Henry VIII's Jousting Accident Probably Didn't Change his Personality

July 08, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in English History

People citing this supposed jousting accident as changing Henry VIII into a tyrant is one of my PET peeves, y’all. It’s what everyone who knows just enough Tudor history to be dangerous and also WRONG cites. I originally wrote this as a long response to a comment referencing the accident on Ask Historians, but since I’m basically correcting someone with this entire thing, I won’t post a direct link to it. I’ll share it with you if you really want though.

Detail showing Henry VIII jousting in front of Katherine of Aragon, College of Arms (Westminster Tournament Roll), by Thomas Wriothesley, 1511

So about that jousting accident. The story of that accident actually comes from only three sources of various trustworthiness. This accident isn't mentioned elsewhere, although you would think that an accident resulting in the king losing consciousness for a long period of time would have definitely been reported by many many people.

Eustace Chapuys, the famous ambassador of Charles V, reported in January 1536, "On the eve of the Conversion of St. Paul, the King being mounted on a great horse to run at the lists, both fell so heavily that every one thought it a miracle he was not killed, but he sustained no injury."
The English chronicler Charles Wriothesley wrote, " …it was said she [Anne] tooke a fright, for the King ranne that tyme at the ring and had a fall from his horse, but he had no hurt; and she tooke such a fright with all that it caused her to fall in travaile, and so was delivered afore her full tyme, which was a great discompfort to all this realme.”
In March 1536, Dr Pedro Ortiz, Charles V's ambassador in /Rome/ (not England), said "Has received a letter from the ambassador in France, dated 15 Feb....The French king said that the king of England had fallen from his horse, and been for two hours without speaking. “La Ana” was so upset that she miscarried of a son."

(Thanks to the brilliant Anne Boleyn files blog for compiling these sources so well - https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/24-january-1536-serious-jousting-accident-henry-viii/ )

So as you can see, the sources in England at the time of the incident said that it was a very hard fall but that Henry VIII was in fact, not injured. Although Wriothesley might have glossed over an injury to the king's head, Chapuys certainly had a vested interest in conveying completely accurate information to the emperor - so we can trust that his reports of "no injury" are likely to be true. The only source that claimed that the king didn't speak for two hours after his accident was a man who had heard the information second or third hand and was in a completely different country at the time.

It does appear that this jousting accident was bad enough to burst an earlier leg ulcer, leaving him with lasting, constant pain in both of his legs for the rest of his life. This likely made him very cranky. But there is no sign that he actually suffered from any brain injury.

In addition, although people DO often cite this as the source of his "changing personality," in fact, there are actually numerous examples of Henry VIII’s brutality before 1536 as well.

Specific incidents indicating his brutality prior to this:

Shortly after taking the throne, Henry VIII executed Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson for "constructive treason" in their financial dealings for the previous king, even though both men had just been doing the bidding of his father Henry VII.
He brought down Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a man who essentially ran the country for him from 1515-1529, just because he couldn't convince the Pope to give him an annulment. Wolsey was stripped of his government office and all his property and was later arrested for treason, but became ill and died in November 1530 before he could be tried. He reputedly said " if I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs."
He had Thomas More, his former chancellor and a man who had worked closely with him since 1517, executed in 1535 for refusing to sign the Oath of Succession which repudiated the authority of the Pope (and outlined the new line of succession, which he did not object to).
He treated Catherine of Aragon, his companion of 21 years, shamefully for refusing to accept the invalidity of their marriage. After she was banished from court in the summer of 1531, Catherine was moved from estate to estate and forced to live in increasingly poor lodgings and with fewer and fewer servants. Her friends were not allowed to visit her and she was not allowed to see her daughter for the last 4-5 years of her life, even when Mary was very sick and when Catherine herself was actively dying in January 1536. Mary was also forbidden from attending her mother's funeral.

To claim that his personality changed significantly after this supposed jousting accident is to ignore these many examples of his tyrant like behavior beforehand.

Musical Monarchs and Music Distribution During Renaissance Times

May 05, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in English History, writing

Pictured with Will Sommers- Royal MS. 2 A XVI, Henry VIII’s Psalter, British Library-London. — Pictured with Will Sommers- Royal MS. 2 A XVI, *Henry VIII’s Psalter*, British Library-London.

Apparently I answer Tudor and Shakespeare questions in way too much depth on Reddit for fun now. I’ve had trouble writing or revising fiction since the pandemic and self-isolation began, but researching and writing about history calms me down in a way nothing else does. And AskHistorians on Reddit has a wonderful supply of various questions that haven’t been answered yet.

So here ya go.

Original source of the question, which had several parts, indicated in italics below.

Christian and Muslim playing lutes in a miniature from Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X — Christian and Muslim playing lutes in a miniature from *Cantigas de Santa Maria* of Alfonso X

Was composition an expected skill of a monarch?

Musical knowledge, at least, was an important part of every noble's education in late medieval and renaissance England; royal children would have been given private lessons in various instruments, singing, and musical theory from a fairly early age. All of the Tudors, in particular, were interested in music and were highly trained. There are numerous records of Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York purchasing musical instruments both for themselves and their children. Henry VIII's children Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward were all described as excellent musicians during their lives. Mary and Edward were proficient at the lute, while Elizabeth was apparently quite good at playing the virginals.

At least two of the King Henrys were definitely musical composers, as we have some of their surviving music!

-There are two pieces in the collections of the British Library attributed to "Roy Henry"; scholars now seem to think this author was actually Henry V.

-Henry VIII's love of music stood out even among all the music lovers of his family. He played numerous instruments - at one point, records of his property showed that he owned 78 flutes, 76 recorders, 10 trombones, 14 trumpets, and 5 bagpipes! We also know that he played the organ, other keyboard instruments, viols, and lutes.

p 161 of the Old Hall Manuscript, ~1410-1420

"Twenty songs and thirteen instrumental pieces" attributed to "The Kynge H. viij" were compiled in the 1518 Henry VIII Songbook, which also included 76 pieces from other court musicians. Although some of the songs by Henry were arrangements of previously existing pieces, many of them are originals.

However, despite popular belief, Henry VIII did NOT write Greensleeves, which was partly based off of a romanesca, an Italian style of musical composition that did not reach England until after Henry VIII's death.

His daughter Elizabeth I was also a composer, although only one of her songs has survived to this day. This paper explores Henry and Elizabeth's compositions and musical education more in depth.

Detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, Chapel Cathedral of Saint Bavo, Ghent, Belgium, Hubert and Jan Von Eyck

What's more, how did the song become popular? Did the King simply compose it, order every musician to have a copy of the manuscript and play it a certain amount of times a week? How did compositions from the royal court reach the masses?

- Although Henry had at least 60 musicians on his staff when he died, he couldn't possibly have ordered every musician in the country to play it, and the fact that not of all his songs were big hits seems to support this. Based on the information I've already shared about the Henry VIII songbook, it seems likely that "Pastime with Good Company" was distributed around the country in written form. There are records indicating that it was actually popular in Scotland and even long after his death.

Finally, say I am at the median of medieval class society - your average joe - what would have been my likely interaction with this song, if any? Was music mostly an indulgence of the elites at that time?

Everything I've read and referenced throughout this answer so far indicates that music was popular at every level of society, although the level of musical education and the specific form of the music, of course, varied. While "Pastimes" may have been performed in Henry VIII's court by 60 musicians and a choir in four part harmony, it was also likely performed in villages and at fairs by solo minstrels accompanied only by a single instrument or small groups.

In addition, under Henry VIII, with further development of the printing press, more and more printers began to publish music, often in the form of single sheet broadsides that could be sold very cheaply.

(SIDENOTE: jstor is now offering free accounts that allow you to read up to 100 articles a month, due to COVID-19 shutting down all the libraries. This makes me SO HAPPY)

These single sheets continued in popularity through to Elizabethan times, and even make an appearance in Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale," Act 4, Scene 4 - in which the con artist/minstrel Autolycus touts various ridiculous sounding ballads for sale at a local festival.

And even apart from the printing press, people regularly wrote down any songs they liked and passed them around, much as you might have written down song lyrics to songs you heard on the radio so you and your friends could sing them together later back in the 80s or earlier. :)

FINAL NOTE: The best thing I learned while researching this whole answer was that Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey had rival in-house choirs and had a competition to see who had the best one. When Cardinal Wolsey’s choir won, he wisely “gave” one of his best singers to the king for his choir.

Hope y’all enjoyed that!

Did Henry VIII Ever Pull a "Cask of Amontillado" ?

April 21, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in English History, writing

(If you don’t understand the reference, go read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”)

This one was a particularly out of left field one but I had fun figuring out how to answer it!

So here ya go.

Original Question on r/AskHistorians - Is there any evidence of Henry VIII walling his enemies in buildings?

I've never heard of any English monarch pulling a "Cask of Amontillado" before, and I've been obsessively reading about English history between 1400-1620s for several years now. I dug into this a bit more to see if I could find an answer, but I could not find any sources that indicate that there have been any bodies buried in walls in England. However, as we all know, just because there isn't a source saying it DID happen, doesn't mean it definitely /didn't/ happen.

Human bodies are commonly found buried all around London and England in general, but honestly, that's true of most cities with at least a couple hundred years of history under their belts. It's just something that happens when a place has a very long history dating back before modern regulations on where bodies can be buried. If a house was unknowingly built on top of a burial site, the bodies may be found in the cellar You can read more about that in Smithsonian Magazine here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/dead-beneath-londons-streets-180970385/

I think it's very unlikely that Henry VIII in particular would have engaged in this practice though, for a few specific reasons:

Woodblock by Michael Wolgemut (1434 – 1519) of A Danse Macabre.

-Henry VIII was quite notoriously terrified of illness and sickness, and specifically the Sweating Sickness, likely due to his brother Arthur's death from it in 1502 ( https://www.history.com/news/the-mysterious-epidemic-that-terrified-henry-viii ). He studied medicine and tried to make his own potions to protect him against disease. (http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/issue42/article546.html?ts=1586114679&signature=51f561c9c7014194d1a849cdaac3de68 ) He also founded the Royal College of Physicians in 1518, made improvements to England's public health services, and ushered in legislation regulating the licensing of medical practitioners (Source: Publishing and Medicine in Early Modern England, by Elizabeth Lane Furdell).

At the time, the miasma theory was one of the dominant theories of disease, which basically said that bad smells cause disease ( http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/miasmatheory ); decaying corpses, rumor has it, smell pretty foul. Given his obsession with medicine and health, not just for himself, but also for his people, it seems unlikely that Henry would have approved of interring a body into the walls of any building or structure in England.

- He also was a very religious man, who heard mass 3-5 times a day and even wrote a theological argument against some of the teachings of Luther in 1521 ( https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/rulers/henry-viii.html ). There were numerous religious rites around death and dying, which require last rites, funeral rites, a vigil for the deceased, and ceremonies by the graveside. Thus, it also seems unlikely that a religious man like Henry VIII would have approved of such mistreatment of a body after death.

"How Accurate Were Shakespeare's Histories?"

April 20, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in writing, English History

Lithograph depicting a scene from Henry V.

So here ya go.

Original source of the question

“How accurate were Shakespeare’s histories?”

Shakespeare's English history plays were based on a variety of historical sources, so he made /some/ attempt at having /some details/ correct, but he certainly also embellished some facts and highly simplified or deleted other facts to increase drama and simplify plot. His sources themselves were often very biased toward a version of history that supported Tudor legitimacy (although I'm unclear on whether that bias was widely known in Shakespeare's time or not). He also definitely shaded some facts and characters one way or another in order to keep the political leaders and censors of his time happy.

Important Sources for Shakespeare:

Basically every English history play - Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587 - 2nd edition) - This was a highly dramatized version of English history that is apparently just really inaccurate in a lot of places. I really need to read it someday. [also a source for Macbeth and King Lear]

Richard III - Thomas More's History of King Richard the Thirde (1513) - More's portrayal of Richard III as deformed, to the point of causing his mother a particularly troublesome birth, is probably the most famous bit that Shakespeare took from that source. In actuality, though Richard III's skeleton showed that though he had significant scoliosis and likely had visibly uneven shoulders, he wouldn't have had a hunchback.

Simplification -

Shakespeare HIGHLY simplified a lot of the events of the Wars of the Roses in his Henry VI Parts II and III. And honestly....you can't really blame him. I made a simplified timeline of the main events of the Wars of the Roses in November and it's still incredibly complicated (and honestly, it took forever). You can see it on my blog here - https://www.rachaeldickzen.com/blog/2019/11/11/the-wars-of-the-roses-a-timeline-of-main-events

Examples:

- In Henry VI Part 3, as soon as the Earl of Warwick discovers that his protege Edward IV had secretly married Lady Grey (Elizabeth Woodville) while Warwick is off trying to organize a French alliance and marriage for Edward IV, he joins forces with Margaret of Anjou, marries his daughter Anne to her son Edward, and frees Henry VII. This all happens in the space of two acts.

IN ACTUALITY, Edward married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464, but Warwick didn't rebel against Edward IV until April 1469 (rebellion #1). He joined forces with Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, and actually captured Edward IV, but eventually released him when it became clear that Parliament wouldn't cooperate with his plan to rule the country through Edward. He and George/Clarence rebelled AGAIN in July 1470 (rebellion #2), but this one didn’t go so well and their plan quickly falls apart. Warwick flees to France, plots with Margaret of Anjou (rebellion #3), marries his daughter to her son Edward, and goes back to England in October 1470 to put Henry VI back on the throne.

I mean. It's easy to understand why Shakespeare cut out a few rebellions there, just for the sake of time and to keep things from being super confusing.

- Richard III portrays Richard marrying Anne Neville immediately before the death of his brother Edward IV and becoming king not too long after. In actuality, Richard and Anne married in spring 1472, Edward IV didn't die until April 1483, and Richard III didn't become king until July 1483.

"Plucking the Red and White Roses in the Old Temple Gardens" after the original 1910 fresco painting by Henry Albert Payne (British, 1868-1940) based upon a scene in Shakespeare's Henry VI.

Dramatic alterations:

Various examples:

- Henry IV Part 1 - Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur) is portrayed as a young man the same age as Prince Hal, but in reality, Hotspur was actually three years older than Hal's dad Henry IV. This increases drama by placing pressure on Hal to behave more like the ambitious leader Hotspur.

- Henry V - In the play, it's stated that the English had fewer than 30 casualities while the French had 10,000! In actuality, about 112-600 of the English and about 6,000 of the French were killed.

- Henry VI Part 1 - The famed "roses" of the Wars of the Roses are a bit of a Tudor invention, which Shakespeare expanded on. Although the Yorks did use the white rose as a symbol from early on in the conflict, the Lancastrian red rose wasn't used until after Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. These two roses were combined to form the "Tudor Rose," a symbol of the unity of the two houses.

In addition, it also just isn't accurate to imagine that only one symbol was used by each noble family. Just among the York brothers alone, in addition to the white rose, Edward IV used the sun in splendor, a falcon, a black dragon, and a white lion (among several others), while Richard used a white boar and "a white falcon with a virgin's face holding a white rose." But again, portraying that in a play would make things very confusing (and Shakespeare’s histories are already confusing enough when it comes to names, since he often refers to characters by their titles, which often change!).

- Henry VI Part 2 - Richard of Gloucester (the eventual Richard III), and his brother Edward (eventual Edward IV) are both portrayed as adults at the time of the first battle of St. Albans. Historically, Richard was only 3 years old and Edward was only 13 when this battle occurred.

- In addition, a TON of the events in Richard III are inserted for dramatic effect. There is zero evidence that Richard killed his wife Anne (she probably died of tuberculosis), and he definitely didn't seduce her at the funeral for her father-in-law Henry VI. Henry VI died in May 1471 and Anne and Richard didn't marry until the spring of 1472. There's also good evidence that Richard and Anne actually really had a lovely romance; he was determined to marry her and may have rescued her from his brother Clarence's attempts to hide her away. Anne and Richard were crowned in the first joint coronation in almost 200 years. But this doesn’t suit the Tudor propaganda need to portray Richard as a villain.

George Duke of Clarence is portrayed very sympathetically in Richard III, but in reality, he was kind of a jerk who rebelled against his own brother 2-3 times and continually tried to start up trouble. The play also shows Clarence being murdered by Richard's (hilarious) henchmen, but in actuality, Clarence was put on trial for treason, and privately executed on the order of his brother Edward IV.

The disappearance of the Princes in the Tower was blamed on Richard III at the time, but there's no actual evidence connecting him (or really anyone) to their deaths.

Propaganda Elements:

Shakespeare was writing and producing plays under Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, only a few generations away from the intense violence of the Wars of the Roses, so obviously, he needed to represent Elizabeth's famous ancestors as being on the right side of history. Even after her death, Elizabeth I remained incredibly popular with the people, so Shakespeare had to be careful with portrayals of her ancestors and lineage.

Henry VIII is perhaps the best example of Tudor propaganda. This play covers Henry VIII's break from Catherine of Aragon and joining with Anne Boleyn (Elizabeth's mother) and covers the downfall of Cardinal Wolsey, but strategically ends right at Elizabeth's birth and doesn't discuss, oh, Anne's downfall and beheading, or Henry's four other wives. The play is remarkably stilted and boring compared to all of Shakespeare's other plays, likely because he felt inhibited by the restrictions and expectations of the time (in fact, plenty of people have speculated that Shakespeare didn't write Henry VIII or wrote it with a co-writer because it's so different from his other plays). The play also ends with huge adulation of the baby elizabeth and what a blessing she will be upon her people; as the second daughter of the king who already had a bastard son (Henry Fitzroy) he was in the process of making legitimate, she was not expected to inherit at her birth so this is just obvious propaganda here.

Tudor propaganda elements are also obvious in Richard II, in which John of Gaunt is portrayed very differently than he is in Holinshed's Chronicles, Shakespeare’s primary sources for his histories. Holinshed didn't portray Gaunt in a terribly flattering way, but in Richard II, he's the wisest, most reasonable, and most patriotic character in the play. This is likely because Queen Elizabeth traced her lineage directly back to John of Gaunt. (Gaunt's characterization in the play is much closer to his portrayal in Froissart's Chronicles.)

Richard II is also an interesting play to look at, as it portrays the rebellion against and downfall of a king, who was believed to be divinely anointed by god as the country's leader. That's not the type of idea you want to put in your subjects' heads (The deposition scene in the play is missing from most printed editions of the play until the fourth quarto, well into the reign of James I). But the play is written to make it very clear that Elizabeth's own ancestors disagreed with the rebellion. It's an interesting tightrope to walk- as the next few history plays basically emphasize how awesome Henry IV and Henry V are, and just sort of strategically ignore that the only reason they were in power was because of Henry Bolingbroke's rebellion against the rightful king.

Richard III is portrayed as an outright villain in Shakespeare's histories for propaganda reasons as well. Queen Elizabeth's grandfather Henry VII killed Richard on the battlefield at Bosworth and took his crown by right of conquest. Since this was again, a divinely anointed sovereign, Tudor writers really wanted to portray Richard III as just the WORST of the worst to justify the Tudors' actions in overthrowing him. The Tudors' claim to the English throne was not terribly strong, so this propaganda against Richard III was also necessary to increase their own legitimacy.

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: 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.

Over-Analyzing The Crown: S3E5 Coup

November 23, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, TV and Film

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 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.

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.

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!

The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown

November 22, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, TV and Film

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. — 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. — 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, … — 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. (Parure refers to a set of jewelry and tiara) — 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. — 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. — 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.

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.

Over-Analyzing the Crown: S3E4 Bubbikins

November 20, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, TV and Film

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. — 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. — 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. — 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

November 20, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, theater

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.