The Crown: The crowning glory of historical drama

Katie Sewell, the Boar‘s Lifestyle editor, reviews season two of The Crown, which returned to Netflix this December.

As a History student, I have been known to dabble in historical dramas from time to time. And by that I mean, I probably watch more historical drama than you have hot dinners. As soon as I spot a petticoat or a regency gown on a BBC advert, you had better believe I will be pressing that green record button on my Sky remote.

But because I watch so much historical drama, I would say I’m pretty tough to please. Some historical dramas are miles above the rest: the BBC’s adaptation of War and Peace is up there, as is anything Austen-related. Yet now it looks as though Netflix’s The Crown is set to take the top spot as my all-time favourite historical drama, and this is why.

For those of you who haven’t already fallen in love with The Crown, it follows the reign of Elizabeth II. The series starts at around the end of King George VI’s reign, and Season 2 ends in the 60s, around the time of JFK’s assassination. You may probably be thinking: ‘How is this a historical drama if Elizabeth II is still our Queen?’ I think what is particularly interesting about this series is how close it is to our modern day, yet it explores an area of the Queen’s reign that our generation would know very little about.

The acting in The Crown is second to none

The acting in The Crown is second to none. Matt Smith manages, as Prince Philip, to portray the cheeky and grossly inappropriate gentleman we know and love, true to what we would imagine his younger self to be like. Claire Foy also dazzles, and I found myself – on more than one occasion – actually feeling incredibly sorry for the position she had found herself in.

The Crown has a brilliant way of humanising the Royal Family. We see how our Monarch tackled early challenges to her reign, as well as learning about the faults we forget the Queen is allowed to have. For today’s generation, the Queen has been on the throne for over 60 years, so it is particularly interesting to see the vulnerabilities she faced as a relatively young woman on the throne after her father’s premature death.

I won’t give any spoilers away, but the best episode by far is when we get to learn a little bit more about Prince Philip in Season 2. We explore how his experiences as a child, being forced to flee his home of Greece to live with his sister (who married a leading Nazi) in Germany, shaped his character. We also witness how the annual Queen’s Speech at Christmas was introduced, how she dealt with an ageing Winston Churchill, and witness first-hand how abdicated uncle Edward VII threatened the stability of the throne even during her reign.

The Crown has a brilliant way of humanising the Royal Family 

I cannot recommend The Crown enough, even to the non-historical drama geeks amongst us. It is no exaggeration when I say that I finished two seasons of The Crown in three days.
That’s twenty, one-hour episodes, in three days.
Dissertation be damned, it was worth it.