The Crown: truth stranger than fiction

Chock-full of bombshells, betrayals and bombastic moments, the latest series is almost exquisite, says Melanie McDonagh

- Melanie McDonagh

THE FIFTH series of The Crown opens to a fanfare of controversy and with a thumping ocean-going metaphor. The first episode starts with the young Queen launching the royal yacht Britannia with the hope that “this brand new vessel, like your brand new Queen, will be dependable and constant, capable of weathering any storm”.

Alas, when we see her again, she’s turned into Imelda Staunton, it’s 1991 and Britannia is falling apart and eyed up for scrap by those who want the monarchy to fit into the modern world. “Think,” she’s advised, “of the cost of repairs when she’s so obviously past her best.” Metaphor alert! It turns out that the public too feels that the Queen is getting on and needs replacing.

A poll reveals that — how this dates it — omore than half the people think she should abdicate in favour of Charles, viz Dominic West, as the epitome of youth. This bombshell lands just as he and Princess Diana are off with the boys on what Charles’s press secretary optimistically describes as “a second honeymoon”.

Once Charles hears about the poll, to Diana’s disgust he heads right back to London to badger the then PM John Major about how awful it was that poor Edward VII was left hanging on for 60 years as Prince of Wales. Subtle, eh?

So that’s where this series is heading: the Queen billed as out of touch, Charles desperate to move centre stage, his marriage doomed, and almost every member of the family blaming their miseries on the Queen, including her husband.