Unless you’ve been living off the grid,you’ll know the latest series of the hit Netflix drama is back,just months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. And it has created even more controversy than usual.
King Charles III speaks to guests during a reception at Buckingham Palace this week.AP
As Charles marked his 74th birthday on Monday he was busy dealing with some urgent matters for “The Firm”. He formally asked parliament to create two additional counsellors of state positions for his sister Anne,the Princess Royal,and his youngest brother Edward,the Earl of Wessex. The move ensures neither his brother Andrew,the Duke of York,nor son Harry,the Duke of Sussex,will ever be called upon to deputise for him when he is overseas or ill.
Buckingham Palace had been keen to change the system because the law limits the counsellors of state to Queen Consort Camilla and the four most senior adults in the line of succession. His decision to create additional counsellors,rather than relieve controversy-plagued Harry and Andrew of their duties,would help keep the family peace.
But while the King attempts to clean up after his relatives,his own past has been laid bare to a new generation of subjects.
It’s 25 years since Diana died and a whole new generation (who might have missed Helen Mirren’s The Queen) is learning about this period for the first time.
The Crown has introduced a new generation to the drama of Charles and Diana’s marriage.AP
The timing of the new season is fortuitous for Netflix. Interest in the royals has likely never been higher because of the Queen,the only monarch most living Britons ever knew. But it is awkward for Charles,as it revisits some of the most painful chapters of his life.
For most of the audience – particularly in America -The Crown is simply entertainment. Netflix has even added a “fictional dramatisation” label. However,when many of the characters are still very much alive and hoping to keep a union and Commonwealth together,there’s a tad more at stake.
So,if the takeaway from this series is that people who’d previously had neutral views about the royal family now view the King in a poor light,then it matters. It matters for the future of the monarchy and its ability to project soft power in the world.
Dominic West as Prince Charles,left,and Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in a scene from ’The Crown”.supplied
Last week a protester decrying slavery hurled eggs at Charles during his visit to the city of York.
Recently,pollster YouGov released a comprehensive survey about the British public’s attitude towards Charles. During his mother’s lifetime,Charles might have been less popular than the late Queen,but there were signs that might have changed. A total of 63 per cent said he would be a good king,with only 15 per cent thinking he would do a bad job.
But there was,however,a striking difference by age:younger voters were much less positive about the new King and his Queen:46 per cent of younger voters say he would do a good job compared with 78 per cent of older voters.
Actor Dominic West,who plays Charles in the new season,toldEntertainment Weekly that even the show’s depiction of one of the most scandalous moments of the prince’s life – the leak of a sordid conversation between Charles and his then-mistress Camilla – “made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they’d gone through.”
Dominic West as Prince Charles and Olivia Williams as Camilla in a scene of “The Crown” that follows the leak of their Tampax phone conversation to the press.Keith Bernstein/Netflix
While Charles is shown to finally have connected with his one true love – and they are an enduring love story – he is also depicted as manipulating,orchestrating,and conspiring with the press and politicians,to cast shade on his mother and to convince the then-prime minister,John Major,to convince the Queen to abdicate and make way for him.
The real Major,of course,has rejected this storyline completely,calling it a “barrel-load of nonsense”.
But as Penny Junor,a royal biographer puts it:“Too many people will think that what they see really happened,no matter how many disclaimers”.
Charles has made a strong start to the new phase of his very public life. Amid all the challenges he faces,he doesn’t need a new generation of voters in the 14 countries of the realm to be reminded of the bad times.
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