The Crown Season 5 Must Be Completely Different For Fans Of The Royals
The well-documented history of Princess Diana’s life in the years leading up to her tragic death, and the current contextual climate surrounding the royal family, suggests that The Crown season 5 must take a deeper look at the royal institution's more negative and dysfunctional aspects that the show has touched on in previous seasons. The Crown follows the decades-long reign of Queen Elizabeth II beginning in the early 1950s. As the show progressed, it began to turn a more overtly critical eye towards the Crown, especially in the latest season.
The Crown season 4 focuses on Margaret Thatcher’s years as Prime Minister and the true story behind Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s volatile relationship, from their first meeting to their unhappy marriage. Introducing Diana into the story brought about a shift in tone that caught viewers and even some members of the royal family off-guard, resulting in a request for a fiction disclaimer from the British government. Netflix’s refusal to add the fiction disclaimer may indicate showrunner Peter Morgan's willingness to question certain archaic elements of the institution in The Crown’s final seasons.
The Crown season 5 is expected to pick up near the end of 1990 where season 4 left off. Historically speaking, the '90s was a decade full of drama and tragedy for the royals. This, along with current events – including Oprah’s recent interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry – indicates that The Crown season 5 will further challenge the morality and integrity of the royal institution as it takes a look at one of its most tumultuous decades.
Throughout the '90s, the media captured Charles and Diana’s marital troubles in real-time, including rumors of extra-marital affairs on both sides. With Elizabeth Debicki now set to play the princess in The Crown season 5 and season 6, the penultimate season may focus on the years of separation leading up to the couple's divorce, and Diana's fatal car accident in 1997. Ultimately, The Crown will have to address the many questions surrounding Princess Diana's untimely death and whether or not the royal family was somehow culpable, as the tragedy continues to shape the way the world views the monarchy today. This is evident in comparisons between Princess Diana's experience and what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have gone through in recent years. Like Diana, Meghan could have helped the Crown embrace the modern age. Instead, as Meghan and Harry explained in their Oprah interview, “the firm” repeatedly tried to silence her the way they did Diana.
So far, The Crown has hinted at how the more questionable traditions and customs of the monarchy have plagued members of the royal family. A fact made painfully obvious by Diana’s declining mental health and eating disorder depicted in season 4. The Crown's latest season slowly reveals Prince Charles to be the villain of Princess Diana's story, as his contempt for her effortless ability to attract media attention boils over. In a jealous rage, he berates Diana, calling her “self-obsessed." Meanwhile, in the next scene, the Queen comments on how the couple seems to finally be getting along. This is just before she asks her husband who Billy Joel is, mispronouncing the music icon’s name. Dramatic irony aside, the scene is an example of a shift in the show’s portrayal of the Queen as someone who, like the royal institution she represents, is out of touch with the times. In The Crown season 5, Netflix's fictional retelling of the monarchy's true story could bring the royals into a modern age where their myths of prince charming and fairytales ultimately fade away completely.