The Crown – Wolferton Splash

By starrymag | November 8, 2016

By: Lindsay Flanagan

It’s 1947 in Buckingham Palace. The halls are dark and there are hacking sounds of someone coughing. The victim of the coughing attack is King George VI (Jared Harris). The camera swings down to show red splatters—the only bright color in the room—in the white basin of the toilet. The King looks at it for a brief second, then reaches up and pulls the cord to flush.

 

The scene changes to the King’s room where he is being dressed by his attendants as he struggles against more coughing attacks. The King’s frustration is let out on one of his attendants, who receives a tongue-lashing for fumbling with the collar. His royal aide, Peter (Ben Miles), takes over for the stricken attendant. He comforts the King by telling him a dirty joke as he buttons up the collar. The King grins and gives one of his own. Laughing, he heads out of the room with his entourage, making his way to give a new title to his future son-in-law.

 

The King’s daughter, Elizabeth (Claire Foy), is not in the room yet there is a glimpse of her peering in through the doors. Her fiancé, Philip (Matt Smith) who is the Greek and Danish prince, renounces his Greek citizenship in preparation for becoming the husband of the future queen of England. Philip completes his part of the ceremony and then waits as King George struggles to speak. The King has had trouble speaking in the past (see The King’s Speech), but it is suspected that a cough is lurking in his throat and he doesn’t want to show any weakness as he stands before his future son-in-law. He bestows the title of Duke of Edinburgh on Philip and then leaves the room quickly, his part complete.

 

Philip goes to Elizabeth, greeting her with, “I’ve signed my life away.” Elizabeth replies, “Or won the greatest prize on Earth.” Phillip responds, “That’s certainly what they think.” Elizabeth—and the audience—hang for a moment while Philip lights his cigarette. He goes closer to her and says, “It’s what I think, too.”

 

The next scene opens on the wedding day where we meet Queen Mary, the King’s mother (Eileen Atkins) and Queen Elizabeth, his wife (Victoria Hamilton). Philip paces near the altar of Westminster Abbey and there is a rush of cheers—it is not, however, Princess Elizabeth who has arrived. It is Winston Churchill (John Lithgow) and his wife, Clemmie (Harriet Walter). The beloved former Prime Minister almost steals the show with his arrival—and he certainly steals it from the current Prime Minister Clement Attlee (Simon Chandler). Just in time to take the attention away from Churchill, Elizabeth’s carriage, accompanied by the royal guards arrives. She steps out of the carriage and looks every bit the princess bride. The King walks her down the aisle and gives her away to Philip, who makes cute, funny faces at her while she recites her vows. When she says she promises to “obey” Philip, the scene cuts to Clemmie Churchill who exclaims, “Obey?” Winston nods: “She insisted.”

 

A moment that is not missed during the wedding is the exchange of glances between Princess Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), Elizabeth’s younger sister, and the aforementioned King’s royal aide Peter—an already married man. But this moment is for Elizabeth and Philip, so the glance is a foreshadowing of what will come. The couple are officially wed in holy matrimony and the scene changes to inside the palace where the wedding photos are being taken. Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary make comments about Philip’s mother (“She’s dressed like a nun”), but we see him kiss her temple—his mother has dealt with various health issues ranging from congenital deafness to schizophrenia.

 

The attention turns from Philip’s mother to King George as he enters the room carrying a gift. Elizabeth opens it to find a video camera, something she uses many times throughout the episode perhaps hinting at the fact that the royal family is always being watched by the world. After thanking her father, Princess Elizabeth and her husband go out to the balcony for the iconic greeting. The crowd cheers and then begins to chant, “King! King!” George joins his wife and daughter on the balcony, waving at their subjects.

 

The video camera comes into play again with a montage of the events that happen as the next few years go by as filmed by Elizabeth. She and Philip settle in Malta, where Philip continues his navy career and Charles and Anne are born. But then, the fairy-tale life comes crashing back to reality when Elizabeth receives a phone call that her father is unwell. They rush back to London where the King is undergoing surgery. In a graphic scene, the surgeons remove the King’s lung. The surgeon comes to the family and proclaims the King is doing well—although there is a moment that Philip catches where the doctor appears to bite his tongue. Philip leaves the room and goes in to look at his father-in-law, who is resting peacefully. There is an air of suspicion as the camera focuses on Philip looking at his father-in-law as there is more the doctor wanted to say.

 

The King recovers from his operation and invites Winston Churchill—who has been re-elected as the Prime Minister (much to his party’s chagrin) to the palace. Churchill has been curious about his old friend’s—and his sovereign’s—health and the makeup the King is wearing doesn’t hide how ill he really is. Churchill suspects even more when the King states that he will be sending Elizabeth and Philip on the Commonwealth Tour in his stead. Later, Churchill confides to his wife that he believes the King has cancer, even if the King doesn’t know it yet. Clemmie appears horrified at the thought of the King dying, of the princess having to take the throne at such a young age and also concerned for Winston, whose health isn’t the best either. She urges him to resign from his position, but he refuses. “She”—the future queen—will need him.

 

Back in the palace, the King’s doctor pays him a visit. George has coughed up more blood, something he thought would stop once the bad lung was removed. The doctor confesses that he was advised to keep the true nature of the illness a secret—it is cancer and although the largest tumors are gone because the lung is gone there are others in the remaining organ. The remaining time George has to live is uncertain. He decides to keep this information from his family, as it is the holiday season, but his bleak and limited future gets to him when carolers come to the palace. He joins them in song while wearing a paper crown they made for him, but tears brim his eyes. Elizabeth sees the emotions on her father’s face and she, too, isn’t quite as stoic as she tries to appear.

 

Rather than returning to Malta, Elizabeth and Philip set up house in England where Philip takes charge of the decor while Elizabeth attends her various royal duties. On Christmas Day, the King calls Elizabeth into his office where we see the paper crown from the carolers sitting on his desk. He shows Elizabeth his box full of political briefings. The ones on top, he tells her, are ones that they want him to look at. The ones on the bottom are the ones they don’t want him to look at. So, he says he does this: he takes the stack and turns it upside down. Elizabeth laughs, as does George, although both of their laughs are tinged with sense of fear for the future.

 

George gives Elizabeth some lessons on what it means to be the monarch. He presents her with the idea of her going on the Commonwealth Tour instead of him so he can continue getting better. When Elizabeth asks Philip, he balks at the idea of leaving their children in England for months while they are gone and then insists he doesn’t want to just stand and watch as Elizabeth does all the ribbon-cutting. It is apparent that there is still some hope in him that he can resume his naval career, at least until Elizabeth becomes queen, and that he’s not pleased about taking a backseat to her duties. He acquiesces to her, though, and they prepare for their first royal trip.

 

The King figures he’ll help Philip prepare as well and he bursts into Philip’s room at the crack of dawn—startling a naked Duke of Edinburgh out of his bed—and invites him to go shooting. The gray, misty morning sets the tone as the party boards small boats for their excursion. The King focuses on Philip, who is sitting in the boat next to him. The King didn’t miss Philip’s hesitation at going on the Commonwealth Tour and he also hasn’t missed Philip’s desire to return to his career. “She is the job,” he tells Philip. “She is the essence of your duty—loving her, protecting her. Of course, you’ll miss your career, but this for her and for me will be a greater act of patriotism or love.” Philip says he understands and whether the King believes him or not, he accepts the answer.

 

The scene cuts back to Elizabeth, who enters her father’s office and sits behind his desk. The camera focuses on the box on the desk—the same box full of briefings George had shown his daughter on Christmas Day. It is engraved “The King,” but there is the somber thought that it will soon have a different title written on it.