The historical genre is not an unprecedented concept in the entertainment industry. There are numerous series or films which are dedicated to a historical event of a personality. However, The Crown certainly brought the genre to another level, waking a general enthusiasm towards the British Monarchy. But what possibly made it so efficient? There have been several series on the British Monarchy with Victoria or The Tudors. However, the main characters happen to belong to a past era while The Crown covers a contemporary period, in which its main character, Queen Elizabeth II, is still alive today. But why is it relevant to the series’ success?

Everybody knows Queen Elizabeth II. In the collective consciousness, the Queen is the one the major embodiment of the United Kingdom among Big Ben, tea, The Beatles or London imperial red buses. However, there are few less people who actually know in details the story of the Queen. Most people agree on the fact that she had been reigning over the United Kingdom for a long time but then what? Her person is dehumanized behind the neutral behavior that she has to display in public and thus, nobody is really able to know what could think and feel the Queen.

This is when The Crown becomes interesting. People are enjoying the show because it assumes what happen behind the Buckingham Palace’s walls. Surely, the accuracy in terms of History, clothes and architecture provides a great background scene but what the viewers are rooting for is the drama, the emotions. The Crown depicts the Queen under a new light and connects the historical events to her. As a result, the series brings the audience to have empathy towards the Queen while simultaneously providing an aesthetically pleasing subplot of contemporary history.

To conclude, the British Monarchy became a source of entertaining to the extent that the historical events are popularized and that the Royal Family is approached as any other humans being. Viewers are enjoying the series because it provides a new point of view over the Monarchy. It takes the liberty to dramatize in order to make it more exciting. Overall, one can assume that the goal of the series is not to make it as accurate as possible, because it would be better to look out for a documentary. The Crown is above all a poignant and moving tribute to the Queen.   

ROUSSEAU Marion