The Crown - series 3

[southeastdweller]

I'm so looking forward to seeing this when it returns next Sunday!

I'd like to see that, thanks, BlueRussian.

I've just watched the Aberfan episode. Very moving.

I agree, though, that OC looks too dour and old to play the Queen in 1967. Compare her to these photos from that year.

*1966, sorry. The photos are from 1967.

@thefemaleJoshLyman Me too. It's made me remember things from my childhood that I hadn't thought about in years. My grandparents' house was a terrace cottage on the south side of the village. It backed onto a small farm and had one of those little tunnels through from the front to the garden. (A ginnel, maybe? We just called it the passage.) I remember the pattern on the carpet and the picture on the living room wall, and the view up the valley from the bedroom window.

They moved to Merthyr when I was quite small and I couldn't remember much about Aberfan, but so much is coming back to me now.

Bit of fun, I cannot fine the poem online but it must be there, somewhere. I do have a copy of her book of poetry but it's stored away. If I find it, I will post it but if in the distant future (when we're all old and grey :-) ), will pm you. Others have also written poems on same subject but Mary W's particularly moved me.

Thanks, Blue.

I watched the Princess Alice episode last night and found it very moving. I'm surprised no-one else here has really mentioned it.

Jane Lapotaire was just brilliant wasn't she? Alice was a very interesting woman and had an eventful life, to say the least.

All the talk about Kate and Meghan being too middle class or American to marry into royalty was funny when you think about it, as once upon a time eyebrows were raised about the DoE marrying in!

DofE- A descendant of Queen Victoria & he wasn’t considered good enough!

@WineOrGinOrBoth It was more because of his family - mother institutionalised, father a dissolute womaniser and sisters all married to Nazis!

Some photos from the filming of season 4. I'm sure you can work out who's who!

It probably didn’t help that he was rich either @QueenOfTheAndals

Just finished episode 4. I think the casting is great, apart from Olivia Coleman. She just doesn't inhabit the character for me. Her diction is often wrong and the pace of her delivery is too fast. Olivia talks quite fast and garbles her words when she speaks naturally. The Queen speaks slowly and deliberately with a lot of emphasis. Olivia just can't seem to get this right. I also think her body language is a bit studied, it just doesn't feel authentic. I much preferred Claire Foy . Helena BC is just brilliant as Margaret. Although she doesn't look like her really, she has perfectly caught the air of bored arrogance mixed with disappointment. She acts Olivia off the screen in my view.

Tobias is absolutely brilliant as PP. I think he's used PC as a model though, his voice sounds very like PC.

I am loving this series, although there seem to be a few historical inaccuracies which really annoys me.

The Aberfan episode was absolutely heart rending. Watching it like that really brings home the enormity of the tragedy. Also emphasises the lack of empathy and understanding of the Queen, at least initially.

Can't wait for this to come out on DVD.

Any ideas, o wise ones?

Not for Christmas, though?

I've also been doing lots of research into Princess Alice. What a terribly sad life she had. At least the Queen had the compassion to take her in for the last two years of her life. Didn't realise that Philip's sisters all married Nazi sympathisers either, or that his Aunt was the Tsarina and that her sister was murdered the day after she was. A whole lot of history I didn't know about.

Freud treated Alice appallingly. XRaying her ovaries to bring on menopause because he though she was suffering from hysteria brought on by sexual frustration!! In spite of all her suffering she devoted her life to helping others. She must have missed her children so much in that institution. Also wrote a very loving letter to Philip when she was dying to tell him she would always be looking out for him. A very sad story.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=princess+alice+of+greece+at+queens+coronation&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=insv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwis--LjqPjlAhVWUxUIHcWpAdAQ_AUoAXoECBQQAQ&biw=375&bih=553&dpr=2#imgrc=KW1bsPumG3OTCM

If this works it’s a photo of Princess Alice leading a procession at the Queen’s coronation (I think)

Freud really was the most appalling misogynistic charlatan. It’s staggering that his wholly unevidenced and untestable crap gained traction in the period when actual scientists and engineers were unlocking the secrets of the universe, building aeroplanes and exploring evolution.

I never realised that Princess Alice and Mountbatten were brother and sister. I think Princess Anne's accent is spot on and a pretty good look alike. Charles is not very convincing but I like Camilla in this. I agree with PP that Philip seems to be speaking like Charles in real life. Confusing!

Princess Alice's husband, Prince Andrew, was another wrongun.

The beauty of the Crown is the history that it throws up, series 1 and 2 were excellent for that also.

Looking at Queen Victoria's off spring, they all married european royalty, well most of them

I agree OC is just not quite right. Appearance, speech it's just too far off and it's distracting. I'm finding this series a bit draggy tbh and even lovely Helena BC is a bit of a caricature so that's distracting too.

Also emphasises the lack of empathy and understanding of the Queen
I didn't see it so much as a lack of empathy as her thinking what would be the point of her being there. It's a fine line between showing support and getting in the way.

I think it was more about her inability to show emotion rather than feel it.

I have a feeling Gillian Anderson is well cast as MT. I don't know how she manages to be so beautiful and look so much like her at the same time!

Watched the Aberfan episode and oh my goodness it was so upsetting.
I thought the slag heap filming was excellent when the sink hole started. I couldn't breathe waiting for it to hit the school. Those poor, poor families. I read the BBC Aberfan long read link that a PP suggested before I watched the episode and the filming truly captured the reality for me.

OC is just too cold and stern for the Queen. I know she's not the smiliest of people but when she does smile her face lights up. She appears to be very rude in this portrayal. I haven't warmed to HBC yet though I do think she captures the essence of PM well.