WiC Watches: The Crown season 3
Photo: Helena Bonham Carter in The Crown: Season 3.. Image Courtesy Sophie Mutevelian/Netflix
Episode 302: “Margaretology”
The Crown has always shone at dramatizing the sometimes brittle relationship between Queen Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret. In truth, The Crown is one of few such thoughtful examinations on TV of the complex relationships that sisters can share (check out Fleabag on Amazon for another stellar example). In the case of Elizabeth and Margaret, the competing forces of affection and jealousy that many siblings experience are only made much more intense by the scrutiny they face as public figures.
One of the fiercest challenges for Elizabeth in The Crown’s first season saw the young Queen break an important and emotional promise to Margaret. By denying her sister permission to marry a divorced Royal Air Force officer, The Queen put her duty as head of the Church of England above her sister’s personal happiness. For those of us who are fans of both Game of Thrones and The Crown, this was Elizabeth’s “Kill the Boy” moment, where she made a very unpopular decision in service of what she believed was her greater responsibility.
This second episode of season 3 continues the theme of exploring the tension between the dutiful and traditional Elizabeth and her willful and free-spirited younger sister Margaret, and the roles that destiny has assigned to each of them. In “Margaretology,” we get our first extended visit with the Princess, as played now with boozy aplomb by Helena Bonham Carter. The rebelliousness and subtle resentment we saw in Vanessa Kirby’s interpretation of Margaret is still there. Carter’s sublime performance as the now middle-aged Princess adds an appropriate worldweary quality behind the party girl exterior.
In this installment, Margaret and her husband, Tony Armstrong-Jones, embark on a visit to America that finds Margaret lavished with the adoring crowds and glowing press clippings she has always felt she deserved. The marriage between Margaret and Tony as depicted here isn’t without its own jealousies and resentments. Margaret makes a promise to Tony that he will get his turn in the spotlight when they make it to New York for their final tour stop to promote Tony’s book of photography. When duty calls, however, this becomes another broken promise between them.
When American President Lyndon Johnson snubs an important diplomatic overture from Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret and Tony end up breaking their NYC travel plans to visit the White House at the Queen’s command. This is a high-stakes dinner that the British government hopes will result in a financial bailout from the Americans, exactly the kind of delicate mission for which the Queen feels that her sister is entirely unsuited. To everyone’s surprise, Margaret’s sense of fun and irreverence is exactly what’s needed to win over the notoriously crude and egocentric President Johnson. When Margaret wins through and gets Johnson to approve the bailout, it’s a mixed blessing for Elizabeth. Her younger sister has succeeded due to the spontaneity and seemingly effortless charm that Elizabeth lacks. Like last season’s visit from Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth is forced to compare herself to another woman who is seen by many as more dazzling and attractive than the Queen herself.
The episode is bookended by a couple of flashbacks to young Elizabeth and Margaret being schooled on their respective roles by royal aide Tommy Lascelles (nice to see Pip Torrens back for a guest appearance). These visits to the past remind us of the centuries of tradition that are weighing down on the two sisters in every moment of their lives. Their personal desires, preferences and natural inclinations are ultimately irrelevant to the roles they are forced to play in the world. Despite the affection they share, the constraints of their consigned roles will always create a fault line between them.