The British royal family is one of the most internationally recognized monarchs of all time and has had many defining moments in history, from former Queen Elizabeth II’s reign for over 70 years, three royal marriages breaking down in 1992, to fire at Windsor Castle, and now as King Charles III steps into the throne, their story is being captured once again through a different perspective through Netflix’s “The Crown” whose sixth and final season just launched.
Now it’s time to gather some insights from other people who tuned in to watch this series close out their seven year production.
One of those viewers is Mrs. Durrett, a teacher here at Tahoma, here was her feedback.
The end of season five left us on a cliff hanger where we see tensions starting to rise as Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage breaks down, after quite a plot twist, what way did you see this storyline going into season 6?
“I think it was a new beginning for both Charles and Diana,” Charles trying to separate himself from his parents by starting new events like the Prince’s trust which was an event that brought awareness to troubled teens, and Diana embarked on a new journey in finding her voice.
The queen and Prince Phillip were shocked by their decline in popularity after their son stated how they needed to become more relatable with the public.
For any actor/actress, portraying a real life figure, especially a British royal comes with a sense of responsibility and immense pressure to bring them to life.
The cast went through extensive training which consisted of movement coaching, speech lessons, along with studying past footage of interviews. In her opinion when asked on how she thinks they did in portraying the royals, she stated, “Elizabeth Bebicki was so incredibly believable, completely fell in love with Diana again and her as an actress, very clear of how much studying took place to get down her mannerisms, head tilt and speaking voice.”
While Dominic West caught her in a different way by expressing, “a lot better looking than the real life counterpart, while watching his character, I found herself feeling a warm spot for him because of how Dominic portrayed him, his character was diabolic playing him extremely arrogant and narcissistic with a sort of tenderness.”
An example of this comes from an episode called “Couple 31” where we see their first visit with each other for lunch after their divorce, resulting in an argument stating how trapped he also felt and how unfair it was to keep Camilla away while his parents urged him to marry another woman.
In her mind Imelda Staunton’s performance as Queen Elizabeth II was “fantastic, for all characters after every episode, I would fact check it and Staunton did a great job at being Stoic while she was holding her role as the queen and made me feel sympathetic for her.”
Season 6 is where we see start off through the lens of Diana’s last summer in 1997, vacationing in France with a humanitarian work trip to Bosnia in between.
Her return to Paris, France with Dodi Fayed was immediately met with a paparazzi swarm who pursued them into a high speed chase resulting in a fatal car crash at Pont de l’ Alma Tunnel which took their lives in an instant.
In the following episode called “Aftermath” where a conversation between Charles and Diana’s ghost takes place on the plane that bought back her body.
This scene holds a certain meaning and Durrett stated the meaning of it was showing the “tender side of him and felt bad about the outcome. Showing his vulnerability, and the strength of Diana not giving into him and instead standing up to him and not being affected by the ‘System and pressures around her.”
Last but not least, what can you say to anyone who is about to start watching this show, what do you think they can expect?
Start from the beginning and after every episode make sure to fact check it because a lot of parts have been fictionalized, make sure you depart both reality and fantasy, and be prepared to learn about the monarchy of England.
When you put yourself in their roles you start to understand them and the pressure they were under. Have more empathy.
Whether you’re a fan or want to learn more about the British monarchy, this show if definitely for you, so the next time you log on to Netflix, give this show a chance, every part of it will leave you intrigued, wanting more.
