The Crown – The Balmoral Test

By: Kelly Kearney

In this episode Margaret Thatcher is invited to join the Queen and her family on one of their Scottish getaways. It’s less of a holiday and more a test, which every PM is forced to go through. Hiking in the highlands is one thing, but the Windsor’s love of hunting seems to weed out the weak from the strong and Thatcher, who is anything but weak, will have to assimilate if she wants to impress her Queen.

A Different Kind of Stag Party

The second episode opens on a hunt in the Scottish highlands. Two men stalk the antlered beast until they can line up a clean shot. The trigger is pulled and the stag goes down in agony (if animal cruelty is not your thing then this moment is hard to watch), but the shot is anything but clean and the injured animal takes off towards the Queen’s property.

As the royal family sits down for breakfast in Balmoral Castle they get word from their neighbors about the fourteen point buck who is ripe for the kill and wandering onto their land. This news excites everyone, particularly Phillip (Tobias Menzies) and Anne (Erin Doherty) who tease each other about being the one to kill the furry intruder. When it comes to this lot, blasting animals with guns is as royal as the crown on Elizabeth’s (Olivia Colman) head. Some may find it unseemly, a blood sport played by the common man, but the Windsor’s take pride in the hunt and even call it a kindness to all creatures. The wailing buck would most definitely disagree and so would Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson), who has been invited to join them on this holiday retreat. At the breakfast table they laugh knowing the rumors about this invite and the test all PM’s have to pass. If the Queen is going to have to work with the new head of her cabinet then they can get to know the real Liz. The one who is as comfortable in her muddied wellies as she is donning the crown. Typically, the scene at Balmoral is not a socialites cup of tea, and therein lies the test. Can Margaret Thatcher fit in? You better believe she is going to try, even if her heart is not in it. And, in this case, it most certainly is not.

With his family on holiday, Charles (Josh O’Connor) stays in London for his date with Diana (Emma Corrin). Where do you take an eighteen year old free spirited woman to test her willingness to sit through boring events? Verdi’s opera, of course. Diana, dressed elegantly in green, smiles and does her best to appear excited over the long winded opera. She might be young, but thanks to her upbringing she is cultured and knows what is expected of her when she is with the Prince of Whales. So, when he asks her what her plans are for the summer and she admits she does not have any she is hoping this means she will be seeing him again. His response is disappointing. He has plans in Zimbabwe and then off to Scotland to be with his family. Apparently, he is expecting Diana to wait until Fall for date number two and the look on her face says that is not likely. It is a long time to ask her to wait for him and when she says as much, it clearly goes right over his head. After all, he is a Prince and is used to people waiting for him; not to mention getting what he wants, but does he actually want Diana? Considering the first person he calls after their date is Camilla (Emerald Fennell), it does not seem like he does.

The Cabinet Gets “Thatched”

Now that there is a new Prime Minster, a new cabinet of men typically follows. I say men because Margaret is the only female at the table in Downing Street. The Iron Lady chooses her picks without a second guess and tells them all they have no choice but to accept her selections. She is not interested in any naysayers or the ideas they have. She has a vision and they can either get behind her or be tossed from her inner circle. Whether it is simply because she is a woman or a because she is steadfast in her ideas and not one to compromise, there are instant rumblings of a revolt in Parliament. Her plans are extreme, especially the ones concerning the budget and her cabinet is not shy when it comes to telling her. Not that she would listen, she is in the driver’s seat and no fears of her butchering the country’s finances will sway her from her goals. They can worry she is moving too quickly for their taste, but Margaret explains if that is the case it is because she is in a hurry. There is a lot of arguing about what it means to be a conservative and if the men practice what they preach, but when you whittle their outrage down to its core it reeks of the good old fashioned boy’s club and their rejection of a woman in charge – or so Margaret thinks. She calls them patronizing as they try to intimidate her into backing off her budgetary planning, but she has bigger things on her mind at the moment, namely the Queen’s invitation to Balmoral. Denis (Stephen Boxer), her husband, warns her that the gesture is most definitely a test, but Margaret has heard the rumors and if she wants the Queen in her corner she will do her best to pass it with royal colors.

On the flip side of this invite is Elizabeth, who desperately wants to like Margaret and find a partner in the PM rather than the usual patronizing father figures who came before her. In that sense, these two women are the same, but in every other way they are worlds apart. As much as the Queen offers Margaret some kind of camaraderie, the gesture goes unnoticed. In fact, for Thatcher, this invite seems more of a tedious expectation than a friendly visit with the Queen. After all, a trek to Scotland in the middle of a cold war in Parliament and the daily threats from the IRA seems almost pointless to Margaret. Denis tries and fails to redirect her attitude to a more positive outlook, but now that the weather is preventing them from playing a round of golf he too is in a surly mood. Margaret is going to have to put her personal feelings aside on this one and perhaps she can take her disappointment out on the men who are plotting an uprising in her cabinet. Something she hears about as she boards the plane to Scotland.

When Margaret and Denis arrive at the castle the couple is ready for whatever the royal family is going to put them through, but first things first…bedrooms. The couple is assigned two because The Queen must assume most married couples sleep apart like she and Phillip do, but that is not the Thatcher way. In fact, Margaret basically orders her husband to stay in her room because according to her couples in separate beds lead to problems in a marriage.

Once settled into their quarters, Margaret and Denis are on their own with The Queen and her family noticeably absent from the home. Knowing that every moment of this trip could be test, Margaret and her husband dress for dinner and make their way downstairs. At this point the Windsors have arrived home and are in their quarters gossiping about the new PM, as well as Charles and his date with Diana. Their family time gets awkwardly interrupted by Margaret and Denis who waltz into the room in their formal wear ready for dinner. Not only are they early, but the royal family is still in their outdoor clothes and nobody, including the staff, are ready to eat. If Margaret is embarrassed she does not show it but in a sign of good faith The Queen gathers her family for an early meal, much to Phillip’s vocal dismay. The dynamics here are new for everyone, especially when it seems like Margaret is the royal and the Queen is working overtime to impress and make her feel comfortable. I mean, since when does the Prime Minister set the rules for dinnertime? I guess when the Queen wants them to be her new ally she does.

The meal goes as expected with the royal family talking about hunting and typically normal outdoorsy stuff. Meanwhile, Margaret, who is shocked that they are not behaving in a snobbish manner, is far more uptight than any Queen could be. Eventually, Thatcher opens up about her upbringings in a working class family and all the triumphs and trials she has faced on her climb from the bottom to Downing Street. What she sees as an almost an embarrassingly common start to her accomplished life. She totally misses the fact the Royals find simplicity to be the zest of life. Two women of the same age cut from vastly different cloths, it’s no wonder Elizabeth and Margaret can not find a way to get a long and no hike through the highlands can change that. If Thatcher, who plans to make sweeping changes in government, cannot get the Queen in her corner then how can she earn the support of her people? Apparently, this does not bother Thatcher, who is quickly alienating the royal family with her inability to recognize a good time, even if her career depended on it…and it kind of does. If political success is built upon a foundation of playing by the rules other people set, Margaret will either have to throw out the game entirely or fake it until she makes it.

Throwing it out seems to her modus operandi because when she arrives back in London she is faced with that age old saying “when the cat is away the mice will play” and her mice are the men in cabinet who are running their mouths to the press about their new female PM. Immediately, Thatcher calls a meeting with her cabinet and proceeds to fire them all in a move that shocks Downing Street and solidifies her nickname “The Iron Lady.” She cannot be bent to anyone is will. She has made enemies of her allies and she lets the Queen know she is not afraid to make more, including the residents of Buckingham Palace. If there was any chance these two powerful women could work together, taking an axe to her cabinet shows that Thatcher is only interested in a one woman show.

Diana Aces Her Test

If Margaret failed the Balmoral test, then Diana passed it with gold stars and her majesty’s respect. After getting rejected by Camilla, Charles goes to his back up Diana and invites her along to his trip to the family’s holiday hide-out. The idea was actually Camilla’s and, while she somehow manages to string the Prince along, she knows he needs to stay focused on his future; one that will never include her (or so she thinks). Of course, the enamored Spencer girl agrees to go to Scotland knowing this is probably a test to see if she is an acceptable match for Charles. It is not long before she dazzles them all with her charm and outdoorsy nature, something this family ranks high on the list of matchmaking attributes. The entire family sees a future for Charles with Diana and they start to pressure the heir into marrying her. The fact he knows nothing about the girl and, equally nothing about what he wants outside of Camilla, does not matter to his family and Anne tells him as much. He needs to think about his legacy and Diana’s looks might be enough for him to drop his Camilla obsession and replace it with one for Lady Di.

Charles does not get his wish to take things slowly after his father and Diana go out hunting for the injured stag. Immediately, Phillip is drawn to how easy it is to be with her, not to mention her love of the outdoors. Everything about her just fits in with their lifestyle making her the perfect choice for Princess. When the two hunters make their way across the roiling green hills they are elated to see the prized stag. As Phillip aims his weapon, Diana offers him some shooting advice that winds up taking the animal down and cementing her place in their family. She is Liz and Phillip approved and that means Charles has little say in the direction this relationship will go. Phillip tells his son he will marry this girl as she is perfect for him and their family lineage and it is his duty to produce and heir. Charles’ need to please his family while also keeping Camilla in the adulterous wings leaves little room for Diana and what she may want. For now, what she wants seems to be Charles and everyone but the Prince is over the moon about that fact. If only he had the level of self-awareness that Thatcher had then maybe Diana would be a Kindergarten teacher today and not mourned by the people of the world who referred to her as their Princess.