“Gold Stick” then jumps ahead a few months to the major historical event that would rock the royal family - and, as The Crown tells it, guilt Charles into doing his princely duty as heir to the throne once and for all. (I am in no way saying I’m a Thatcher fan here, but what I wouldn’t give to see her put Donald Trump in his place.) She informs the queen that she has “found women in general not to be suited to high office,” before delivering what may be the most groan-worthy reference of the season: “They become too emotional.”
Thing is, as you’ll undoubtedly see this season (or if you’ve read any books on British history), he’s not wrong in his assessment of the new prime minister, especially when he mentions that her approach could prove “dangerous.” After Thatcher arrives at Buckingham Palace to kiss hands with the queen, she solidifies her unlikability not just with the sovereign, but the entire Crown audience by stating her overall contempt for the members of her gender. “That’s the last thing this country needs - two women running the show,” he sniffs, before dismissing Thatcher as a “shopkeeper’s daughter” with a “self-opinionated attitude.”Įlizabeth is all, “Pot calling the kettle black, much, Phil?” Although Elizabeth is initially excited to work with Thatcher, the ever-reliably chauvinistic Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) throws a large bucket of cold water on his wife’s feminist spark. It’s now the May 1979 general election, and the imperious Conservative Party leader has become the first woman to serve as the United Kingdom’s prime minister. The first post-credits scene in “Gold Stick” wastes no time in introducing the other pivotal female character of the season, Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson, doing a better Iron Lady than, gasp! Meryl). But it was during a shooting party at the Spencer family estate, and Diana was decked out in boring old hunting attire, rather than a whimsical woodland costume. According to Andrew Morton’s book, Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words, the Prince of Wales met his future wife while he was dating Diana’s older sister, Sarah - which is depicted in the episode - in late 1977. But then again, production on this season wrapped before COVID-19 turned the world into a dumpster fire, so I can’t be too angry at that ridiculous Midsummer Night’s Dream–meets–Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet first meeting between Charles and a 16-year-old Lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin).įact-checking side note: While the majority of “Gold Stick” takes place in 1979, the cold open seems to be set in 1977, in order to get the Charles/Diana meeting out of the way. Since it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that this season places the most disastrous royal marriage in history at the forefront, I’d like to think we as Crown fans are steeled for the drama before us.
Through the queen’s children, we’re starting to see the real cracks in the façade - as many of us who are of a certain age did when these royal family dramas played out in real time. Queen Elizabeth II (the always-exquisite Olivia Colman), remains steadfast as the head of state and of the Windsor family, but also demonstrates that she’s learned very little when it comes to matters of the heart. This season of The Crown, even more so than the previous ones, is all about the repercussions of the repressive system that powers the royal family. Never mind he’s still pining away for Camilla Parker Bowles. No, the royal family does an excellent job of that on its own, remaining blissfully ignorant of the Troubles while concentrating efforts on getting the hovering-at-30 Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor, continuing to make sexy-bashful a thing) married. Sure, on the surface, the first eight minutes of the episode tease us with sumptuous pageantry and a romantic Meet Cute, but it almost doesn’t need that glaringly ominous warning from a faceless Irish Republican Army member to set the depressing tone. The cold open of The Crown’s fourth-season premiere is a fitting one for 2020, because it’s resoundingly bleak.