“Are you my wife or are you my Queen?”
“I am both.”
This conflict of identity is pervasive throughout the first season of the excellent Netflix original, The Crown. Queen Elizabeth II, played brilliantly by Claire Foy, struggles under the weight of the crown. As she says,”I’m nearly flattened under the weight of this thing.”
This oppressive weight leaves Elizabeth conflicted and pulled in many directions. Philip wants his wife, her children want their mother, Princess Margaret wants her sister, all while the country wants their monarch. Elizabeth increasingly conforms to the identity of monarch, alienating her personal relations.
When Princess Margaret approaches Elizabeth asking to marry Peter Townsend, Elizabeth responds,”As your sister, I’m never going to oppose it” (S1E6).
However, the ultimate decision on the marriage comes from the Queen. Reversing on her previous stance, Elizabeth banishes Peter to Brussels for two years.
Likewise, after spending months designing their new home Clarence Place, Philip begs Elizabeth to allow them to live there instead of in Buckingham Palace (S1E3). As Elizabeth, she agrees with him. However, as Queen, she denies his request, and furthermore decrees that their children will not receive the Mountbatten surname.
Shocked, Philip accuses her of betrayal.
“What kind of marriage is this? You’ve taken my career from me, you’ve taken my home, you’ve taken my name.”
Elizabeth’s companions grow to resent the her, seeing only a bland mouthpiece of the monarchy in place of a once bright girl. This conflict of personality culminates when Elizabeth leaves England for the Commonwealth tour, bestowing her duties upon Margaret.
“Just remember who you’re standing in for when I’m gone.”
“My characterless sister.”
“No, your Queen.” (S1E8).
Elizabeth leaves for Barbados, increasingly isolated among thousands of cheering supporters. Smiling and waving, she is paraded through the streets of territory after territory in a captivating slow motion sequence in Season 1, Episode 8. Accentuating the emotionless smiles and passionless waves, we see Elizabeth as a demented caricature, not an elegant queen.
“This whole thing is a circus. It’s a miserable circus. Trudging from town to town, and we’re the dancing bears” (S1E8). Philip is fed up with losing not only his wife, but his own life to the monarchy. In a bitter argument with Elizabeth, he says,”Your father probably took one look at this tour, and thought, D’you know what? I’d be better off with cancer.” This attack on her beloved father and the institution of the monarchy enrages Elizabeth. For the first time, she aggressively breaks character as the Queen. Chasing him out of the house, she throws glasses and a tennis racket at her retreating husband.
This rare exhibition of pure emotion from Elizabeth reveals a sad truth about her. She has become the “characterless Queen” that Margaret accuses her of being, and chooses to defend the monarchy instead of sympathizing with her husband.
This fall in companionship with Margaret and Philip ironically accompanies Elizabeth’s rise as the Queen.
“Millions have seen the Queen as she leaves the Commonwealth charmed and united. It is already clear that her majesty will occupy a place among the famous queens of history,” proclaims a BBC broadcaster.
Elizabeth finds no way to reconcile her personal life with the role of Queen, making the tragic yet noble choice to place the monarchy over her husband and family.
In many ways, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Windsor are two sides of the same coin in The Queen. The Duke of Windsor abandons his public responsibilities by abdicating the throne, instead choosing to leave the United Kingdom altogether with his beloved wife. Meanwhile, Elizabeth becomes in many ways the “model monarch,” sacrificing her private life for the public good. This difficult choice is what Elizabeth ultimately believes to be the moral responsibility of the Queen of England.
As the Queen mother says in Episode 2,”And while you mourn your father, you must also mourn someone else: Elizabeth Mountbatten. For she has now been replaced by another person: Elizabeth Regina.”
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