Royal Deep Dive: Season 4 of The Crown
Season 4 of The Crown is coming out on November 15 and is already making waves in the press and among royal fans. Given how many of us have watched and loved this series, it’s important to remember that much of it is fictionalized, dramatized and based on rumor. Part of what I find confusing and what makes the show seem more factual is the mix of important political events with the family’s personal dramas. It leaves out huge amounts and centers the events they choose as the “most important” in royal history, when they are often not. Let’s take a deep dive into what artistic license they have taken in the past, and what we have to look forward to this season.
Key Factual Discrepancies
Some of the biggest dramatizations in the last season were around the relationship between Charles and Camilla. For example, Princess Anne did not date Andrew Parker Bowles at the same time Charles was pursuing Camilla. Anne actually married her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips during the timeline of that season. Additionally, there is zero evidence that Lord Mountbatten and the Queen Mother interfered in the relationship by asking the parents of Camilla and Parker Bowles to pressure them to get engaged.
There are also several incidents in every season that they immerse the royals in (just to link the big historical and political events to the plot of the show), that there is zero evidence they were involved in. While it humanizes the events with our main characters, it also makes the life of the royal family seem much more dramatic and filled with scandal than it actually was.
This Season
Time Period
Ten episodes from 1979- 1990
Major Events:
Charles and Diana - dating and getting married, the births of both Prince William and Prince Harry, their 1983 tour of Australia, Diana’s solo 1989 tour of New York City, and their extramarital affairs and unhappiness.
Margaret Thatcher’s election and time as Prime Minister. Some of the main events during her years in powers will be included like the IRA attacks and the Falklands War (which Prince Andrew famously fought in). Her tense relationship with the Queen will be included along with her being ousted by her own Cabinet in 1990 - an expected bookend to her election in the first episode.
Prince Andrew’s courtship of and marriage to Sarah Ferguson. While this hasn’t been confirmed by Netflix, they don’t reveal every plot point before the season and I hope to see this, the births of Beatrice or Eugenie and the Duchess of York’s friendship with Diana!
Princess Margaret struggling with her mental health
Princess Anne’s first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips, including their separation in 1989 (their two children Zara and Peter are seen in a recreation of a portrait from the era along with William and Harry and several other cousins)
Keep an Eye Out For
Iconic fashion moments! We’ve already seen several that are approximations of outfits Diana wore, or even mix a few outfits from different events together.
Over dramatization. Going into a season that is set during one of the most tumultuous times in recent royal history, you hope that they don’t feel the need to dramatize them further. We already have so much documented of the 1980’s and the family’s first person accounts of events (along with “royal experts that I am dubious of) that it may be hard to watch the show make this time even more salacious.