Over-Analyzing The Crown: S3E10 Cri de Coeur

December 26, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in TV, English History

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 Margaret’s marriage to Tony Armstrong Jones (Lord Snowdon) has fallen apart, as he’s having yet another fairly public affair with a younger woman who Margaret merely calls “The Thing” (but in reality, is named Lucy Lindsay-Hogg). Margaret is miserable and depressed, and ends up taking a younger lover (Roddy Llewellyn) to cheer herself up. Simultaneously, Queen Elizabeth prepares for her Silver Jubilee, celebrating her 25th year on the throne.

Antony Armstrong and Lucy Lindsay-Hogg in real life (Credit: Nikki English / Shutterstock).

Roddy Llewellyn and Princess Margaret in real life (Credit: Hulton Deutsch / Getty).

Harry Treadaway as Roddy Llewellyn and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret in The Crown

The name of this episode comes from a heartless comment the Queen Mother makes about Margaret’s suicide attempt, calling it more of a “cri de coeur, instead of a coup de grace.” A cri de coeur is “a passionate appeal, complaint, or protest.” A coup de grace is a final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal.
The episode starts with Elizabeth visiting Margaret at her home, in the aftermath of one of the couple’s fights. Broken glass lies everywhere. Margaret says it’s just part of who they are though; “War is our love. A brutal fight to the death is our mating dance.” She even makes excuses for Tony’s affair: “He can’t help himself, my priapic little snapper.”
Poor Margaret. She looks absolutely fabulous at her birthday party, with lovely 60s hair, even though her husband is conspicuously absent and off with his lover. When she states this to her family and asks them to take her side “and impose sanctions” on Tony, they’re assholes who take his side. ON HER BIRTHDAY. I understand Prince Philip’s point; Margaret can certainly be a difficult person, but surely she doesn’t deserve this level of disrespect.
I know Margaret and Tony have kids. We’ve seen them briefly in S3E7, Moondust, at the rocket launch party at the palace. Where are they during this episode? Do we ever see them? Margaret carelessly tells Elizabeth that the nanny has them but otherwise doesn’t really refer to them (to be fair, neither does Tony, except when he explains his anger over the photos of Margaret and Roddy by saying “she’s the mother of my children”). I’ve watched it multiple times and haven’t noticed them anywhere.
Margaret packs up her things for her getaway in a suitcase that looks very old and worn, possibly in a reference to how she herself feels. On her trip out, she wears an acid green shirt and skirt with brown fur coat. She wore green and brown a fair amount in both “Margaretology” and “Aberfan” as well (S3E2 and S3E2), when her marriage was rocky, but still holding together, with some good times.
The Queen and the Queen Mother also both wear a fair amount of green in this episode, possibly in reference to this being a Margaret-centric episode.
Jesus Christ, Tony left her a “love note” in a book that says “you look like a cheap pantomime dame.” What a horrible person. Does her family really not see this side of him ever?
It broke my heart to see Margaret arrive at her friend’s house sleeping in the back of the car, presumably too mentally and emotionally exhausted to deal with anything right now (and possibly a little drunk already). Her friend ushers everyone back into the house rather than wake her; I guess there isn’t really a better way to handle that situation.
This friend, by the way, apparently is Anne Tennant, Lady Glenconner, who was very close to Margaret in real life and actually wrote a memoir about her that came out this year called “Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown.” I need to buy that! Anne was a maid of honor at Elizabeth II’s coronation and an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to Margaret. This show is good enough at details that it’s possible she’s been shown throughout the three seasons without me noticing; I’ll have to go check at some point.

Roddy Llewellyn in real life (Credit: Mirrorpix / Getty).

Harry Treadaway as Roddy Llewellyn and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret on the Crown

The swimsuit Margaret picks up for Roddy when they’re out shopping looks very similar to one he wore in real life (see comparison photos), although it’s hard to tell how close they are, when the photo is in black and white.
After Roddy shows up, Margaret actually starts smiling and laughing and looking happy again. While she’s playing the piano and singing with Roddy, she looks fucking amazing. We’ve never seen season 3 Margaret look this happy.
Also - Margaret has sung a SHIT ton in this season, taking advantage of Helena Bonham Carter’s lovely voice. I think she only sung once in the first season (a Christmas carol with her father, I believe, in S1E2), and never in the second season. Bonham Carter is also clearly having the time of her life in this role; I read in an interview that she was surprised to get the role, since her predecessor as Margaret , Vanessa Kirby (5’7”), was several inches taller than Helena (5’2”). The real life Princess Margaret was 5’1”, so Bonham Carter is much close in height. I guess this show cares far more about good acting than they do about making the actors look exactly like their predecessors or their historical counterparts (see also, Derek Jacobi taking over as the Duke of Windsor, even though at 5’8”, he was considerably shorter than his predecessor Alex Jennings, who was 6’2”).

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth on The Crown

A real souvenir teapot made for the Queen’s silver jubilee.

I made an audible gasp when Tony pulled out old pictures of the royal family for the Queen and we see Claire Foy and Matt Smith in the photos again. It’s the first time we’ve seen any depiction of either of those actors since the S3E1 intro of Olivia Colman with the coinage changeover. It inspired a surprising amount of nostalgia in me.
Tony did design a few things for the Royal Family over the years, most notably, the stage and setup at Charles’ investiture as Prince of Wales, but I couldn’t find any evidence that he designed any Silver Jubilee memorabilia, as he and Margaret were on pretty terrible terms at that point. However, memorabilia like that did totally exist at the time and is still made today for big royal events like weddings. I actually use several royal memorabilia plates as soap dishes in my own house, including one for Elizabeth’s actual silver jubilee! (I also have one for the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday and one from Elizabeth’s father’s jubilee). Yes, I’m definitely an anglophile. :D

The real life Princess Margaret and Tony Armstrong Jones, with a focus on Margaret’s engagement ring.

Margaret’s engagement ring as shown in The Crown season 2 “Matrimonium.”

Right after the photos of Margaret and Roddy have come out in the press and she’s been revealed to the world as a “whore,” she’s seen crying in bed, wearing a ruby ring surrounded by diamonds, and sporting red fingernails. This seems to indicate her “tramp” status (which is insanely hypocritical, since Armstrong Jones had cheated on her many times at this point without even really trying to hide it. But alas, this intense shaming of Margaret did happen in real life.). Also, I’m nearly positive that this is meant to represent Margaret’s engagement ring from Tony. I can’t find a photo of Bonham Carter wearing the ring, but the shot of her crying makes it look a lot like the ring Tony proposed with in S2E7 Matrimonium and the one Princess Margaret wore in real life. In real life, Armstrong Jones “designed” the ring for Margaret, choosing a ruby center stone to reflect Margaret’s middle name, Rose.
The next scene shows Tony working in his dark room under a red light; this color theming seems to show their continuing connection, even as they both move on to loving other people. A lot of reviewers have criticized Tony’s line in this scene about how he’s still upset about the situation because Margaret’s the mother of his children as hypocritical, but I see it more as, an acknowledgment of, yes I absolutely understand her right to do this, but also, it still hurts because of our past and our familial connection through our kids.
Wow, this portrayal of the Queen Mother is really nasty, isn’t it? She’s so awful to her daughter, even though she absolutely knows that Tony has been cheating on her for ages.
When they land back in England (they couldn’t like, fly in Roddy through a back way to reduce the controversy at all? really?), Roddy and Margaret are both wearing staid colors, burgundy and greys, which are a big departure from the wild bright prints they wore while on vacation. They match each other and also, interestingly enough, match the house she lives in; this is most noticeable when she runs away from Tony and after Roddy.
I hope we see Roddy again in Season 3. I love that actor, Harry Treadaway, who I knew previously from Penny Dreadful (and didn’t recognize at all initially, as he was hardly portrayed as a heartthrob when he was Dr. Frankenstein). It also would be terribly inaccurate if we don’t see him again, as in real life, Margaret and Roddy were together for 8 years.
While calling Roddy a boy, Tony is literally wearing the youngest looking clothes we’ve ever seen him in –a blue denim jacket, blue denim jeans, and a hippie looking necklace.
“You look like a Jewish manicurist” (something he said about her to his lovers/friends in S2E7 “Matrimonium”) and “How do I loathe thee, let me count the ways” – these are the worst “love notes” ever. They’re clearly hate notes.

The Queen and Harold Wilson in real life. — The Queen and Harold Wilson in real life (Credit: PA Images).

We then take a brief break away from Margaret and Tony to go say hello to Harold Wilson again, who’s back as Prime Minister for a bit. Elizabeth’s “unconstitutional cheer” note about Wilson resembles very much something her father said about Winston Churchill in the first episode .
- King: “My dear Winston, congratulations. Would it be terribly unconstitutional of me to say how happy I am? I miss our weekly chats. Your predecessor is a fine parliamentarian. A good man. But as company, as a companion….”
  Winston: “An empty taxi pulled up at the house of commons and Mr. Atlee got out.”
- Queen: “I let out an unconstitutional cheer when you beat Mr. Heath this time.”
This also is emphasized when after he tells her that he has Alzheimers and will be stepping down soon, she offers to dine with him at Downing Street. Just like Winston Churchill. My heart. /sob/
They really were this close in real life and to date, Wilson and Churchill are the only PMs who’ve had the Queen over to Downing Street for dinner. However, his second time in office as Prime Minister lasted for two years, not the …two minutes? shown in The Crown. In reality, it would have been pretty shitty to be elected into office and then immediately resign like that.
Sometimes I want to throw things at the queen mother. Like when she asks if margaret’s suicide attempt was a cry for help.
Towards the end of the episode, the queen is back in Margaret’s bedroom where the episode started, looming over her. Margaret is in bed, noticeably sick and wearing purple, which only seems to emphasize how worn down and tired she looks. The Queen is wearing her pearl necklace while she visits Margaret., which ties back to their connection in S3E2, when they both constantly wore pearl necklaces (Margaret wears hers less now).
I looked up that pearl necklace actually; in real life, her three-strand pearl necklace was gifted to her by her father King George VI.
In the show, Margaret claims she’ll be the first divorcee in the English royal family since Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves (which is funny, but Henry VIII himself considered their marriage, and his earlier one with Catherine of Aragon, annulled, and therefore, not ended via divorce). This isn’t quite true, although she certainly was the most senior member of the royal family to get a divorce at this time. In 1967, the marriage of George Lascelles, Earl of Hareford (Elizabeth II’s first cousin), to Marion Stein ended after his mistress Patricia Tuckwell gave birth to his son. This was very scandalous for times and he was ostracized for quite a while. He married Tuckwell later that year, but had to do so in Connecticut, as at the time, registry office marriages were barred for people covered by the Royal Marriages Act and divorcees could not marry in the Church of England. His first wife Stein went on to marry the famous politician Jeremy Thorpe, who was later tried on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder, a situation which recently gained new notoriety in “A Very English Scandal” (which is hilarious, and you should really watch it if you get a chance).
Margaret was definitely not the first royal since Henry VIII to /try/ to get a divorce. That honor goes to Prince George of Wales, who married Princess Caroline of Brunswick in 1795. George apparently detested Caroline completely and after he became King George IV, sued her for divorce based on infidelity (something he had also committed). They went through a scandalous and embarrassing divorce hearing, but Parliament refused to grant the divorce.
In many ways, Margaret’s own troubles really helped pave the way for younger royals and made their lives easier. Three of Elizabeth’s children have had divorces (Princess Anne from her husband Captain Mark Philips in 1992, Prince Andrew from his wife Sarah Ferguson in 1992, and Prince Charles from his wife Lady Diana Spencer in 1997). since the events shown in this episode and none of them were faced with quite as many obstacles as Margaret was. And although Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, abdicated the thrown so he could marry Wallis Simpson, a divorcee with two living former husbands, and Princess Margaret was previously kept from marrying divorcee Captain Peter Townsend, Prince Harry married divorcee Meghan Markle in 2018 without any apparent trouble.
Tony Armstrong Jones and Lucy Lindsay-Hogg married in 1978 pretty soon after his divorce from Princess Margaret came through. He and Lucy separated in 2000 after it was revealed that Tony had fathered a child with another woman two years earlier.
Armstrong Jones would stay relatively close with the royal family after his divorce (although he and Margaret avoided each other) and later photographed the Queen for her 80th birthday. He also took photos of Diana, Princess of Wales. You can see some of his photography here.

The real life Queen at her Silver Jubilee

Queen Elizabeth at her Silver Jubilee in The Crown

It looks like the Queen and Philip have gone back to sleeping in separate beds again. We got a hint of that in the episode previously, when we saw the bedrooms across from each other as they discussed their upcoming 25th anniversary party. They did this throughout the first season but in the second season, it seemed that they grew closer and we saw them wake up and go to sleep in the same bed together several times.
As the Queen and Margaret talk about her upcoming Silver Jubilee, Elizabeth notes that she’s had 6 prime ministers so far and asks what she’s achieved so far. Margaret points out that she’s been there and steady and keeping things going. As she says, “If you show a single crack, we’ll see it isn’t a crack, but a chasm, and we’ll all fall in.” (no pressure on Elizabeth there, right?)
The Queen’s silver jubilee outfit features an accurate but ridiculous pink hat with cloth bells on it.

Over-Analyzing The Crown: S3E8 Dangling Man

December 07, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, TV and Film, TV

The Duke of Windsor, the former king whose abdication had put both Queen Elizabeth and her father on the throne, develops terminal cancer. The Queen, who’s visiting France to assist with the UK joining the EU, visits him and provides him some peace before his death. Prince Charles falls in love with Camilla Shand, while Princess Anne hooks up with Camilla’s ex/possibly not ex Andrew Parker Bowles.

The real life Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1955. Photo: Frank Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.

Alex Jennings as The Duke and Lia Williams as the Duchess were featured in Season 1 and 2 of The Crown. (This scene was set during 1953)

Geraldine Chaplin and Derek Jacobi as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Season 3. This scene was meant to take place around 1972.

The Duke of Windsor is such a controversial character historically. Modern eyes often want to look favorably upon his abdication to marry the woman he loved, but at the same time, he and Wallis Simpson undoubtedly supported Hitler and the Nazis (as shown in S2E6 Vergangenheit, which means “past,” by the way) and engaged in treasonous acts against England. They also clearly were somewhat petty and mean toward the royal family, although it’s hard not to understand their viewpoint. Apparently, Edward/David was under the impression that he would be allowed to live in England again a few years after he abdicated; he didn’t take well to being told that he could only enter the country again at the invitation of the sovereign. They were essentially in exile the rest of their lives, although Queen Elizabeth was far kinder to him then really anyone else in the family. This is shown in The Crown when both Philip and the Queen Mother are much harsher in their judgments toward the Duke and the Duchess than Elizabeth ever is, at least aloud.
His actions did have a very significant result on Elizabeth’s life in forcing her to become queen, and as she stated in S3E5 “Coup,” it’s not something she would have chosen. His abdication has already been seen to have a huge impact on how the Queen and the government dealt with Margaret’s relationship with Peter Townsend. It will later also impact Margaret’s divorce from Antony Armstrong-Jones, and the relationships and divorces of several of the Queen’s children. It also led to the Queen having firmly held views against abdicating under any circumstance. A very recent article quoting a spokesman from Prince Charles’s office noted, “There are no plans for any change in arrangements at the age of 95 — or any other age.”
I do have to say, Alex Jennings, the actor who played the Duke of Windsor in the first two seasons looks SO much more like him than Derek Jacobi does, as brilliant as he is.
The Duke and Duchess’s meeting with Emperor Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kojun, really did happen. The photos from that event show off how close The Crown can get to reality if they so choose.
The moment where doorman Sidney (who really existed) applies rouge/blush to the Duke’s face to make him less ill is very similar to the blush that was applied to George VI’s face in S1E1. And just as the Duke jokes that “we don't want it to look like kabuki,” the King’s assistant then said that they didn’t want to overdo it.
Emperor Hirohito grumpily says, “They promised no cameras. I don’t want people to see me to visit a man who couldn't hold on to his throne.” I also love the contrasting comments at the end of their meeting: Emperor: "imagine living in exile from his homeland. I would rather die.” Duchess: “He never leaves japan. Imagine being stuck on an island your whole life.” Duke: “An island which is home and where you reign as sovereign. I can think of worse things." There’s that same nostalgia we saw in S1E5 “Smoke and Mirrors” (when he plays the bagpipes and cries after Elizabeth’s coronation) and in S2E6 Vergangenheit, when he looks for a way to be useful to England.
The Duke of Windsor did indeed keep his red leather dispatch box marked “The King” in his foyer in real life.
My husband (who speaks Japanese, works in a primarily Japanese law firm, and knows just a ton about Japanese culture) tells me that I shouldn’t actually call the Emperor Emperor Hirohito, as the emperor gets a new name after death! This is from Wikipedia: “In Japan, reigning emperors are known simply as "the Emperor" and [Hirohito] is now referred to primarily by his posthumous name, Shōwa (昭和), which is the name of the era coinciding with his reign; for this reason, he is also known as the Shōwa Emperor or Emperor Shōwa.”

The actual meeting between the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Emperor and Empress of Japan took place in October 1971. — The actual meeting between the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Emperor and Empress of Japan took place in October 1971 (Credit: Bettmann / Getty).

The meeting between the Duke and Duchess and the Emperor and the Empress in The Crown.

In real life, Prince Charles did correspond with his great-uncle, the Duke of Windsor. His other great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten (Uncle “Dickie”) encouraged this; he was both the Duke’s friend and keenly aware of the damage he caused with his abdication. Mountbatten was actually in charge of the Duke’s estate after his death and arranged for numerous items to be returned to the Royal Archives.
Charles did visit the Duke and Duchess once in October 1970, but apparently they had a party going on at the time. Charles didn’t stay too long and didn’t seem too impressed by it all. After both the Duke and Duchess died, a businessman named Mohamed Al-Fayed purchased their home and estate; he took Charles on a tour of it in 1986 and said he could choose anything he wanted from the estate, but Charles wasn’t interested in any of their family albums or souvenirs. So it seems that perhaps Charles didn’t view the Duke as a mentor after all.
I loved Olivia Colman’s line about this meeting in the crown: “One doesn't usually get the opportunity to meet a former king. Former kings are usually dead.” Also, in the show, Charles tells Mountbatten that the entire house smelled “Like joss sticks and dogs.” I had to look up what joss sticks are, but it refers to incense.

The Duke of Windsor and Prince Charles in The Crown.

If Andrew Buchan, the actor playing Andrew Parker Bowles looks as familiar to you as he did to me, you may have seen him before in his role as Mark Latimer in Broadchurch. Princess Anne and Parker Bowles did indeed date in real life, but apparently only for a short time. They have remained good friends and have been photographed together many times over the years.
"Where's mehmsahib?" a friend asks Captain Parker Bowles, referring to Camilla. In case you were wondering, this is a leftover Indian colonialism term that means “a married white or upper-class woman (often used as a respectful form of address by nonwhites).”
Apparently Charles’ real life first conversation with Camilla was rather hilarious. She joked “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common.” I so wish they had actually shown that in The Crown; as it is, we don’t really see their first meeting, but just a bit of them checking each other out before Charles calls up Camilla to ask her out.
At the time, Camilla was in a years-long on-again, off-again relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles. The couple only got engaged after their two fathers conspired together and published an engagement notice in The Times, which forced Andrew to finally act.
Charles' inaccurate description of Camilla and Andrew’s relationship to Dickie (that she and Andrew fell out over ANNE, when we saw in the show that they had quite obviously fallen out before that) illustrates all the rumors and misconceptions around everyone involved. It’s also interesting that Charles’ description of his visit with the Duke of Windsor to Mountbatten doesn’t seem to quite align with the video we see of it later in the episode, while the Queen is reading Charles’ letter to the duke. This “audio says one thing, video says another” trick is a classic unreliable narrator film style which was also used when the Duke was writing to Wallis in both Season 1 and Season 2; his words often exaggerated the number of supporters meeting him, etc.

The real life Charles and Camilla (Credit: Shutterstock).

This scene was recreated in The Crown, but I don’t remember seeing it in the final cut.

When Edward Heath disses Harold Wilson, by saying Wilson had expected the most recent election to be his coronation, the queen responds frostily, “nothing wrong with a coronation under the right circumstances,” indicating her subtle support of Harold Wilson. Wilson would end up being one of the Queen’s favorite prime ministers; he’s the only one other than Winston Churchill who hosted her and Prince Philip at a dinner at Downing Street.
Heath is so awkward. When he’s with the Queen, he sits on the front of his chair the entire time, like he’s terrified to lean back.
The Queen is wearing blue when she tells Philip she’ll be going to France to charm Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou, who was prime minister of France from 1962-1968 and then president from 1969-1974. The French flag, naturally, is blue, white, and red.

Prince Philip reminds me so much of my husband, who also meets people several times and then somehow doesn’t remember them.
"I never see the other one anymore…where's the other one… the bald one?" “He retired. Three months ago. You gave him a clock!”
Philip-ism, on the Duke of Windsor and his visit from the Emperor and Empress of Japan: "He didn't cause them offense. He didn't abdicate the Japanese throne or kill the emperor's father. For the last time, no. That man, his shame - like the stench of livestock - it seeps into the woodwork and never goes away." What is philip doing during all of this - polishing a gun? That’s what it looks like.
As Charles is getting everything ready for his date with Camilla, The Four Seasons’ “Beggin” plays in the background, with the curiously applicable lyrics:
”Ridin' high when I was king,
Played it hard and fast cause I had everything
Walked away, wonderin' then
But easy come and easy go and it would end”

Princess Anne and Andrew Parker Bowles in real life.

Andrew Parker Bowles and Anne in The Crown.

Camilla walks into Buckingham and just looks around shocked for a little bit, very in awe of the whole place, and then has to run to catch up to the footman. Charles looks pretty unhappy when Camilla keeps going on about him being prince during their date.
Charles says something very profound about his life right before he plays a prank on Camilla; he plays it off as a joke, but I’m not so sure: “I live not so much an existence but a predicament. I am both free and imprisoned. Utterly superfluous and quite indispensable. One can never fully invest in one thing or another, because at any moment, it could all change.”
“How can one be a good son even though [her dying] is the thing you most dread, it’s the thing you most, not desire, well yes, desire , because until she dies, I cannot be fully alive. Nor can I be the thing for which I have been born, so one is condemned to this frightful business of waiting.”
Charles refers to “Dangling Man” by Saul Bellow and describes it as being about “existing in a timeless and slightly ridiculous abyss. … an unemployed man from Chicago waiting to be drafted to go to a war. And he actually wants to be drafted because it will give his life meaning.”
Camilla wears a string of pearls on their date (with a really cute peach ruffled shirt, mini skirt, and black jacket). Most of her outfit doesn’t seem to have any deeper meaning, but the Queen wears a pearl necklace so often that I imagine it has to be an intentional callback to Charles’ mother, who is such a big part of their conversation.

Real life Prince Charles (Credit: Tim Graham / Getty).

Prince Charles playing polo in The Crown

During the Duke’s interview with the BBC, his grey suit appears to be too large for him. The Duke of Windsor was known for being quite a natty dresser, so I imagine this oversized suit is meant to indicate his weight loss from cancer. The Duchess is wearing a scarf that makes her look incredibly French.
The Crown is really good at showing the reach of media, how so many people are watching it. As the Duke talks about how he had wanted to change the role of the Prince of Wales when he was younger, the b-roll cuts to other people watching, namely, Lord Mountbatten petting his dog, the Queen Mother eating what appears to be strawberry ice cream, and the Queen and Prince Philip, before going back to Charles and Camilla.

Some of what the Duke is saying in his interview call back to a lot of what was said S3E2 Margaretology. She referred to the black and white men, Duke of Windsor refers to the “grey men".” “I soon discovered that any attempt to make even the most trifling change was met with hostility and suspicion [by whom] by the establishment, the grey men of the court, and by my family too.”
Just as in Margaretology, the reporters said that Margaret brought color to the black and white world for the royal family, Wallis describes David as a “colorful, dynamic”; he counters with “individualistic.”
Philip calls them ghastly and monstrous and kisses the queen very sweetly, subtly checking her expression to see how she’s doing before he goes off to bed.
Princess Anne shows up in the next scene wearing a kicky military style jacket and pants, with a striped shirt – all blue and white. I think this is meant to indicate both her close connection to her father and her approach to life. She knows her brother and knows he gets attached easily, so she checks in on him and warns him lightly about Camilla’s continuing attachment to Andrew.
”Yes. And you’re seeing her ex Andrew.
“Not sure you can call what we’re doing seeing. Not sure you can call him an ex either.”
“Camilla told me, he’s definitely an ex.”
“Just make sure things remain the right way around; us playing with Camilla and Andrew, not them playing with us.”
“What does that mean?”
/Anne scoffs and walks out/
I don’t see a specific color story in the Duke and Duchess’s clothing, but they do tend to match. When we see the Duke in his green and white robe after taking a turn for the worse, the Duchess is in a green dress.
The Queen visits President Pompidou in Paris in order to support Prime Minister Heath’s push for the UK to join the European Economic Community (the precursor to the EU, which didn’t go by that name until 1993) and laying poppies on a memorial for the allied fallen in World War I. She wears two outfits for this - both light purple/lavender. This may be to emphasize her royal position in contrast to her uncle, who gave up the throne.
She says: “Though we live through times of conflict, our two countries share an ancient relationship. Let us not forget our deeper bonds, our sense of common purpose, on which can be built a new partnership, a new entente. Joined together in this august European enterprise, a great adventure lies ahead.”

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip meeting President Georges Pompidou on their visit to Paris in 1972. — Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip meeting President Georges Pompidou on their visit to Paris in 1972 (Credit: Popperfoto / Getty).

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown.

Olivia Colman is so brilliant. Her face changes ever so slightly when Martin tells her that the Duke is dying and she needs to visit him now, just a strange falling of her expression.
The moment the duke hears the queen is coming he struggles to get up. When his wife says “You can’t be serious,” he shouts “I’ve never been more serious!” and forces his way up and out so he can get dressed and at least sit in a wheelchair while talking with her.
He wears lots of green and red for his meeting with the queen. Wallis is also wearing green, matching him as usual. I didn’t figure out where the red was coming from until I realized that this likely is a callback to his red dispatch box as king, which is the first thing Queen Elizabeth focuses on when she enters their house.
In real life, the Duke was still in his bed when the Queen visited him ten days before his death, not in a wheelchair as shown on The Crown, but he still struggled to his feet to bow. In both real life and on the TV show, she seems to deeply appreciate this.
"There was no need for that.” “If the roles were reversed, you would do exactly the same.” She smiles because she knows it’s true. “Yes.”
In their meeting, the Duke says that he underestimated the Queen and works to reassure her about Charles’ fitness for the throne.
“We’ve had our disagreements but you’ve always been my favorite uncle.” “Dear Lillibet.” “Shirley temple.” “I underestimated you. We all did. But the crown always finds it way to the right head. My father, my brother, you, and one day, god willing your son.”
The Duke and Charles together have all the colors of the flag of the United Kingdom in their outfits. The Duke wears a bright coral suit, red pants, and a pink and blue tie. Charles is wearing a grey suit, light blue shirt, and dark blue tie. They’re not the same but they clearly coordinate.
The Queen, as she reads Charles letter, is wearing the same colors as Charles - grey with black lining.
Prince Charles’s letter to the Duke of Windsor: “I do recognize myself in you. Your progressiveness and flair, your individuality and imagination, what a king you would have made in a kinder world. What a king you were denied.” …”I will not be denied what you have been denied. The crown is not a static thing resting forever on one head. It is moving, alive, divine, the changing face of changing times, and if god willing, it has been ordained that I shall wear it, than I shall do so on my own terms, and hopefully make you proud.”
I thought it was so dreadfully sad that the Duke’s dog ran away from his door whimpering when he died. :(

Over-Analyzing The Crown: S3E7 Moondust

November 29, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in TV, English History, TV and Film

Prince Philip has a Very Special Episode dedicated to his midlife crisis and the moon. Also- astronauts, and corgis, and priests, oh my!

Princess Anne (Erin Doherty) and two children (probably the actors playing her brothers Prince Andrew and Edward) during the rocket launch party scene. — Princess Anne (Erin Doherty) and two children (probably the actors playing her brothers Prince Andrew and Edward) during the rocket launch party scene in The Crown.

Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies), enchanted by the moon in The Crown.

This may be a particularly quote heavy blog post, as I find Philip absolutely hilarious (if sometimes ridiculously inappropriate). He’s one of my favorite characters and reminds me very much of my own husband, who often says hilariously inappropriate things and is also tall and slim like Philip.
At the start of the episode, Prince Philip is watching the astronauts talk on television while wearing blue and dull green. The queen (also in green) comes in to join him and mentions that she’s sending a message to the moon, which will be inscribed with other messages on a disc and left on the moon along with an olive branch “for the little green men to wave about.” I haven’t noticed much of a color story in this episode, but I do love that they’re both wearing some sort of green while she’s joking about the “little green men.”
Here’s the text of the note the Queen sent to the Moon. “On behalf of the British people, i salute the skill and courage that have brought man to the moon. May this endeavor increase the knowledge and well-being of mankind?
I love how grumpy Philip is when he’s walking up to the church with his wife.
Queen: “[The dean] has been with us for nearly 20 years.”
Philip: “That may make him loyal, but it does not make him interesting.”
“Shh.”
This exchange starts off a theme of Philip finding people or events in his life boring throughout the entire episode.
The queen wears a purple hat and just a ridiculously gorgeous coat to church. “They have ears, but they hear not” speech is hilariously on point for Philip. Anne, behind her father, shows a little more restraint and doesn’t cross her arms like he does, but her face still shows how annoying and boring she finds the Dean (like father, like daughter).
Philip-ism about the old Dean of Windsor, as he says that he’s not coming back to church again: “It’s not a sermon, it’s a general anesthetic.”
Queen: “Is it possible, do you think, the dean, might have reached, how can i put this kindly, the moment of his own obsolescence? I noticed one or two people struggling to stay awake.” (maybe the most British way of saying this ever)
Private Secretary Michael Adeane: “We could discreetly start the search for a replacement.”
”Yes, Good riddance. Someone with a bit of oomph, I think so.”
“Zest.” “That’s it.”
“Pep.” “Yes, thanks.”
“Vim.” “Yes, thank you.”
I enjoy how Michael Adeane ever so subtly pokes the driest of humor at the queen here in his use of many many synonyms to describe what she wants in the new dean. He’s been her private secretary for 16 years as of the time of this episode (which is partially why it’s so unbelievable/funny when Philip can’t remember Michael’s name in a few episodes after he retires) and they clearly known each other very well at this point.
The practice polo cage Philip uses in one scene to outrace His Demons is so fucking ridiculous looking.
I was curious as to why they seem to be at Windsor for most if not all of this episode and looked it up. As this Harper’s Bazaar article on the royal residences states, “Buckingham Palace is the Queen’s working residence during the week when she and the Duke of Edinburgh are based in London. However, they go to Windsor Castle most weekends, spend each August and September at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and head off to Sandringham House in Norfolk every Christmas.” So it makes sense that they’re at Windsor most of the time, since most of this episode seems to take place on Sundays (Apollo 11 launched on a Wednesday and the moon landing took place on a Sunday).

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth at church in The Crown

It looks like a really amazing rocket launch party. There’s a lunar module cake and they have like astronaut helmets and space banners and rocket party hats. I wish I could find ANY screenshots of it to share here. I particularly enjoy the little quick background scene where Anne carefully places multiple party hats on her sleeping grandmother, with Margaret’s help. Charles also appears to be present, if in the background, and he looks pretty happy to be hanging out with his family, so perhaps he and the Queen have mended things up a bit since the last episode.
Philip looks even more excited about the rocket lift off than any of the children and it’s pretty amazing.
Philip-ism, as he looks for his wife: “If I say She and we’re in Buckingham palace, who do you think I mean?”
I literally didn’t even realize Margaret and Tony came to the rocket launching party at first, because Margaret is wearing a dark brown dress that is just so damn toned down for her. We really don’t spend any time with them in this episode, but based on the Margaret and Tony episode we get at the end of the season, I’m guessing the dark brown might indicate the sad state of their marriage. It’s also barely ever mentioned in the series, but they have two children themselves, named David and Sarah. You can read all about them here.
As was hinted at in S2E7 Matrimonium, Tony did, in fact, have an illegitimate child with Camilla Fry, the wife of his friend Jeremy Fry (The Crown portrayed Tony and the Frys as having a three-way relationship, which is alleged in the 2008 book “Snowdon: The Biography” but hasn’t been fully substantiated). His daughter, Polly, was born a few weeks after he married Princess Margaret; his paternity was confirmed by a DNA test in 2004. “Snowdon: The Biography” also alleged that Jeremy Fry was actually intended to act as Tony’s best man at the wedding, but had to drop out due to illness.
As he sits up to watch the moon landing, there are American flags behind him and a toy astronaut in front of him.
I love that Philip asks the staff to wake up all the children to see the moon landing. We get a really quick montage of all the butlers and maids gently shaking Andrew and Edward awake and helping them put their robes on.
Anne’s dress in the moon landing scene is really cute – black, with multicolored lines on a slightly offset bit.
The newspapers Philip is reading when he’s ignoring his private secretary not only talk about the race to the moon, but also mention a few other things that seem to emphasize other men’s achievements, such as, “Man dies saving daughter.” He’s wearing a tie that’s dark blue with little white dots on it, vaguely reminiscent of the moon. He’s also wearing his military coat here, which seems to refer to his longing for his lost career. Basically, everything in this scene emphasizes Philip’s midlife crisis.
Philip-ism: “British Concrete Society, is that a joke?”
Sidenote: The concept of a “midlife crisis” was first named in 1965, so the concept is still relatively new when this episode takes place. Philip does admit at the end that he’s going through a crisis, but he avoids actually calling it a midlife crisis. Wikipedia defines a midlife crisis as “a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person's growing age, inevitable mortality, and possibly shortcomings of accomplishments in life.” Plenty of people don’t have midlife crises, but of those who do, a death of a loved one is often a precipitating factor. “Moondust” almost unfolds like a mystery, in a way, as we don’t realize until the very end that Philip is experiencing these feelings primarily because of his mother’s death, which hadn’t previously been revealed.
Philip’s private secretary gives some choice knowing glances as the new priest discusses his priest sanctuary idea, seemingly realizing that this is exactly the situation Philip is in.
Philip-ism: “But If one of those buildings is free and you want to fill it with hot air and thought, be my guest.”
Tobias Menzies has the most ridiculously expressive eyes, which he uses to great effect as Philip. This is a much quieter, less dramatic role than his role as Jack Randall in Outlander, and although Philip is funny, he’s not as hapless or pathetic as Edmure Tully in Game of Thrones, but I think it may be the finest work he’s ever done.
Philip doesn’t have the anger that he did in the first two seasons and he definitely seems more “settled” (which was pretty much the Queen’s end goal in Season 2), but there’s kind of a new hopelessness, as he stays up late every night to watch all the space and moon reports, the lone holdout among his family. He even cries a little at the sight. As he goes through his various duties, at a textile mill, at a dental prosthetic lab, he’s smiling, but he just looks a little lost.
It seems like Philip’s wrinkles are much more emphasized than we’ve seen previously. This may be because we’re getting tighter shots on his face as he' focuses on the space mission, but the show also definitely uses makeup to subtly age the actors throughout the season. They definitely look older and look their character’s age, which supports the decision to replace the Season 1 and 2 actors with older actors for season 3. I feel like if Claire Foy had continued to act as the Queen, you’d have an “aging” look similar to how Clare and Jamie look in Season 3 of Outlander, after supposedly 20 years have passed. They both look older then they did, but they’re also the youngest looking 40-somethings I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s just hard to make really young actors look like they’re entering middle age.
Apparently most of the main actors also wear wigs in order to properly replicate their character’s hair color and period-accurate hair styles. Thinning hair, graying hair, and changing hairlines in the wigs also help age up the actors as the season progresses. I couldn’t find a definitive list anywhere (there’s a lot more info about Season 1-2 still than there is about 3), but the Queen, Prince Philip, and Princess Margaret definitely all wear wigs.
If you’d like to read more about how accurate the makeup on The Crown is to real life, Harpers Bazaar Australia did a pretty great article on the makeup seen in the first two seasons.
Then we get a shot of Philip flying for the first time this season; I’m pretty sure this is put in here not just to emphasize Philip’s discontent with his life but also to remind us of this part of his life before he later asks to meet the astronauts privately so they can talk “pilot to pilot.” I really enjoyed how the pilot frantically buckles his seatbelt back in as Philip takes over the controls and starts aiming the nose to the moon, going as high up as he can, much higher than the pilot would have taken it. When the pilot says that they need to get down from the elevation quickly, Philip replies, “But look, we’ve also lived. Just for a minute.”

Dean Robin Woods with the Queen (Credit: Mirrorpix).

Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip with Tim McMullan as Dean Robin Woods in The Crown

Tim McMullan as Dean Robin Woods in The Crown

A scene set at St. George’s House in The Crown

I have a theory that the queen specifically asked Dean Woods to check in on Philip and help provide him some guidance through his current crisis and feelings of loss. Right before the rocket launch party when Prince Philip asks her about the new dean, she says cagily that he’ll be a good fit “for the job I’ve asked him to do.” She then looks at her husband with a knowing smile. And then Woods is extremely persistent in engaging with Philip, even after Philip makes it very plain that he doesn’t really want to spend time with him or any of the priests.
Dean Woods gives a sermon about exploration and space that would have been great for Philip to hear. The queen definitely seems to think this, as she looks next to her and misses him. But Philip is off trying to outrace his own demons by jogging through the grey-skied countryside because he has Feelings. As the audio of Dean Woods’ speech continues over his running though, we hear heavy breathing, like that of the astronauts' over their radios to space. Neither the scene immediately before or immediately after this one have any footage of the astronauts themselves, so this has to be Philip’s breath, intentionally laid over the audio to emulate space.
The bit of Woods’ speech we can hear before it trails off into Philip’s overwhelming ennui goes: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. Those words by T.S. Eliot have never rung more true. We stand at the dawn of a new age of space exploration. The promise of space has never felt more real….”
The new dean of the church at Windsor wears a red shirt and cassock sometimes. This is apparently pretty normal in the Anglican church.
Philip-isms about Dean Woods’ spiritual retreat for priests: “Your concentration camp for spiritual defectives.” “Do I need to show symptoms of despair? Should I sigh and moan dramatically. One does like to fit in.”
Philip trying to pretend that he cares about the priests’ problems is pretty hilarious. They talk about their “sense of directionlessness and redundancy” and how they feel like they’re failing to connect with the people. Honestly, they’re pretty much summing up Philip’s issues and he’s just in total denial.
I love that Philip admits that his new religious faith is basically the moon and the space race. He at least knows himself!
Dean Woods quotes Keats in response to Philip’s observation that the space race and the moon have become some people’s religion: “What is there in thee, moon, that thou shouldst move my heart so potently?” He then continues on, “Now we know what the moon is - nothing. Just dust. Silence. Monochromatic void. We see no god beyond those rocks and space dust, simply an unknowable vastness.” Then he switches to Psalms 8:3: “When i consider the work of thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
The Keats quote is from a poem called Endymion, which you can read in full here. I’ll admit, I often am skeptical of characters just quoting a perfect poem at the perfect time in period dramas without rehearsal, as Dean Woods does here. We also see Margaret and Tony quote poetry at each other when they first meet at a party in Season 2. But I try to remind myself that people had a lot less entertainment in the past and read and memorized more than we do now, just as plenty of us can recite various quotes from our favorite movies, TV shows, and pop songs.
Though Philip had actually been trying to be tactful for once in his life, when Dean Woods actually asks for his opinions, he lets loose his vitriol pretty ferociously. “Me? You want my thoughts? Really. Okay, right. I’ve never heard such a load of pretentious self pitying nonsense. What you lot need to do is get off your backsides, get out into the world, and do something. That is why you are all so lost.” He then continues to wax philosophic about how action is what defines us, not suffering, and says that men need to make their mark on the world. These beliefs all hearken back to his schooling at Gordonstoun, which were examined pretty thoroughly in S2E9 Paterfamilias, and his young adulthood in the British Navy.
He also calls them all “navel-gazing underachievers infecting each other with gaseous doom” and tells them “If you want to start with action, clean up the floor.”
Another Philip-ism comes up when they’re eating dinner, as he jokes that he’s eating so much venison that he’s going to turn into a deer. “I’m listening, with brown furry ears.”
THE CORGIS WANT VENISON. Well of course they do. Good puppiessss (y’all, I want a corgi SO BADLY, you have no idea. But husband John says he’ll only agree to me having a dog when I get a New York Times bestseller).
By the way, the dogs playing the Queen’s corgis apparently eat just a boatload of cheese on set.

The Apollo 11 astronauts meeting the royal family at Buckingham Palace. In real life, Prince Philip was right there with his family meeting the astronauts. He also didn’t have a personal meeting with them (as the episode depicted). — The Apollo 11 astronauts meeting the royal family at Buckingham Palace. In real life, Prince Philip was right there with his family meeting the astronauts. He also didn’t have a personal meeting with them (as the episode depicted) (Credit: PA / Getty).

The actors playing the Apollo 11 astronauts and their wives at Buckingham Palace in The Crown.

Philip is obviously delighted when the Queen tells him that the astronauts are going to come visit the royal family. The Queen says, “I thought that would cheer you up.” “Do I need cheering up?” “A little.”
It’s sweet how she so obviously knows him better than he knows himself. Right before his meeting with the astronauts, the queen stares at Philip with obvious concern, like she’s not quite certain how he’s going to react to anything.
Various stray thoughts about the astronauts’ visit to Buckingham Palace: Philip is basically a kid on Christmas morning when the astronauts come; he is absolutely way too excited. And he’s not the only one. Even the BUTLERS and the maids and footmen are excited, racing to the windows to see them, even though as staff of the royal family, they’ve obviously seen a lot.
I laughed out loud at the background bit in which Margaret lights a cigarette and says “Please don’t tell me you want to talk about children” to one of the astronauts’ wives, who looks suitably flabbergasted.
We really get to see Anne and her little brothers interact with each other and other family members for the first time this season. Anne at one point shoves her little brother out from behind her to meet Neil Armstrong.
The Queen wears a blue dress with a white purse that’s very similar to what she wore in real life, but not identical. I always wonder why they made the little changes they do - like why this dress has sleeves added, but the dress Jackie Kennedy wore to Buckingham Palace in season 2 had its sleeves taken away.

Queen Elizabeth meeting the Apollo 11 astronauts at Buckingham Palace. — Queen Elizabeth meeting the Apollo 11 astronauts at Buckingham Palace (Credit: Bettmann / Getty).

Olivia Colman as the Queen meeting the Apollo 11 astronauts. — Olivia Colman as the Queen meeting the Apollo 11 astronauts in The Crown.

In the episode, the astronauts all have colds and Prince Philip runs out of handkerchiefs to give them. In real life, only Neil Armstrong is known to have had a cold at the time of their meeting, but it apparently was bad enough that he considered backing out of the meeting. However, his wife had other ideas. “She told me that if I had to be embalmed, we were going to see the palace,” Neil Armstrong said. “She wanted to see the place.” He apparently coughed on the Queen and when he tried to apologize, coughed on her again. His illness was apparently memorable enough that the Queen later asked an acquaintance about Armstrong’s health.
Buzz Aldrin also revealed on Twitter in 2016 that "Mike Collins almost fell down the stairs trying not to turn his back on Queen Elizabeth II."
Historically, the queen had met space travelers before this visit and continued to show interest in space afterward. She met Yuri Gagarin, the first man to go into space, in July 1961, and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, in 1964. She also met an astronaut from Apollo 8 prior to the Apollo 11 astronauts’ visit. When Apollo 12 returned to the moon in November 1969, she woke up early to watch TV coverage of the event.
It appears that, for their meeting with Prince Philip, the astronauts are placed in the same big room that Princess Alice was exploring when the journalist found her there in S2E4 “Bubbikins.” Is that the big, grand room they use to impress visitors? This also ties the episode back to Philip’s mother, whose name has not actually been spoken as of this point in the episode.

Neil Armstrong (Henry Pettigrew), Buzz Aldrin (Felix Scott) and Michael Collins (Andrew Lee Potts) in a scene with Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies)

Jane Lapotaire as Princess Alice in The Crown.

Philip’s meeting with the astronauts is super awkward, with lots of long silences, and disappoints him. He tries to ask the astronauts big profound questions about how they felt up in space, e.g., what their thoughts were out there about humans’ place in the universe, but the astronauts respond that they really didn’t have time for thinking of that, as they were constantly busy performing different procedures and checking items off the list. This is exactly how he guessed it would be earlier in the episode, when he told off the priests at St. George’s house. “Action is what defines us, Action, not suffering - all this sitting around, thinking and talking. Let me ask you this, do you think those astronauts up there are catatonic like you lot. Of course not, they are too busy achieving something spectacular. And as a result, they are at one with the world. At one with their god. And happy.”
He was terribly disappointed when the astronauts’ most profound observation to him was that their water cooler in space sucked and kept them awake with noise. They then took the opportunity to ask him lots of mundane questions about his life - how many rooms are in the palace, how long the hallways are, and how many staff they had, before the audio trails off.
Philip later comments to the queen: “I don’t know what I was thinking. I expected them to be giants, gods. But in reality they’re just three little men, pale-faced with colds.”
The Queen notes in response that the very qualities that make one a good astronaut (their sense of duty, reliability, modesty) and perfect in a crisis are not necessarily those that make for a really interesting person (originality or inventiveness). It almost seems like she’s talking about herself and Margaret again, hearkening back to her discussion with Philip at the end of S3E2 Margaretology about the dull, trustworthy people vs. the interesting, unreliable people of her family. “They never wanted to be public but because of one event, they will be forever.” (They must have known what they were getting into though, right?) “They delivered as astronauts but they disappointed as human beings.”
Philip-ism: “Good job there were no little green men. They could be forgiven for thinking, ‘if that’s all planet Earth has got to offer, let’s give the place a miss.’”
After the astronauts disappoint him terribly, he pauses by the staircase leading up to his mother’s empty room and walks up to look around at it sadly. He then goes to St. George’s again and finally admits that something’s been wrong with him lately; although he’s generally a cantankerous person, he’s been over-exercising, over-zealously following the space race. He talks about his mother’s death and his own lack of faith for the first time in the episode, says straight out that he’s desperate and lost, and asks the priests for help.
Sidenote: He says something slightly mysterious while talking about his crisis. “Just like other people hitting that crisis, you resort to all the usual things to try to make yourself feel better. Some of which I can admit in this room and others which I probably shouldn’t.” This seems to imply that he may have committed some big sin he can’t talk about with the priests. Just like in the second season, where Philip never actually denies that he’s cheated, it’s left really ambiguous as to whether Philip has had affairs or not.
As the end of the episode notes, St. George’s House is a real organization that Prince Philip helped found (although in real life, it was started a few years before the moon landing occurred). He also was apparently quite a bit more enthusiastic about the concept from the get-go than is portrayed here. You can find out more information about the founding of St. George’s House here.
Wonderfully, the entire episode seems to fulfill the T.S. Eliot quote from Dean Woods’ sermon. “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” After meeting the astronauts and trying to find meaning in the space race, he finally comes back to the priests and admits that he’s been lost since his mother’s death; he is coming back to where he started and now knows himself better.

That Poem in Man in the High Castle

November 26, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in TV and Film, TV

Specifically, Season 4, Episode 3. The character Bell Mallory beautifully recites this before the Black Communist Rebellion sets off on a mission. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I immediately went off to find it.

I really love Man in the High Castle and May write about it in the future, perhaps after I’m done with my work on The Crown!

If We Must Die

BY CLAUDE MCKAY

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!