also, if I ever get fired in the future, I definitely want to recover from it by dramatically bathing in a gorgeous tub while petting a dog and drinking liquor from a crystal decanter. 

Lord Mountbatten

Lord Mountbatten with his dog Kimberley (Credit: David Montgomery / Getty)

Lord Mountbatten in The Crown Season 1 ?, portrayed by Greg Wise

• We next see the Queen on the train, wearing a business-like white floral dress and hat and signing various acts. When Michael Deane says “Pens down, your majesty, ten minutes to Newmarket,” she instantly smiles and looks so much lighter and brighter. She then changes into the clothes she’d wear all the time if she could, more sensible clothing, in blues and a plaid skirt. There’s a very lovely small moment where she picks a hair off the clothes of the woman dressing her, indicating their close, friendly relationship, even if we haven’t actually met this woman in the story itself. 

• At the ascot races, with Porchie, the Queen is in a ridiculously pink and grey floral dress with a very loud matching hat, while her mom is in a similar purple and white floral. Porchie and Dickie are both in the traditional ascot race men’s uniform, top hats and tails.  Mountbatten calls her father’s horse training methods obsolete, quite obviously talking about himself and how he was fired.  The Queen notably looks over at Queen mother as Porchie mentions she can deputize people to serve in her absence. 

Lord Mountbatten (Credit: Allan Warren)

Charles Dance as Lord Mountbatten in The Crown

Charles Dance as Lord Mountbatten in The Crown

• When the Queen meets with Wilson, she is noticeably distracted by a large painting of her horse (this seems to tie back to the previous episode, in which a shot at the end showed that her office was positively full of horse paintings). When Wilson says he has to devalue the pound and feels totally humiliated by it all, the queen barely reacts and is just like, eh, that sucks, I’m off to France to hang with horses now. 

• Cecil King is in a black pin striped jacket, red tie, and has a gold clock on a chain. His outfit is the first indication we’ve really seen that he’s actually a rich banker. He quotes Hamlet, saying “there is special Providence in a fall. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all.” 

  Cecil’s mention of Mountbatten’s war hero credentials brings something to mind; it wasn’t mentioned very much in the first two seasons, but it’s a good reminder that pretty much all the adults older than 30 at this point in the show lived through World War II, and a good portion of them are also war heroes.

• As Wilson explains devaluing on tv, all the cabinet wears red, red ties and red dresses, continuing the apparent “Union Jack” costuming with all the people involved in the government and coup plot. Perhaps this indicate that all of them really are trying to act in the country’s best interest?
  This continues at the Bank of England coup meeting with Mountbatten in a blue tie and Cecil King in a red tie.
  Then we watch a dramatic montage of Mountbatten researching coups, history and law, while wearing red white and blue tie. I gotta say, if you’re going to launch a coup, researching what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t is pretty smart. The shot of the cars approaching mountbatten’s house all at once is almost military invasion-like.
  
  As talks about ways to do a coup, we see b-roll of the Queen looking very happy while doing horse things and wearing various tans and light green outfits and scarfs (pink, light blue, brown). Basically, throughout her horse holiday, she’s wearing very non-Union Jack colors because she’s on holiday and trying not to think about being Queen right now, thank you very much. She and Porchie also seem to match at times, indicating their friendship. Porchie does look at her a little too long at one point, bringing back the Season 1 plotline about how he’s secretly in love with her.

“Porchie” and the Queen (Credit: Roger Jackson / Getty)

The Queen (Claire Foy) and “Porchie” (Joseph Kloska) in The Crown

“Porchie” (John Hollingworth) and the Queen (Olivia Colman) in The Crown

• The conversation in which the Queen says that “this,” namely, being involved with horses, was what she was really meant to do full time, not being Queen. There’s so much sadness and regret in her voice as she talks about how she only is in this position because her uncle didn’t do his own job.

  Wilson is again wearing a red tie when he calls the Queen and tells her about the coup and Mountbatten’s involvement in it. As she walks back up the stairs afterwards, she looks terribly defeated, but tightens her lips and gets down to the business of being Queen again, the job she never wanted and the job she can never leave.

• When the Queen meets with Mountbatten, she’s wearing a somber brown skirt suit and starts out the conversation facing away from him at her desk, quite clearly curious. Mountbatten, in a blue and red tie, quickly realizes that she knows exactly what he’s been plotting.

  I love her fierce response to his “how can you protect Wilson?” “I am protecting the prime minister. I am protecting the constitution. I am protecting democracy.” She may not like being Queen, but she clearly has grown into her role and is very good at it. She knows what she’s doing now and understands that her role as head of the family is to stop this madness immediately, before Mountbatten’s actions result in the entire royal family being …de-royaled? What would the term be here, I wonder?

  She also is very specifically posed at center of the screen looking straight out at Mountbatten, full of righteous anger. He took her away from the things she loved and brought her back to reality in the most unthinkable way possible. She icily reminds him that there are other things he could be doing right now, such as looking in on his sister.

• Mountbatten then does have a really lovely and sweet scene with his sister, who apparently now is bedridden. They laugh over how little children now lecture them.

• This is such an interesting episode. During Seasons 1 and 2, Lord Mountbatten or “Uncle Dickie” as we’ve heard him called, was always presented as an essentially likeable and good character. Not perfect (he exchanged some nasty barbs with his wife, if I recall), but good. He comforted the young Philip at his sister’s funeral and served as a father figure for him, he gently communicated some concerns from the Conservative party about Winston Churchill to Elizabeth in a way that didn’t seem pushy, he was a confidant to Prince Charles and advocated for the boy when he was being bullied. Yet, the first time we see him in Season 3, he’s introduced in a commander role we’ve never seen him in and described as a pompous man. He’s played by an actor notorious for playing villainous roles. And he tries to stage a coup, which obviously, is terrible. It’s such a huge change . But then strangely enough, the rest of the season, he’s portrayed as pretty much a genuinely well-intentioned guy who’s trying to do good for his family and a hero in almost every storyline (except possibly the Camilla storyline in S3E9, which we’ll discuss later).

• At the end of the episode, we see Prince Philip for the first time all episode, when he delightedly realizes that his wife is finally home. They talk a little about Porchie being made the new racing manager, but all the old rancor is gone now; they seem happily comfortable with each other and their relationship at this point. He then gives her a very passionate kiss, at which she promises “I’ll be up in a minute.” He has just the cutest, happiest smile on his face as he walks away.

Cecil King (Credit: BBC)

Rupert Vansittartas as Cecil King in The Crown

• So. How much of the coup plot in this episode really happened? Here’s what we know. Cecil King was Chairman of the huge International Publishing Corporation, which owned the Daily Mirror, and a director at the Bank of England. According to a memoir by Hugh Cudlipp, a newspaper editor and publisher [who worked with king?], King was convinced that Britain was headed for ruin and Wilson and the rest of the Labour government in charge needed to be kicked out before they pushed the country over the edge.
  King and his allies did try to get Lord Mountbatten on board with their plans, and even approached him at the Burma Star Association annual reunion (although it wasn’t King who talked to Mountbatten). King, Cudlipp, and Mountbatten did meet in 1968 to discuss King’s plans (Mountbatten brought a friend of his along). At the end, King did actually ask Mountbatten to be a titular head of government in the event of their coup. However, both Mountbatten and his friend left, saying the plan was rank treachery and they could not possibly be involved in it. A few days later, King decided to go ahead even without Mountbatten on board and published a Daily Mirror front page calling for Wilson to be brought down. He was dismissed as chairman of his publishing group three weeks later.

• The Queen and Porchie did go on a fact-finding tour of various stables in 1969. However, it was a much shorter trip just to France. Porchie was appointed her racing manager and stayed in that position until his death.

• Lord Mountbatten recites a poem at his Burma veterans meeting to great effect. It’s the last verse of a poem by Rudyard Kipling called “Mandalay,” which is all about how a veteran is looking back on his time in Mandalay, in Burma, and wishing he was back there. It was very popular at the time and a version of it was even set to music and sung by Frank Sinatra. It’s less popular these days, as it’s got an outdated imperialist point of view. But it works perfectly for a meeting of people who were in the Burma campaign in World War II. It apparently is sometimes still read at World War II veterans events in the United Kingdom. You can find the full poem here.

  Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
  Where there aren't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst;
  For the temple-bells are callin', an' it's there that I would be --
  By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea;
  On the road to Mandalay,
  Where the old Flotilla lay,
  With our sick beneath the awnings when we went to Mandalay!
  On the road to Mandalay,
  Where the flyin'-fishes play,
  An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

Paper and Ribbon Roses for Sale!

Would anyone be interested in buying a Tudor rose pin, Shakespeare rose pin, or sheet music rose pin? I got over excited and made way too many for TudorCon, lol. Let’s say $3 per flower?

If you’re not near Northern Virginia, I’ll have to figure out shipping costs, so that will be TBD.

I’m also up for making custom flower crowns! Here’s one I made myself out of red and white roses. 

I’ve also previously made my own paper rose bouquets for my wedding and ribbon roses for a friend’s wedding. The closeup photo shows my own wedding bouquet, which featured brooches from my grandmother and great grandma (different sides of the family), paper cranes (which are a big symbol in my relationship with John), and sparkly brooches (because sparkles). I would potentially be up for taking commissions for future wedding bouquets, boutonnières, and corsages, just message me if you have questions!

The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown

All My Posts on The Crown
S3: 1 & 2: “Olding” & “Margaretology” 3: “Aberfan” 4: “Bubbikins, 5: “Coup” 6: “Tywysog Cymru” 7: “Moondust" 8: “Dangling Man” 9: “Imbroglio” 10: “Cri de Coeur”
S4: 1: “Gold Stick” 2: “The Balmoral Test” 3: “Fairytale” 4: “Favourites” 5: “Fagan” 6: “Terra Nullius” 7: ”The Hereditary Principle” 8: “48:1”
Season 1 Tiaras and Crowns of “The Crown”; The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown
Visual Cinderella References in The Crown S4E3 Fairytale

Every time a state banquet or occasion happens in the show, the actors’ costumes are positively covered in medals, sashes, necklaces, and ribbons. But what do they all mean? Let’s find out. :) =

Claire Foy as Elizabeth II in Season 1 of The Crown, wearing a a blue riband representing the Order of the Garter, several Royal Family orders, and a recreation of the George IV State Diadem.

Olivia Colman as Elizabeth II in Season 3 of The Crown, wearing a a blue riband representing the Order of the Garter, and a recreation of the George IV State Diadem.

The Queen wears the George IV State Diadem, made in 1820. It’s been worn by four queens so far, Victoria, Alexandra, Mary, and Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth’s Pink and Blue Ribbons with medallions: As you can see in the photos of Claire Foy and Olivia Colman, for state occasions, the Queen often wears medallions with portraits on them on some raw silk. These are Royal Family Orders, which are awarded to female members of the British royal family by the monarch (since women don’t get the commemorative medals that the men do). These badges include a small portrait of the monarch in a diamond frame placed over a ribbon; each monarch has a different color silk ribbon. Elizabeth’s pink ribbon badge is from George VI (her father) and her pale blue ribbon badge is from George V (her grandfather). Her own royal family badge is yellow. These awards are given out privately and not announced, so they only way you know whether a family member has received one is if you see them wearing them in public. These are only worn at formal events, like state dinners.

Elizabeth’s and Philip’s Blue Sashes: The sashes are actually called ribands, a fellow Crown fan helpfully informed me on Facebook (thank you Eric Hufford!). These are sashes worn over the left shoulder. A member will only wear one riband at a time, even if they belong to several orders. However, since some of the orders also come with badges, people may wear a riband from one order, and badges from several other, so they’re all represented. The orders of highest rank get the most prominent positions on a uniform and then are arranged in descending order of importance.

These blue sashes featured in the series look like the blue sashes of the Order of the Garter. The Royal Victorian Order actually is blue bordered by red and appears to be worn from the right shoulder instead of the left. (Thank you to the brilliant Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog for lots of info!)

Many different countries give out order sashes, and the ribands often come with additional insignia. The Order of the Garter riband is also worn with a Badge and a Star. A Knight of the Order of the Garter (a male member, as opposed to a Lady, a female member) also receives a mantle, feathered cap, and a blue garter with the order’s motto.

Apparently, the rules for giving out orders vary widely from country to country. Queen Elizabeth herself awards British orders fairly rarely. Orders are generally worn with men’s military uniforms or white tie dress code and with women’s gowns and tiaras.

By the way, although it’s not required for the Queen to wear white on state occasions, it appears that she generally does favor white or other light colored dresses, as those colors show off the ribbons and sashes very well.

Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown Seasons 1-2, wearing a blue sash representing The Order of the Garter, several royal family badges, and a recreation of Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara.

Queen Elizabeth II wearing Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara (Credit: Time Graham / Getty).

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown Season 3, wearing a blue sash representing The Order of the Garter, several royal family badges, and a recreation of Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara.

Queen Elizabeth II wearing Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara (Credit: Popperfoto / Getty).

The Tiaras: UPDATE 3/4/2021: I’ve started doing quick roundups identifying every crown and tiara featured in The Crown! Go check out the posts on Season 1 and Season 2!

In the photos at the top of this post, both Queens are wearing the George IV State Diadem. This diadem is traditionally worn by queens and queens consort in procession to coronations and state openings of Parliament. The Queen must like this one, as she has worn it on numerous other occasions as well

The photos directly above this Tiaras section show Claire Foy wearing a recreation of Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara, dating back to 1888, (left, Claire Foy), and Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara (Olivia Colman, right). Elizabeth also wore the Fringe Tiara on her wedding day. All of her tiaras are gorgeous and have fascinating histories; if you want to learn more, Harpers Bazaar Australia has a great round up of the tiaras here.

The Queen has so many tiaras, y’all! The Court Jeweller has a fantastic Tiarapedia which methodically lists all of the United Kingdom tiaras that you should definitely check out for more information. I’ve included pics of a few of my favorite ones that I don’t really discuss much in this post below this tiaras section.

Anne wears the Meander Tiara, which was originally owned by Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark. The Queen wears the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara. The red and white ribands are for the order of Austria. When visiting a foreign country, that country’s order insignia takes precedence over your native country’s (Credit: Fox Photos / Getty).

Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Brazilian Aquamarine Parure Tiara, along with the matching necklace and earrings (Credit: Anwar Hussein / Getty). (Parure refers to a set of jewelry and tiara)

The Queen wears the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara in its “widowed” setting to meet President Obama. This tiara can be worn with emerald or pearl drops and without; it’s described as “widowed” when worn without drops (Credit: Chris Jackson / Getty).

Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Burmese Ruby Tiara (Credit: Terry O’Neill).

Matt Smith as Prince Philip in The Crown Season 2.

Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip in The Crown Season 3.

Prince Philip with Betty Ford (Credit: Historical / Getty).

Prince Philip at a state dinner for the President of Mexico (Credit: Justin Tallis / Getty).

Philip has a TON of medals, mostly earned for his wartime service in World War II. Many many thanks to the Daily Mail for the medal descriptions below, because good lord, it would have taken me a long time to look these all up on my own.

He is, of course, wearing his Order of the Garter blue sash and the accompanying badge and star.

1939-1945 Star: A campaign medal of the British Commonwealth awarded for service during the Second World War.

Atlantic Star: Awarded this in 1945 for service in the Atlantic during the Second World War

Africa Star: Awarded in 1945 for service in Africa during the Second World War

Burma Star (with Pacific Rosette): Awarded for service in the Burma Campaign in the Second World War

Italy Star: Awarded for service in Italy and surrounding areas in the Second World War

War Medal 1939-1945, with Mention in Dispatches: Awarded to those who served in the Armed Forces or Merchant Navy for at least 28 days between 1939-45.  The oak leaf on the ribbon denotes the Mention in Despatches

King George VI Coronation Medal, 1937: These medals were made to commemorate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, 1953: A commemorative medal made to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Greek War Cross, 1950: This is awarded for heroism in wartime to both Greeks and foreign allies.  The Duke earned his for his bravery in fighting the Italians when they invaded Greece in 1941.

Croix de Guerre (France) with Palm, 1948: A French military decoration to honour people who fought with the Allies against Axis nations in the Second World War.

Matt Smith as Prince Philip

Prince Philip

Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip

Prince Philip (Credit: Oli Scarff / Getty)

Philip’s Uniform: Occasionally, you’ll see Prince Philip wear his Naval uniform. This uniform is basically the same but there are slightly different details if you look. Matt Smith’s uniform when Philip was made a Prince had epaulettes at the top.
I’m not great at reading military uniform ranks, but I’m fairly positive that the yellow lines with the circle at the top seen on the sleeves of Matt Smith’s uniform at the far left and Prince Philip’s sleeves on the far right indicate his rank as a commander.

Philip’s Military Service: Prince Philip joined the Royal Navy at 18 , graduating from the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth at the top of his class. He served on several British battleships during World War II, despite the fact that two of his brothers-in-law fought on the opposing German side. He did very well, becoming one of the youngest first lieutenants at age 21. He was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrender was signed.

Philip actually met his future wife Elizabeth because of his time in the Navy. Elizabeth’s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to tour the college and asked Philip to escort the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret around. Although she was only 13 and he was 18, they began to exchange letters. Seven years later, after the war, Philip asked the King for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The King approved, but requested that any formal engagement be delayed until after she turned 21. In order to marry Elizabeth, Philip abandoned his own Greek and Danish royal titles, adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother’s family, became a naturalized citizen of the UK, and officially joined the Church of England.

After their honeymoon, Philip returned to the navy, working in a desk job at the Admiralty, then at Greenwich, and finally being stationed in Malta. He was promoted to lieutenant commander and given command of the frigate HMS Magpie. Although his active naval career ended in 1951 when his wife became Queen, he was promoted to the rank of commander in 1952.

Useful Stuff: Waking Up with ADHD, Usable Soap from Tiny Pieces, and Cast Iron Pan Storage

I actually LIKE writing about little projects I do at home and little objects I’ve found that make life easier. I usually post about them on Facebook, but that’s so ephemeral and hard to find later, that I’m going to start doing a weekly roundup of these things as well. :)

• Waking Up with ADHD: So I’ve been having a LOT of trouble getting up in the morning for weeks/months now and only just realized it might be related to my #ADHD. This linked article helped me pinpoint the issue and the solution.

  So i’ve been putting my ADHD meds and some water by my bed for the last few nights and now take my pill (Concerta/methylphenidate) the moment i /first/ wake up. Then when i ACTUALLY want to wake up, i can! And it doesn’t feel like an impossible force is keeping me in bed! I feel so much more useful and adult-ish now! :)
  

• Usable Soap from Tiny Bits: You know those tiny little bits of bar soap you end up collecting that are super useless on their own but you feel guilty about throwing them out? Turns out it’s actually pretty easy to combine them all together to make usable soap again!

  Basically, gather all the tiny bits together in a pot you don’t care that much about. I have one i got for cheap at Target a while back that’s specifically designated for craft projects and sterilization type activities; things you don’t want to do in the pots you cook food in, ya know? Add some water (I filled the pot about half full, which was honestly probably too much) and then turn it on high heat. The goal isn’t to have the mixture boil, but to melt the soap in it. Because of the soap surfactant molecules, you have to keep a close eye on the pot for bubbles and foam building up, but I found that just taking the pot off the heat briefly calmed down the bubbles enough that I could get it back together.

Tiny soap bits in my crafting pot!

The not very pretty mixture cooling n a greased bowl.

The final result in a little soap dish! (Yes, I use mini souvenir plates as soap dishes - this one commemorates the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday). #Anglophile :D

Once the soap is all melted, pour it over a sink into a strainer, and then dump it in a pre-greased small bowl or container of some sort. Once it cools, voila! Usable soap! It’s not the prettiest (although I’m sure someone with more patience could probably form the soap into a more regular shape while it was still slightly warm), but it works perfectly for non-guest bathrooms like the one I prepare the cats’ food in (I mix in salmon oil and probiotics, as i mentioned in this post, and use the door to keep them from hassling me while I’m doing it).

Buy on Amazon

• Cast Iron Pan Storage: We have a ton of cast iron and steel pans that John requested on our wedding registry without thinking about where we’d store them in our tiny kitchen. They’ve either been living on the stove or piled up in a corner, making a huge visual clutter and generally driving me crazy, ever since. I was inspired though, by the spic and span kitchen of one of my rover clients, to get our own act together, and bought a shelf designed to hold heavy cast iron pans. And LOOK, it’s so much prettier now and it’s so much easier to take them out and put them away.

Over-Analyzing the Crown: S3E4 Bubbikins

All My Posts on The Crown
S3: 1 & 2: “Olding” & “Margaretology” 3: “Aberfan” 4: “Bubbikins, 5: “Coup” 6: “Tywysog Cymru” 7: “Moondust" 8: “Dangling Man” 9: “Imbroglio” 10: “Cri de Coeur”
S4: 1: “Gold Stick” 2: “The Balmoral Test” 3: “Fairytale” ( + Cinderella References) 4: “Favourites” 5: “Fagan” 6: “Terra Nullius” 7: ”The Hereditary Principle” 8: “48:1” 9: “Avalanche”
The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown; Tiaras/Crowns Overviews: Season 1 ; Season 2

Princess Alice in The Crown, played by Jane Lapotaire

Princess Alice with her son Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Credit: Popperfoto / Getty).

Our previous glimpse of Princess Alice in S1E1 “Wolferton Splash.”

Princess Anne in The Crown, played by Erin Doherty, compared with the real life Princess Anne (Credit: AP).

Prince Philip tries to do PR for the royal family and does a pretty terrible job at it. His chain-smoking nun mother saves his butt by being just generally amazing.

• Note the colors in this beginning scene; they’ll show up in most of the costumes for the rest of the episode. This chain-smoking nun (who hasn’t been introduced yet in the episode, but is actually Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark) is in light blue and white, and the rundown convent itself is blue, green, yellow, and grey. There is blue visible in almost every scene in Greece; it’s highly associated with the country and is used throughout the rest of the episode to signal each character’s connection to Greece and this Grecian nun. 

• We’ve actually seen Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark before, by the way, in the very first season of the crown! She appeared briefly at Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding; Elizabeth’s mother and grandmother said some catty things about her being dressed as a nun and how she was kept in a sanitarium for much of her life.

• Alice keeps a framed photo of Philip as a child on her dresser at the convent (specifically, the actor who played him in the S2E9 episode “Paterfamilias.”). It’s interesting that this is the only framed photo she has in her room; she would still have three daughters alive at this point (her other died in the late 30s in an airplane crash, also depicted in “Paterfamilias”). This may be because of her daughters’ known Nazi connections and sympathies; in contrast, Alice hid a Jewish family and gave them protection during World War II. 

• Color-spotting: I don’t want this entire post to turn into a list of who all is wearing what colors, but the colors are consistent enough that I really want to draw attention to them. Philip wears light blue shirts or dark blue ties consistently throughout the episode, the Queen and Anne wear blue or yellow in almost every shot, the reporter John Armstrong is seen in blue multiple times, against a yellow and green backgrounds, Martin wears blue when he picks up Princess Alice, the plane taking Alice to the UK is blue, Alice’s bag is blue and white, you get the idea. Almost everyone is blue in this episode. So much Greek. The colors blue and green are also visible in the Greece scenes that take post-military coup (blue window shutters on the street, the blue door of the convent, blue sapphire, blue police lights flickering against the convent walls, green tanks)

  Interestingly, in the cabinet meeting we see at the beginning, everyone is in black and white except for one woman in red; this is the labour party’s color. There are a couple other notably red moments throughout the show (the red box given to the queen in the documentary, Anne’s red dress, John Armstrong’s pencil), but I’m not sure they mean anything, it’s just a color that stands out.

• Princess Alice, mother superior, calls the jewelry salesman who called the police on her “sweetie” in the most deadpan manner. Her son Philip then himself uses “sweetie” as a pet name, when he hilariously calls on the intercom throughout the palace to various rooms, surprising numerous really confused secretaries, maids, and butlers in the process.
  In the scene with the duke and Anne in his blue office (which I don’t believe we’ve ever seen before), a framed photo of his mother is visible on his desk (just like his photo is on her dresser). Philip is wearing a blue tie and a blue and white shirt, Anne is wearing yellow and blue, notably in a plaid skirt very much like those her mother favors (just in brighter colors). 
  I also REALLY enjoyed the queen’s matter of fact, “I’m darling or cabbage, sweetie is someone else” to Michael Adeane. It seems like Prince Philip continues his mother’s favoring of nicknames. She calls him “bubbikins” and the jewelry salesman “sweetie”; he calls his daughter “sweetie” and his wife “cabbage.”

• I noticed that in this episode, Prime Minister Wilson’s meetings with the queen this episode are shot further away then they have been previously, using wide shots which emphasize the large distance between the two of them. This may symbolize the distance between the royal family and the British public, or perhaps even the Queen’s perception of herself and the British public’s perception. In their last meeting in the episode, the Queen notes that her family is normal; Wilson emphasizes that they are decidedly not.

• “She is not of our world nor, frankly, suited for it,” Philip says about his mother, while wearing a ridiculously formal outfit (blue and white!, matching his wife) standing in the fanciest room surrounded by gold and crystal everything. This occurs right after we see a shot of tiny old Princess Alice in her rundown surroundings looking up and hearing amplified shouts about how foreign nationals should leave immediately. There’s a huge contrast between these two scenes.
  There’s also a cute moment in this scene where the queen affectionately straightens one of Philip’s medal. This is an intimate moment that reminds me of the season 1 incident when a journalist saw Princess Margaret pick a piece of fluff off of Peter Townsend’s uniform and accurately guessed that they were in a relationship.

• As Alice walks into the palace, with her blue and white bag, she’s clearly overwhelmed and compensates by saying “Thank” you very formally to every butler that helps her or calls her Princess (her highly cultured aristocratic accent in English gives her away as someone of high class). The shot of her entering the main room emphasizes exactly how small and dull she is in comparison to all the grandeur. The Queen and Princess Anne are both there to greet her and are both sporting blue, green, and yellow skirts. 
  On her way to her room, Alice very clearly eyes one specific clock in the hallway. Later, she suggests selling a clock for funds for the convent. She ends up placing Phillip’s photo directly by the clock in her blue room (which is blue, and the stairway up to it is green and white). 

• The next shot shows Philip steadfastly avoiding his mother while remembering some of his more painful memories relating to her. We’ve seen the one where his mother was taken away to the sanatorium and his sister comforts him in S2E9 “Paterfamilias,” but I’m fairly sure we haven’t seen the next shot of a forlorn young Philip sitting on his luggage at a train station before.

A scene from the Royal Family, which aired in June 1969 and attracted more than 30 million viewers. The Queen’s Christmas message that year was written, as she was afraid that another TV speech would lead to overexposure.

The film was last shown on BBC in 1972 to mark the Queen’s 20th anniversary on the throne. The Queen has not allowed it since (Credit: Popperfoto / Getty).

Colin Morgan as John Armstrong in The Crown.

• In the documentary explanation scene, most everyone is wearing blues and greens except Margaret, the family member most negative about the documentary scheme, is in white, black, and pink.
  In the later TV-watching scene, Margaret voices her opinions about how boring the documentary will be in a truly hilarious way (Helena Bonham Carter is a treasure). Anne, the Queen, and the Queen Mother are all wearing blue, and Margaret is, again, set apart in checked pink, white, and purple.  The Queen mother makes really funny faces when Margaret says they’d normally be off in separate isolated palaces and that sitting all together watching TV is like a prison; Anne laughs but tries to hide it. 
  FYI, every time I see the Queen’s corgis in this show, I freak out slightly with happiness. I love them so much. Here’s one article about the history of the Queen’s corgis. This article chronicles every appearance of the corgis in the first two seasons of the show and notes that the corgis NEED to be featured more in the show (which - agreed!).

• Next, Alice walks around the palace looking forlorn, and trying to borrow a light from someone, saying “Hello?” a few times. She’s notably excited to find a reporter smoking outside and asks for a light (perhaps she’s more comfortable with “normal” people than the royals). They seem to be having a lovely conversation until Philip, who sees this from a window, angrily sends a servant out to stop the interview. That evening, Philip angrily shouts about this incident to the Queen. She’s already in bed, in a white and light blue nightgown, and he’s standing up, leaning against the bed frame. They’re clearly not on the same page when it comes to his mother; Elizabeth looks very surprised and concerned by his outburst that “she gave birth to me; she is not my mother.” (paraphrase, may get the exact quote later)

• The next day, the Queen, in light green, goes up the bright green staircase to visit Alice and finds Anne there. The two (both wearing blue) are chatting, writing letters to patrons, and sharing a cigarette. The queen’s wry “we’ll hold a big jumble sale of all the palace valuables on our return” confuses Alice and it’s adorable (“What?”). 

• As they watch the documentary, everyone in the family is wearing blue or green (even Margaret, who’s sporting a green jacket over her brown print) except Anne, in bright red. Martin and Michael are in matching diagonal striped ties as they look at each other happily when the documentary talks about them as private secretaries.
  That newspaper office is just so friggin fabulous and 60s, with a green carpet and brown walls.

• Fun subtle continuity moment: In the “Aberfan” episode, Wilson comforted the queen’s concern about her own stoic, non-crying nature, by relating to her that although he prefers cigars, he smokes a pipe because it’s more relatable to the common man and better for him as a Labour politician. Notably, in this episode, Wilson is shown smoking a pipe in the cabinet meeting (in public) and a cigar while watching the royal family documentary (in private). 

• The Queen reads the bad newspaper reviews of the documentary while wearing a hideously unflattering dress in white dress with blue, green and purple florals, looking older and more out of touch then ever. There are some really interesting ideas presented in her next conversation with the Prime Minister, when he notes that the public doesn’t want a normal royal family, but an ideal. The Queen retorts, “I’d prefer to be in private and out of sight, hidden and out of view, for our own sanity and survival.” But since that’s impossible, the royal family must use “mystery and protocol, not to keep us apart but to keep us alive.”

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown.

Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip in The Crown.

• Anne is so fabulous and calculating. “Is it really necessary to speak your mind quite so mercilessly at every opportunity?” “Well, where do you think I get that from?” 

• I love how John Armstrong shows his glee at being inside Buckingham Palace. Despite all his criticism of the royal family, he’s still only human, and this is one of the most exclusive and storied locations in all of the UK.

  Sidenote: If Armstrong looks familiar to you, it might be because the actor Colin Morgan played the title role in the BBC series “Merlin.” I’ve never seen it, but I’ve certainly seen the title card on Netflix enough to recognize him.

• Blue-spotting: Anne as she pretends to be sick and pushes Alice toward the reporter, Armstrong himself, the blue curtains behind Alice during the interview (similar to the blue curtains behind Philip in his Meet the Press scene at the beginning of the episode).

• When the Queen and then Philip walk up to Alice’s room, we’re with them almost the whole way, as if to emphasize the distance at which they’ve been keeping his mother. The shots of Philip and Alice inside the room seem to really emphasize the distance between them as well; they don’t come near each other, despite it being the first time either of them as seen each other for years. She looks so happy to see him but also so tentative, as she says “Bubbikins?”

• There are a few episodes this season seems that kind of carry over elements that were just introduced in the previous element into the next episode while introducing another new episode. This starts it off by introducing Anne and Alice; there’s also a shot of the queen which lingers on her collection of MANY horse portraits. The next episode features her love of horses and also introduces the new Lord Mountbatten and his sibling relationship with Alice. The episode after that will introduce new Prince Charles, whose character is chiefly fleshed out in conversations with his sister Anne.
  They clearly made the choice to write Prince Charles out of this specific story; as you can see in the stills from the real documentary above, he was pretty prominently in the actual thing. I suppose they didn’t want to overwhelm the audience with too many new faces. Plus, Charles will get his own chance to shine in just a few episodes.

• If you’re like my husband, by the way, and are curious about how Alice is Princess of Greece and Denmark, it’s an interesting story! Her husband’s father was a prince of Denmark who was basically imported to become king of Greece after Greece deported its previous king. That king was assassinated and the next king (Philip’s uncle on his father’s sad) was deposed and run out of Greece, along with the entire family, including Alice and Philip. I learned all about it from The Other Half podcast’s episodes on Sophia of Prussia (Episodes 2.16-2.19)

Princess Alice with her grandchildren, Prince Charles and Princess Anne (Credit: Smith Archive / Alamy).

Shakespeare English History/War of the Roses Family Tree: Unnatural Deaths

Taking a quick break from coverage of The Crown season 3 (don’t worry, I’ll have another post up later today!) to get back to Wars of the Roses for a minute. I’ve heard it said before that a lot of Tudor history was influenced by the Wars for the purely practical reason that most of the nobles with a claim to the throne were killed off. Really, Henry VII had a pretty weak claim to the throne, and a big reason Henry VIII’s daughters were allowed to take the crown was because there really weren’t any viable male alternatives. I decided to test this out myself by simply crossing off all the people on my family tree who were killed “unnaturally,” that is, not dying of old age or illness. I may have missed a few side people here, as my history knowledge gets shakier the further back we go or the more Scottish we get, so please let me know if you see anyone I’ve missed!

If you missed seeing the original Shakespeare English History Royal Family Tree, it’s over here.

View fullsize

Over-Analyzing the Crown: S3E3 Aberfan

All My Posts on The Crown
S3: 1 & 2: “Olding” & “Margaretology” 3: “Aberfan” 4: “Bubbikins, 5: “Coup” 6: “Tywysog Cymru” 7: “Moondust" 8: “Dangling Man” 9: “Imbroglio” 10: “Cri de Coeur”
S4: 1: “Gold Stick” 2: “The Balmoral Test” 3: “Fairytale” ( + Cinderella References) 4: “Favourites” 5: “Fagan” 6: “Terra Nullius” 7: ”The Hereditary Principle” 8: “48:1” 9: “Avalanche”
The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown; Tiaras/Crowns Overviews: Season 1 ; Season 2

Olivia Colman with the mayor in The Crown, left (Netflix); the Queen with the Aberfan mayor in real life, right (Stan Meagher) (Credit: Evening Standard / Getty).

A really horrible disaster occurred and killed over 100 people, mostly children, in Aberfan, Wales. In accordance with tradition and out of concern of distracting rescue workers, Queen Elizabeth delays visiting the Welsh town until she is forced to by external pressure.

Villagers digging at Aberfan.

Am aerial shot showing the extent of the devastation in the Aberfan disaster, 1966. (unknown)

• The start of this episode is intentionally foreboding. It reminds me very much of the pre-accident scenes in HBO’s “Chernobyl.” I had never heard of the Aberfan incident before this episode, but just from the shooting style and content, I could tell that something bad was about to happen to those children. This haunting atmosphere is repeated during the credits, which are shown over film of children playing in their schoolyard.

• The singing, incidentally, is a theme that comes back several times in the episode. The mourners at the funeral sing a haunting hymn in perfect harmony and Elizabeth can’t actually cry until she listens to a recording of the hymn at the end of the episode. I’ve included the lyrics to both songs sung at the end of this post.

• There’s an absolutely gorgeous shot of a little girl running out into a heavy rainstorm with a red umbrella. It’s shot so that almost all color has been drained from the scene; it looks black and white except for that one red umbrella, with one singing little girl under it. It almost evokes the red balloon from “It.” I doubt that was exactly what they were going for though. Red umbrellas on a black and white background are a surprisingly common motif in a lot of photography and paintings, you can find it all over the place.

• On second watch, it became obvious that the green coal tips are visible in almost every outside shot of the pre-accident sequence; they are so huge that they overwhelm and hang over every person and every thing in the whole village. You can see them at the end of the main street, behind the schoolteacher as he talks to his class, and behind the children and the miners as they go to and from their homes.

  Interestingly enough, the green from the tips seems to become a theme throughout the entire episode, seen in both the costuming, the lighting, and the scenery. Almost everyone in this episode wears green. I believe this symbolizes the huge impact the disaster had on the entire nation; everyone was impacted and heartbroken over it. The Queen wears numerous green outfits (at least two house robes, a green floral shirt, and a green cardigan, I may have missed one or two as well), the crowd yelling at the politicians and the National Coal Board reps is wearing a LOT of green, Tony wears green as he goes off to Aberfan, Margaret wears a green dress as he kisses her on his way out the door and a green striped shirt at breakfast with her family. In the Buckingham palace scenes, they spend a lot of time in one particular green room. There’s even a green lighting over some of the scenes; the one that stands out most is when Harold Wilson is taking off his coal-dust covered shoes at the end of the day and looking absolutely defeated. The amount of green in this episode is just absolutely bonkers; I was half expecting to hear some proto-environmentalism come up to tie more into the “green.”
  Of course, the most devastating use of green comes during the funeral, in the green cloth (?) lining the huge grave, filled with the coffins of 81 children. The crowd at the funeral is still surrounded by those giant green hills all around them (how many of them are coal tips vs hills? It’s so unnerving not to know).

• There are also lots of brown costumes in this episode. Tony, Margaret, the Queen, and Harold Wilson all prominently wear brown. This may be referring to the brown coffins against those bright green cloth, or may just indicate sadness.

• I’d like to note that this is the second time in the series that junior secretary Martin Charteris is shown expressing an opinion that, while not in keeping with palace tradition, accurately predicts the reaction of the people and the press. When senior private secretary Michael Adeane doesn’t take Martin’s advice in the season 2 episode “Marionettes,” the Queen ends up giving a very tone-deaf, patronizing speech which opens her to a ton of criticism. When the queen and Michael don’t listen to Martin’s timid suggestion that she visit Aberfan herself, it opens her up to criticism about not caring about her people. This all just indicates that Martin is the real down to earth secretary with actual insight here and definitely should have been made senior secretary as Elizabeth wanted in the season 1 episode “Scientia Potentia Est,” tradition be damned.
  Continuity Note: It looks like Michael Adeane got to grow back his mustache after a while. Elizabeth asked him to shave it off in the Season 2 episode “Lisbon” to satisfy Prince Philip, who was complaining about all the “mustaches” ordering him around. This seems fair, since the events of “Aberfan” take place in 1966 and the events of “Lisbon” take place in 1957. You can’t ban a man’s facial hair for years at a time!

Jason Watkins as Prime Minister Harold Wilson in The Crown (Netflix)

Ben Daniels as Tony Armstrong Jones in The Crown (Netflix)

• There’s a horribly sad contrast in the two scenes in the episode in which someone yells for those around him to be quiet. This first happens as the accident is just beginning, when a worker at the mine yells for the others to be quiet, as he can hear the tip start to collapse and race toward the village. The second happens in the post-accident cleanup while Harold Wilson is visiting; everyone becomes quiet to try to hear the sound of any child who might still be buried. This scene became even more eerie when I read about the accident and learned that there were no survivors found after 11 am (the accident itself occurred at 9:15).
  The shots of villagers desperately digging with their hands, their helmets, anything nearby to try to rescue their children, is absolutely heartbreaking and haunting. They don’t draw too many direct comparisons to the children seen at the beginning of the episode (at least not that I noticed, please tell me if I’m wrong!), but at one point, a man did pick up a copy of the “All Things Bright and Beautiful” songbook that all the children were using as they practiced.

• One of the most interesting things about this series is how its portrayals of events from decades in the past evoke more recent happenings. When Harold Wilson urged the Queen to visit Aberfan, I could not help but think of Tony Blair urging the Queen to say something about the death of Princess Diana.   

Tobias Menzies in The Crown. The mayor with his chain of office can be seen on the right.

• There’s a shot of the Queen writing in her journal while listening to a newscast announcing her message of sympathy to Aberfan that intentionally blurs her for a bit. This indicates that this whole situation isn’t about her or her feelings about the proper role for the queen; this is a horrible incident which is hurting her people and her distance from it isn’t helping. 

• There’s an interesting juxtaposition between the line of female grocery workers in white behind Harold Wilson at the beginning of the episode and the line of female nurses in white at the end of the episode when the Queen visits Aberfan. Haven’t figured out a meaning there, it just stood out to me.

• In case you were wondering about that giant gold chain that one man wears in some of the Aberfan scenes, that’s the mayor wearing his chain of office. Most British and Irish mayors wear a collar/chain of office, and new ones are still designed for new municipalities. These are worn over normal clothes when on official duties. 

• The little girl who gives the queens flowers “from the remaining children of Aberfan” (my heart broke into a million pieces at that) is wearing a light blue outfit with a notable collar that looks very much like Elizabeth’s own outfits as a child.

Line of coffins of victims (Credit: Popperfoto / Getty).

The memorial in Aberfan, Wales, today (Credit: Steve Parsons / PA).

All Things Bright and Beautiful

All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
each little bird that sings,
he made their glowing colours,
he made their little wings.

The purpleheaded mountain,
the river running by,
the sunset and the morning,
that brightens up the sky.

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, oh, leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing

Over-Analyzing the Crown: S3E1 Olding and S3E2 Margaretology

All My Posts on The Crown
S3: 1 & 2: “Olding” & “Margaretology” 3: “Aberfan” 4: “Bubbikins, 5: “Coup” 6: “Tywysog Cymru” 7: “Moondust" 8: “Dangling Man” 9: “Imbroglio” 10: “Cri de Coeur”
S4: 1: “Gold Stick” 2: “The Balmoral Test” 3: “Fairytale” ( + Cinderella References) 4: “Favourites” 5: “Fagan” 6: “Terra Nullius” 7: ”The Hereditary Principle” 8: “48:1” 9: “Avalanche”
The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown; Tiaras/Crowns Overviews: Season 1 ; Season 2

I’ll be posting little analyses and observations on each episode of Season 3 of the Crown over the next week or two! I’m a huge Anglophile and LOVE analyzing all the hidden meaning in tv shows and movies, so I’m really excited to write about this series. :) I’ll be adding in more episodes and comparative photos as I go, so keep checking back for more updates!

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in a party scene in the first episode of Season 3 of The Crown on Netflix.

I really loved the first two seasons and am very excited about the new actors playing the roles. Olivia Colman (the new Elizabeth II) was astounding in Broadchurch and The Night Manager (I still haven’t seen her Oscar-winning role in The Favourite yet, I really need to). Claire Foy did such a good job of bringing the young Elizabeth to life and making a mild-mannered, quiet queen interesting; I’m delighted to see Olivia Colman take up the crown. And although this show has never prioritized making the actors look /exactly/ like their historical counterparts, instead, seeking to evoke the general idea of each character, there’s one scene in Season 3 Episode 2 in which Olivia Colman looks SO much like photographs I’ve seen of the queen from the 60s that I actually gasped (Any guesses as to which scene it is? :D).

I also greatly appreciated Tobias Menzies in Outlander; he was utterly terrifying as the villainous Jack Randall and beguiling as the kind, slightly pathetic figure of Frank Randall. He did such a great job giving life to two different characters and I was very excited to see him take over as Prince Philip from Matt Smith. I have a soft spot for Philip; I too love a grumpy man with an occasionally inappropriate sense of humor, and he’s such a great balance to Elizabeth’s primness.

Episode 1: “Olding”

The UK gets a new prime minister, the venerable Winston Churchill dies, and Elizabeth finds out about a KGB spy in her midst! Also, lots of art and a pretty awkward birthday party.

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in the first episode of Season 3 of The Crown on Netflix.

• The name of the episode derives from Harold Wilson’s supposed KGB code name but also cleverly refers to the aging of the characters and transition of the actors.

• I really loved the introduction scene for Olivia Colman, where her face wasn’t in focus until after the updated portrait of her on the coinage as “an old bat” (as she so wryly noted) was revealed. It’s a great transition, and reminds me of other media’s excellent acknowledgment of the elephant in the room of the actor change. I’m specifically thinking of the change from Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle as “Rhodey” in the Iron Man movies, where Cheadle’s first line in Iron Man 2 is “Look, it’s me, I’m here. Deal with it. Let’s move on.” The Capheus actor change in Sense8 from Aml Ameen to Toby Onwumere also springs to mind, although I’m struggling to find the exact introduction quote from Season 2 Episode 1 (I believe it was something along the lines of “things change but are essentially the same” or something, referring to the Van Damme’s new look).
  I hope they don’t do the same thing in Season 5 when they switch actors again though, that could get overly precious really quickly. On the second actor change, it might be better to take a Doctor Who approach to the whole thing and just accept it and move on.

• Princess Margaret has a pillow that says “it isn’t easy being a princess” on her bed. She also wears a diamond bracelet as she sleeps.

• Lord Snowden is first seen sawing metal in his workshop, building metal pyramid outlines in his ship; those same pyramids appear to show up in their house earlier as Snowden walks to his dark room to develop photos. The fact that he is literally working with his hands while Princess Margaret is still sleeping and hanging up the phone to avoid conversations illustrates the sharp divide between the couple.

• When he opens the door to the dark room, the first shot is a reflection against the mirror from the season 2 episode where he met Margaret; it specifically focuses on the “beryl” that she signed with a diamond.

• The Queen is wearing a skirt suit in this episode, which she’ll become very famous for wearing. I don’t think we’ve seen her in one in this series before. I checked this by doing a quick skim of Tom and Lorenzo’s brilliant “The Crown Style” posts (which have heavily inspired me and taught me so much of the years!); it seems I was right. Although she WAS wearing more jackets and business like silhouettes by the end of season 2, we hadn’t seen her in an actual suit until now. Her suit in this episode is also pink, which may be a call back to her connection with Jacqueline Kennedy in season 2 (who was famously wearing a pink Chanel suit when JFK was shot).

• I totally missed the queen’s “Great Britain/greatest Briton” pun to Winston Churchill the first time around. Winston is totally surrounded by art all around him, really engulfed, honestly. Art seems much more apparent and spotlighted in this episode than it has been previously, probably because of the plotline’s focus on art and inner meaning. The provision of paintings in Churchill’s house may also be a call back to Winston’s love of painting, highlighted in a season 1 episode.

• The awkward birthday party scene firmly plants the episode in the 60s; all the women are in bright colors and many of them are in very mod silhouettes or otherwise sport very specifically 60s details, like beaded necklines and hens, and lots of very straight dresses rather than those that hugged the curves so common throughout the 40s and 50s. This scene is also set in a particularly opulent room with lots of bright colors and gold accents. The queen herself is in a glorious blue/green/gold dress. The party ends with the Queen announcing Winston’s death. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that next sequence of his funeral is almost completely devoid of color; the only bright spots of color are the Union Jack and the queen’s bright red lipstick (which ties into her close relationship with Winston; she doesn’t wear lipstick that bright anywhere else in the episode). It seems a very deliberate juxtaposition.

• Interestingly enough, I noticed earlier in the episode that there were bright red and white roses directly behind Philip during the breakfast scene; this seems to be a foreshadowing to the patriotic UK plot/the loss of Winston.

• After Winston’s funeral, the Queen is wearing light blue for the rest of the episode, first in a skirt suit, and last in her formal dress for the exhibit opening. Blue is the traditional color of royal mourning; this may symbolize her sadness over Winston’s death or perhaps is a tie into her patriotic love of her country, which is highlighted when the KGB mole is revealed. Her light blue dress stands out brilliantly against the yellow walls at the art exhibit later, which seems intentional. As the episode fades out, the Queen is standing by a set of dramatic red curtains, again, representing the Union Jack. Now that I think about it, the pink suit from earlier in the episode might have been foreshadowing, as it’s reminiscent of the flag as well without being an exact match.

• The queen herself gives a highly symbolic speech at the art exhibit in which she describes a painting in which one man is painted over another. However, Sir Anthony explains that it’s the same man painted twice. The queen sharply disagrees and says that essentially they’re two different men. This is clearly a coded conversation where blunt says he is the same man he always has been, he has just grown and changed; in contrast, the Queen points out that he is clearly not the man she thought he was.

• SPOILERS: Sir Anthony’s seemingly idle conversation with the queen early on in the episode about Harold Wilson’s possible KGB ties foreshadows the reveal of his KGB ties later. He also mentions in this conversation and later that he was more liberal as a young man, voted conservative, and doesn’t quite like Wilson, strongly implying that he really regrets his past actions. This is supported by his later conversation with Prince Philip when he points out that he also has incidents in his past life that he regrets. During his art talk, he also specifically discusses paintings using phrases that speak to his own situation, saying “as time passes, we learn,” noting that “the truth will out,” and discussing the two-faced nature of one painting. His conversation with Philip, while implicitly threatening the prince, saying he may reveal the scandal he covered up in the past, he also seems to point to how he’s protected and served the royal family well in the past and how he’s happy to do in the future.

Winston Churchill’s Funeral in 1965. Churchill is one of the few non-royals to receive a state funeral. His was also the last state funeral to occur as of 2019 (Credit: Popperfoto / Getty).

Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies in the Churchill funeral scene in Netflix’s The Crown

Second Episode: “Margaretology”

Elizabeth and Margaret with their mother at Windsor in 1941 (Credit: Lisa Sheridan / Getty). Apparently the identical clothing and Peter Pan Collars seen in the flashback scenes are totally accurate .

The queen’s “dangerous little sister” Margaret goes on a whirlwind tour of America and has a dirty limerick contest with President Lyndon B. Johnson! Also, we get some charming flashback scenes of the two women as children.

• The queen and Margaret are in highly similar brown dresses in the opening flashback sequence. They also both wear a string of pearls as children, which will end up being a recurring theme throughout the episode. Both women wear pearls in almost every single scene in the episode, which signals their enduring connection as sisters.
  The queen’s blue outfit in the next scene has a brown fur collar, which appears to call back to her outfit as a child. The queen, Margaret, and Tony are all wearing blue in this scene (right as Margaret and Tony are about to board a blue commercial plane). Margaret’s blue is the brightest and most fashionable, in a gorgeous floral hat, naturally. She is also wearing an olive green coat. Tony is wearing a red tie with his blue suit. In green and red, they are literally wearing contrasting colors; they’re connected by the blue, symbolizing the work they’re doing for the crown, but are otherwise on totally different wavelengths.

• When Harold Wilson is going to Buckingham palace to see the queen, he’s shot in a way that makes him look small and insignificant compared to all the grandeur. This emphasizes his non-noble background and down to earth point of view as he asks the queen to “really roll out the red carpet” to persuade the Americans to give them a loan.

• In the media montage that compares Margaret to the queen by saying that it’s like “going from a black and white film to one in color,” the show literally switches from an almost technicolor bright scene of Margaret wearing a bright blue dress against a bright red airplane scene to three men in black and white suits talking to the queen in a very dim and grey palace. The queen is wearing a pink skirt suit and pearls in this scene.

• When they arrive in America, Margaret wears a bright light blue dress with a pink and white scarf. Her white shoes, decorated with multi-colored bright beads, are emphasized. Margaret is later seen in two different green dresses and a bright pink dress (she also poses in very little of anything as she poses nude in a bubble bath wearing a crown, which actually happened, and may also be a call back to the Season 2 episode in which she sent out a birthday portrait of herself looking nude). She is very notably not spending much time with her husband in these scenes; he is usually in a corner smoking or signaling her to leave and she’s always surrounded by people, laughing, smoking and talking loudly, dancing, posing for pictures, etc.

• During her argument scene with Tony, Margaret’s wearing a green dress in multiple tones and metallics, and bright purple/pink shoes. The metallics were very in in the sixties, but this and the purple shoes could also be a subtle reference to her princess status. The clashing shoes and dress also indicate Margaret’s individualistic style.

• Throughout this episode, Margaret and Tony are almost always presented on different planes, except when they’re actively moving from one location to another. When Tony is sitting, Margaret is standing. When Margaret is lying down while sick, tony is first sitting and reading the magazines, and then standing over her to kiss her before going off to “sing for their supper.” Even when on the plane to the White House, Tony is sitting while Margaret is slightly elevated. This shooting makes it clear that this is not a couple in sync. 
  In contrast, every time Elizabeth and Philip are shown, they operate on the same plane. They’re both sitting comfortably in their house robes while talking about Margaret at the white house; they’re both standing while discussing Margaret’s proposal at the end. Their relationship troubles depicted in the first two seasons seem to have come to an end; they are a pair united.

• Johnson is always shot in a way that makes him look like a large dark silhouette taking over whatever scene he’s in, While cursing at the ambassador, while looming over his military officials, while urinating and yelling at his press secretary. Like most American historical figures in the Crown, he’s presented more as a caricature rather than a person, as he strives to come out from beneath JFK’s shadow.
  Johnson is presented here as something of an ass, but underneath his bluster and fears is a good deal of truth. His frustration with Kennedy’s legacy is real - Kennedy was really held up as a martyr and a great statesman after his death, even when we know from his appearance in season 2 that he wasn’t anything of the kind. And Johnson is right in that the prime minister and the queen really could rely on each other in diplomacy, while Johnson cannot; he is the head of state and the chief executive and has to play both roles, no matter how much he might hate it. Fun fact: The scene where Johnson is talking to his press secretary (?) while urinating is pretty accurate; Johnson was pretty famous for conducting meetings while using the restroom.

  All of Johnson’s blunt talk is a pretty good indication that he and Margaret will get along really well; she similarly has a habit of speaking harsh truths and saying things that may offend, but also makes one think. 

• Johnson specifically states that if he went hunting with the royals in Balmoral, he would likely make a fool of himself, while JFK would have known exactly what to do. This is really interesting, because in their season two episode, JFK and Jackie definitely made several very obvious protocol errors immediately upon meeting the royals and both were clearly embarrassed by it. Kennedy’s legacy has grown beyond who he really was, and Johnson feels intimidated by that.

• Tony seems to blend in wherever he is – wearing a classic tux in LA and at the white house and a jeans and tan shirt in Arizona. This is in sharp contrast to Margaret, who stands out pretty obviously wherever she goes. In Arizona, she arrives in a brown fur coat (over a dress that can’t quite be seen but appears to be a green and white print) and a bright blue scarf, which may be a reference to Arizona (all that brown and turquoise). When she’s in bed sick, she’s still wearing her hair in a fabulous updo and smoking and wearing a dainty olive green slip, naturally.

• Throughout the episode, the queen and Margaret are dressed in similar colors, constantly wearing pearl necklaces to illustrate their connections, but Margaret generally wears brighter and bolder colors and styles compared to the queen’s pastel blues and pinks and prim silhouettes. Occasionally though, they are dressed in more complementary styles to indicate an attempt at connection.

  • When the queen calls Margaret to ask her to go to the dinner, she is in a yellow floral shirt which, while still very sensible, is one of the brightest and most Margaret-like things she wears in the episode. Margaret, on the other end of the line, is still in her olive slip and fancy updo, smoking a cigarette as she tells the queen she won’t do it.
    Isn’t it interesting how Margaret is so often shown in bed, smoking, ignoring any royal responsibilities? The real Margaret apparently was a great lover of sleep during the day and during her American tour, she skipped out on at least one private luncheon thrown in her honor in order to go nap instead.

  • When Margaret agrees to go to the dinner, she boards the plane there in a white fluffy hat, a light pink dress/skirt suit with contrasting black florals on it, and light blue shoes. Basically, she’s putting on the royal uniform of light pink and light blue, but she’s going to do it her own way. This scene is interspersed with one of the queen writing the letter to Margaret; there, the queen is also wearing a floral, although it’s a more subtle pink and white collared shirt than Margaret’s outfit.

• The queen has some wonderful lines in this episode:
  The queen cuts off one of her private secretaries’ discussion of all the praise Margaret has been receiving in America by standing up and walking away, noting “I’m a queen, not a saint.”
  When the prime minister says the white house dinner must be dealt with in the utmost delicacy, she asks incredulously, “So you want to send princess Margaret?” She also notes matter-of-factly in this conversation that LBJ’s invite to Margaret is “cunning,” which illustrates a growing ease with her role as queen.

• At the White House, Margaret is wearing a wild pink, orange, and white floral dress and white gloves. When she enters the banquet room, it becomes apparent that she is literally matching the floral arrangements in there, along with the gold highlights throughout the room, visible on the white columns, the dishes, and the cups. In the interspersed scenes with the Queen discussing Margaret’s White House dinner with Harold Wilson, a lot of gold is seen in Buckingham, but it’s considerably dimmer and more subtle than that seen in the American scenes. In these scenes, the Queen is wearing a light green skirt suit, which contrasts with the bright pink worn by Margaret.
  Margaret’s dress in the show is similar but not identical to that worn by Margaret in real life (which was light pink and worn without gloves), but Lady Bird Johnson’s dress seems pretty accurate to life

Princess Margaret’s trip to the White House in 1965 (Credit: Bettman / Getty). From left to right, Lord Snowden, Lady Bird Johnson, Princess Margaret, President Lyndon B Johnson.

This photo from Entertainment Weekly is the only one I could find showing Margaret’s dress for the White House dinner in all its glory. However, she did not wear a tiara during the actual scene (Credit: Julian Broad for EW).

• I love when Prince Philip calls Queen Elizabeth a “sparkling cabbage” so much.

• Margaret at window, in green skirt suit with black plaid, three strands of pearls, - queen is in white collared shirt with green floral, green skirt? Also three strands. And they’re a big contrast against the red carpet and feel of the room in Windsor. – Margaret actually is much more businesslike there than the queen here, as she’s trying to show Elizabeth that she can be of use to the crown and be of assistance and would be good at it. She’s really trying to reach her here. She’s wearing toned down shoes and such

• The dramatic room in Windsor with that gorgeous white and black ceiling is used in the flashbacks and leading up to Elizabeth and Margaret’s final conversation. Margaret is framed standing in the window waiting for Elizabeth, who’s on the inside behind a solemn door, both as a child and as an adult.

• It’s interesting how Elizabeth’s look as an adult is still very similar to her look as a child, down to similar hairstyle, colors, silhouettes, and sparse makeup (in season 2, it was noted that they specifically had to put makeup on her for her Christmas speech on television, implying she wasn’t wearing much before). That was when she and her sister were dressed identically, presumably by adults around them intent on keeping them proper.
  In contrast, Margaret has changed her hair and styling very considerably now that she can define herself. Her clothes are brighter, more modern, more stylish and shape hugging, and she wears considerably more makeup and even fake lashes.
  She looks most like her youngest self at the end, when she consciously mimics Elizabeth by putting on a relatively toned down and business like skirt suit in a green plaid, even with matching black shoes; it’s not terribly obvious until the next scene, but as they talk, Elizabeth herself is actually wearing a green plaid skirt that echoes Margaret’s dress. She is trying to show Elizabeth that she can help the royal family but showing their similarities. But as Philip says, she’s not dependable; her outfits and styling change considerably throughout the episode. 

• Elizabeth’s last outfit in the episode makes her look SO SO MUCH like the actual queen. That brown jacket, those sensible shoes, that subtle plaid skirt, there are so many pictures of the real life Elizabeth dressed exactly like that. She and Philip also match in this scene, as he’s in brown, but the subtle checks in his suit seem to signal his sympathies for Margaret and similar status as someone who always plays second fiddle to the queen. He’s just accepted his role finally, while Margaret still hasn’t.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh enjoy a picnic in Balmoral. This photo was apparently owned by author Daphne Du Maurier (Credit: Rowley’s).

Tobias Menzies and Olivia Colman in The Crown, looking ridiculously like their historical counterparts.

Helena Bonham Carter gives some of the most amazing wordless acting as she sees the queen and Philip walk out and realizes she’s not going to be allowed to represent the crown again. Her initial hope dissolves into a crushing despair and resolves into a stoic face, accepting her fate. As a child, she sobs at her vanity, as an adult, she simply takes off her pearls and eyelashes and stares hopelessly in the mirror.

Elizabeth as a girl in 1936, wearing almost the same outfit she wears as an adult (Credit: Lisa Sheridan / Getty).

Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret in The Crown, wearing a plaid outfit very much like what Elizabeth wears her entire life.

The Wars of the Roses: A Timeline of Main Events

My English history obsession continues! I made this to help me teach a Richard III cast about the background and all the history references in the play! I probably went overboard, per usual, but oh well.

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I designed this timeline in Powerpoint and got it printed out at Staples as a “blueprint/architectural and engineering print.” This is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than printing it as a poster, and you can just buy a foam board yourself and use rubber cement to paste it on if you need it to have more stability.

I had fun trying to come with titles for this timeline:

Puns 'n' Roses: The Greatest Hits
Bunches about The War of the Roses
War of the Rose 1 2 and 3: Too Many Henrys
Budding Conflicts in Medieval England
Lancaster and York's Wild Ride
Bouquet of Death
A Rose is a Rose is a Rose and All these People are Cousins
Reasons Why Henry VIII Wanted a Son
Roses in Bloom
The War of "There Are Only Four Names in this Family"
"You'll Need Rosé to Get Through this Timeline"
Red, the Rose of Angry Lancasters, White, the Rose of Angry Yorks
Red and White and Warwick All Over
Henry Tudor Rose to the Occasion
Roses are Red; Roses are White. Richard III will kill you on sight.
A War by any other name would be just as bloody.

You can download the full file here!

I’m pretty happy with how this came out but it’s still a work in progress. Any input is appreciated! And please feel free to use this in your own theater groups or classes as needed. Please let me know if you do though, I’d love to hear about it!

Martok is a Lancatster.

My Obsessive Shakespeare English History Play Family Tree (from Richard II, Henry IVs, Henry V, Henry VIs, Richard III, AND NOW HENRY VIII))

Originally published October 21, 2019

Things I should have blogged about today: Six the Musical costumes (still working on it!), things I learned at the Emerging Writers Festival, the authors I met at the National Book Festival, TudorCon (just got back!), More #ShakespearesPlaylist

Things I actually worked on today: An overly detailed family tree of English monarchs involved in the Hundred Years’ War and the Cousins’ War (also known as the War of the Roses), as portrayed in various Shakespeare plays, including Richard II, Henry IV Part 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI Part 1, 2, and 3, and Richard III. This started as a way for me to sort out my own thoughts and for eventual distribution to the cast members of the Richard III production for which I’m stage managing, but it may have gotten a little too obsessive to be helpful at this point, lol.

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Updated on 10/22 to add in the Woodvilles- while not royal, they are very important! I’m going to keep editing and working on this to make it more comprehensive and also to clear up some of the more obscured names on here.

I started with the wonderful family tree over at The History of England Podcast website (Thank you very much!) and modified it in a lot of ways, erasing some descendants that aren’t mentioned in the plays or super relevant, adding in others that are, etc. I also added in various notes to indicate “who killed whom” (or was ultimately responsible for the death) according to Shakespeare and “who had an affair with whom” (according to Shakespeare or historical fact or rumor). [NOTE: a lot of these deaths and affairs are not at all confirmed in history and I am in no way saying it actually happened that way, don’t at me.]

My conclusion is that everyone’s related (thus, the cousins’ war!), no one has ANY IMAGINATION WHATSOEVER when it comes to naming, and everyone killed everyone else’s relatives in some way.

Did I miss someone important? It’s totally possible! Half of these people have the same damn names!

Shakespeare has a whole bit in Richard III Act IV Scene 4 poking a little fun at that. I’ve put in notations to indicate which one is being talked about at which point because it is DAMN CONFUSING.

Queen Margaret. (speaking to Elizabeth Woodville)
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine:
I had an Edward (Edward, Prince of Wales [son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou]), till a Richard kill'd him; (Richard, Duke of Gloucester/Richard III)
I had a Harry (Henry VI), till a Richard kill'd him: (Gloucester/R 3)
Thou hadst an Edward (Edward V [son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville]), till a Richard kill'd him; (Gloucester/R 3)
Thou hadst a Richard (Richard, Duke of York [son of Edward IV’s and Elizabeth Woodville), till a Richard killed him; (Gloucester/R 3)

Duchess of York. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; (Richard, Duke of York [father of Edward IV, Clarence, and Gloucester/R 3; also Duchess of York’s late husband])
I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him.

Anyway, If I DID miss someone or got something wrong in this family tree, please let me know; it would be most appreciated!

UPDATED NOVEMBER 11, 2019

I added a few more generations and cleaned up a lot of the more illegible names. : ) This goes far beyond anything mentioned in Shakespeare’s history plays, but I wanted to add in all the relevant potential heirs under Elizabeth I.

I also reformatted and cleaned it up a lot. I printed out a big copy of this and mounted it on foam-board for demonstration purposes at Richard III rehearsal. I got to teach all about the wars of the roses and history and it was so much fun. :D Please feel free to download it and use it for your own purposes! But if you do so, please comment and let me know what you’re doing with it, I’d love to know!

If you’d like to download the family tree, you can do that here.