In the fourth episode of The Crown’s sixth season – be careful, there’s a letdown coming – with Diana recently deceased, we witness the new episode’s only memorable line of dialogue. Discussing the details of the transfer of Lady Di’s body from Paris to London, Prince Charles advocates adhering to the current protocol for members of the royal family, even if this is no longer the case. And he sarcastically refutes a reluctant Elizabeth II about one of her staff: “She asked if she would prefer us to take her from Harrods in a van.”
Well, these four episodes, which Netflix has released before the final installment of the series hits our screens in mid-December, have arrived in a van from Harrods. With scripts that don’t do justice to the series, which was exceptional in its first few seasons. Some attribute the show’s recent disregard not to its current low quality, but to the fact that it recounts events that many of us have experienced. We have real life to compare, they say, and we lose.
But we also have fiction to compare. Peter Morgan himself portrayed the events surrounding the death of Lady Di from a much more adult perspective in the extraordinary film “The Queen”. For The Crown, they were just a missed opportunity. Using ghosts to explain subtext is as easy a resource as using a voiceover.
The day Diana died was my sister’s birthday. My mother had gone out to run some errands and when my sister and I got up we found a note: “Happy birthday daughter, I’ll be back soon.” Loves you, your mother. PS: Lady Di has died.” I wish The Crown had lived up to my mother’s standards.
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