The Crown Season 3: Aging and Changing Times
Season three of The Crown opens up with a middle-aged Queen Elizabeth being asked to approve of a stamp that features an image of her when she was first on the throne. Claire Foy's youthful self appears and the profiles of the two queens side by side on the stamps appear. Olivia Colman's Elizabeth acknowledges the change and makes a comment about getting older and getting on with it. Elizabeth's disappointment with getting older sets up the period that creator Peter Morgan decides to focus on.
The third installment of Netflix's The Crown follows the royal family in the 1960s as the British economy is stagnating, Great British is a receding superpower, and the public has started to rage against the family. The monarchy was being called out for its tax-funded spending by many of the poor citizens. The royal family made an attempt to seem relatable with the BBC documentary but it didn't work in their favor. This season exemplifies the royals are out of step with the times and have become aware of it. The third season is unlike the first two in that it tackles the challenge of the royal's inability to adapt to changing times.
This season the original cast was swapped out for the older years of the royal family with Olivia Colman at the center as Queen Elizabeth. Colman brings complexity to Elizabeth and plays her as someone who has lived and learned, Tobias Menzies disappears into Prince Phillip and Helena Bohem Carter as Princess Margaret is fun and entertaining. The show also introduces the teenage versions of Prince Charles and Princess Anne who are struggling to balance being royal with being actual people. Prince Phillip is still working towards making his own path in the family and Princess Margaret feels useless and furious with her life. Carter's Margaret is heartbreaking and enjoyable to watch especially when she meets President Johnson. The performances have improved from the previous two seasons with this new cast that brings refreshing takes on the royal family. The newcomers of Charles and Anne both give standout performances and capture the attention of audiences.
The men of the series steal the spotlight with emotional performances. The scenes with Prince Charles are an attempt at this by making him the warmest family member with those around him forbidding him from speaking his mind or doing things he wants to do. Charles wants to go to college and pursue theater with a budding romance while the country is watching him. The episode where he has to travel to Wales to learn Welsh culture as he is about to be Prince of Wales is very touching and continues to portray Charles as naive and soft. Then there is Prince Phillip who has a midlife crisis after watching Apollo 11 astronauts walk on the moon. He has the constant conflict on finding his path and at this point he realizes he is getting older and can't do things like be an astronaut or be in the military anymore. Phillip comes to terms with the insignificance of his own accomplishments.
This season is muted with smaller crises that are not related to Elizabeth's power as a figurehead. It is instead focused on the aging royals realizing that this is what the rest of their life will look like. The next-generation royals are beginning to enter the lives they did not choose to have. Episodes explore what the royals wish they would be doing like Elizabeth's wish to ride horses and Charles as an actor. Colman and Menzies are the perfect actors for questioning the meanings of their disappointments. This version of Elizabeth is more vulnerable and becomes more opaque to those around her.
Peter Morgan explores the royals being ingrained in tradition but can't manage to understand or fit in with changing times that is an evolved world. The series offers a light into the life of the privileged during key moments in Elizabeth's life that allows audiences to gain a better understanding of the family and their personalities behind closed doors. There is no thrill for Elizabeth or the royal family at this time but instead a complicated transition they must handle.