Season four of The Crown may have come out a while ago, but I swear I watched it immediately. But I didn’t binge-watch it all in one sitting like I’m sure many others did. Instead, I digested it all slowly and became consumed with everything Princess Diana-related online. I will, however, add that I’d never really watched The Crown before, despite it being their fourth season. I tried starting from the beginning, hoping to finish the third season by the time the fourth came out but it, unfortunately, didn’t happen.
Nevertheless, I now can see why The Crown is such a popular show. I knew some of what was going to happen but it was still interesting to watch, nonetheless. Season four starts with Margaret Thatcher’s eleven years as Britain’s prime minister. And the season ends with Thatcher’s resignation.
Margaret Thatcher & Queen Elizabeth
In all honesty, I didn’t know much about Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, let alone her relationship with the Queen. Margaret Thatcher’s already a relatively controversial figure, but the way The Crown portrayed her was interesting. For someone that’s dubbed “The Iron Lady”, they definitely gave us a glimpse of Thatcher’s more emotional side in addition to seeing her controversial political policies play out. When it came to seeing Thatcher and the Queen, their relationship was cold and full of tension.
One of the most interesting scenes between them consisted of the Queen inviting Thatcher hunting. Except Thatcher knew nothing about hunting. She shows up wearing the iconic blue suit and heels, which is probably the last thing she should’ve worn. The rift between them is clear throughout the entire fourth season even though there aren’t any dramatic fight scenes. My other favorite scene consisted of Queen Elizabeth telling Thatcher she didn’t have any enemies. In response, Thatcher recited back her favorite poem, No Enemies by Charles Mackay, which insults her in the process. The poem basically calls anyone that doesn’t have any enemies a coward who hasn’t made much of an impact on the world.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ Relationship
The other big part of the new season of The Crown is the introduction of Princess Diana. When we first meet her, it’s obvious how young she is as she’s dressed as a tree for her school’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As the show goes on, however, Charles and Diana’s relationship deteriorates with Camilla smack dab in the middle of it all. Throughout it all, Diana continues to be seen as the young and innocent woman while Charles is almost made out to be the villain. There’s a brief period in time where they’re happy and making their relationship a priority. But then it stops and Charles’ need for attention becomes the problem. And it leads him back to Camilla again and leaves Diana feeling even more isolated than she did before.
While I don’t know all the facts, what I do know is that Charles and Diana’s relationship was a rocky one. From Charles and Camilla’s continuous affair to Diana’s transparency about their relationship after it ended. However, Charles and Diana are still, at least legally-speaking, together. But both are definitely looking to get out of it while everyone else in the royal family wants them to stay together, even though they’re unhappy.
Final Thoughts
Season four of The Crown didn’t end the way I expected it to. With the storyline of the season progressing as fast as it was, I figured it’d end with Princess Diana’s death. In hindsight, however, it makes much more sense that it didn’t. The topic of British royalty, or more specifically, Princess Diana and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is captivating on its own but what made it even more interesting is how the writers chose to portray the characters. Diana’s shown as a young, innocent girl who persists as the outsider amongst everyone else. Although it was unclear how they wanted us to feel about Thatcher. We admire her for being such a hard worker but then she constantly rejects the Commonwealth’s statement regarding South Africa because of one word, which comes off as irritating. Nevertheless, I found the season fascinating and I can’t wait to see what happens next season.