Take a bow: Crown Season 6 concludes by transcending time and saluting the reign of Queen Elizabeth II
Netflix’s worldwide hit, The Crown, concluded with its 6th and final season amongst mixed reactions. With some terming the final season’s conclusion as anticlimactic end to a promising series, some took solace that it reflected on the late Queen’s commitment to public service, which is a perfect way to end this cinematic poetry.
However, to someone like me, who closely watched the Queen from a historical and political perspective, both these explanations do not suffice.
Whereas from artistic point of view, season 6 lacked any surprise element which made it somewhat bland as compared to its previous seasons and the season’s ending on Queen’s commitment to continuity is also something which was quite predictable (since it concludes in 2005 whereas the Queen reigned till 2022).
Considerable focus on the last episode of the season would explain why this is a true masterpiece.
Episode 10 named – ‘Sleep, Dearie Sleep’ begins with the Queen granting Prince Charles (present King Charles III) permission to marry Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles (later Duchess of Cornwall and presently the Queen consort) and deciding on the details of her own funeral. From the audience’s perspective, the Queen planning her funeral struck a sombre note and teleported us back to that fateful day of 8th September 2022 (a day before my 26th Birthday) when Britain’s longest reigning monarch died at the age of 96 in Balmoral, Scotland.
Back to the series, the episode continues with the Queen reflecting upon her age (she’s 80 by then -2005) and the frustration the Prince of Wales is under due to the lack of any substantial role to play. She then contemplates abdicating in favour of Prince Charles and passing on the throne to him while he is still in his prime (much like what Queen Margrethe II of Denmark would do by abdicating the throne in favour of her son Crown Prince Frederik on 14th January 2024). But as she prepares to make the announcement at Prince Charles’ wedding reception, she contemplates herself in conversation with her younger selves, with Olivia Coleman and the ever-fabulous Claire Foy, who argue with her on the pros and cons of such a decision. With the Queen finally deciding on acting on her promise of ‘Life Long Service to the Crown’, and not abdicating, the audience are let into the inner world of the Queen, who as Princess Elizabeth, never had a chance to lead a normal life – as a wife, mother and a woman.
At this time, the audience are forced to divert their minds to the fact that Queen Elizabeth was also, at one time, just Elizabeth and the early death of her father, King George VI entrusted upon her a lifetime duty of serving the Crown and the Country. This is brilliantly motivated by the portrayal of the scene where the Queen watches old footage of her childhood, including the death of her father and her own coronation
Unlike politicians, she, just not had the liberty to retire, she must go until her last breath, irrespective of her age, desires or circumstances, which is exactly what she did.
But the centrepiece of the episode, that transcended not only time but our hearts was the scene where the Queen goes to the St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle to pray and after a while, she contemplates her coffin lying at the altar, fixed with honours of the state. Just as she overlooks the coffin before going out of the chapel, a young Princess Elizabeth appears from behind the altar. She is wearing the uniform of the Auxiliary Territorial Force, a women regiment of the British Army, in which the Princess served during World War II. As this young Princess sees the Queen, she salutes the sovereign which is a testimony of a young Elizabeth signifying that ‘Queen Elizabeth’, her older self, has done a good job. It is also a symbolic salute in which the Queen breathes in the fact that Elizabeth Windsor has forever gone and it is her role as Queen Elizabeth II which she has to fulfil for the rest of her life. This scene is preceded by a previous one in which the Queen, conversing with a younger version of herself says – ‘What about the life I put aside, the Women, I put aside?’ to which the young queen replies – there is no Elizabeth Windsor now, as she has long gone. For a long time now, there has only been one Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth.
Back to the scene, the Queen takes salute from her younger self, and walks through the grand and empty halls of the chapel towards the enlightened door which shuts on the audience and the season ends. Through this scene, Peter Morgan has successfully signified the long reign of the Queen through her long walk; her death by the shutting of the chapel door; her position as monarch through her walking alone and her faith through her presence in the chapel. This magnus opus therefore does justice to the magnificent reign we all witnessed likes of both of which, we shall never see again.
Very well penned, Aditya!