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Posted

I'd heard the the Crown was not historically accurate, so I didn't want to watch it. But seeing now how long it's been running and all of the awards it receives, I'm wondering: did I get bad info?

So what do you think: is the Crown accurate or not?

If you want to share any shows you love, I'm all ears!

Posted (edited)

There is so much fiction in the crown . . . For starters - queen mum and lord mountbatten despised each other.  (they never would have conspired together about anything.)

there are a host of articles out there about the inaccuracies of things *which were public*.  (so, not just the "behind the scenes".)

 

Things I'd recommnend.. . 

 

Victorian Farmhouse.   what happens when a historian, an archeologist, and I don't recall the other's specialty go live on a Victorian farm for a year.  It's on amazon.  Very educational too.

I really liked the Victorian Christmas- they came back and did a three parter in the big house.   But it's now on another service you have to pay for - though amazon is deceiving.

We just started watching their medieval castle.   It's in france, where there has been a project going for a number of years to build a castle using ONLY medieval tools.

Edited by gardenmom5
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Posted
33 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

There is so much fiction in the crown . . . For starters - queen mum and lord mountbatten despised each other.  (they never would have conspired together about anything.)

there are a host of articles out there about the inaccuracies of things *which were public*.  (so, not just the "behind the scenes".)

 

Things I'd recommnend.. . 

 

Victorian Farmhouse.   what happens when a historian, an archeologist, and I don't recall the other's specialty go live on a Victorian farm for a year.  It's on amazon.  Very educational too.

I really liked the Victorian Christmas- they came back and did a three parter in the big house.   But it's now on another service you have to pay for - though amazon is deceiving.

We just started watching their medieval castle.   It's in france, where there has been a project going for a number of years to build a castle using ONLY medieval tools.

Now I'm wondering why the Queen Mum and Mounbatten hated each other?? Do you know?

This list is awesome!! Thank you!!

 

Posted (edited)
56 minutes ago, Alicia64 said:

Now I'm wondering why the Queen Mum and Mounbatten hated each other?? Do you know?

This list is awesome!! Thank you!!

 

I don't remember everything.  Lord Mountbattan was Philip's uncle.  They had very different ideas.  

One "behind the scenes" snippet I happen to believe was probably reasonably accurate - the mockery of the queen mum towards Princess Alice in her nun's habit at Elizabeth and Philip's wedding.  Philip has made a number of comments over the years about the condescension he was treated to by the courtiers when he arrived.  It got so bad he finally came back with "my mother was born in Windsor castle" just to shut them up.

I've read up on Princess Alice (she's buried in Israel, she harbored Jews during WWII) - frankly, I think she was a much better woman than the queen mum. 

eta: it IS known that during her lifetime, HM had to pay off her mother's debts.   

Edited by gardenmom5
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Posted
1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

Things I'd recommnend.. . 

 

Victorian Farmhouse.   what happens when a historian, an archeologist, and I don't recall the other's specialty go live on a Victorian farm for a year.  It's on amazon.  Very educational too.

I really liked the Victorian Christmas- they came back and did a three parter in the big house.   But it's now on another service you have to pay for - though amazon is deceiving.

We just started watching their medieval castle.   It's in france, where there has been a project going for a number of years to build a castle using ONLY medieval tools.

I have watched all of these for free on youtube. They may get taken down for a while but seem to reappear regularly.

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Posted
32 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

Philip has made a number of comments over the years about the condescension he was treated to by the courtiers when he arrived.  It got so bad he finally came back with "my mother was born in Windsor castle" just to shut them up.

I've read up on Princess Alice (she's buried in Israel, she harbored Jews during WWII) - frankly, I think she was a much better woman than the queen mum. 

eta: it IS known that during her lifetime, HM had to pay off her mother's debts.   

Originally when I first started watching, I saw this episode. I agree that it makes total sense that the locals weren't welcoming of Princess Alice. She sounds amazing.

Posted
13 minutes ago, Alicia64 said:

Originally when I first started watching, I saw this episode. I agree that it makes total sense that the locals weren't welcoming of Princess Alice. She sounds amazing.

They weren't welcoming to Philip.  Princess Alice was born in Windsor Castle.

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Posted (edited)

A lot of shows aren't historically accurate but are still enjoyable (Downton Abbey and The Medici for ex.). Don't watch The Crown as a documentary. Watch and episode or two and if you like it keep watching. But keep watching with the knowledge that it's entertainment, not history. 

Edited by Lady Florida.
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Posted

I found it helpful to find a summaries of events as they happened as I watched the Crown.   I used a variety of sources and ended up listening to some related historic podcasts and audio books and watching some documentaries.  I totally agree that especially the interpersonal relationships/interactions can't really be known, they are definitely extrapolating.  They also left out some potentially very interesting storylines. 

That said, I learned a lot more about this period of English history and it's background  than I would have had I not watched the Crown and the production value is very high (I love good costuming, set design, etc).  I enjoyed it very much.  But it's certainly not a documentary

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Posted
15 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

A lot of shows aren't historically accurate but are still enjoyable (Downton Abbey and The Medici for ex.). Don't watch The Crown as a documentary. Watch and episode or two and if you like it keep watching. But keep watching with the knowledge that it's entertainment, not history. 

yes - it's remarkable how much accuracy there is in "The King's Speech" - but Lionel never called him Bertie, and they weren't "friends".

The queen mum requested the movie not be made during her lifetime - it was too painful a subject for her.  During production, Lionel's grandson found the records his grandfather kept of his treatment of George VI.  That information was used.  They're sorry the speech therapy techniques he actually used were never recorded.

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Posted (edited)
54 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

I know lots of useless information about the BRF, starting from Queen Mary, but I am constantly startled by how much new is uncovered in each episode. Every season I wake up early and watch, starting at 6am to binge watch because I have a little girl who loves to watch shows with me, but some of it is very much not age appropriate for her. Anyways, I constantly find myself pausing and googling to see if that really happened. 

Some of my most favorite scenes did not happen like did Churchill really hide his stroke from the Queen and call it a cold ? It follows a marvelous dressing down from the Queen where she starts to become Monarch, Elizabeth Regina and knows her power and position and demands respect due to her position and not being looked down upon for her age or gender. The Queen knew, Press and Parliament did not according to google. But the letter the Queen wrote to Churchill on his resignation is almost a word for word.

Another scene that made me google was, Did Queen Mary do a full curtsey to the young Queen Elizabeth in front of courtiers, officials and the Royals to drive home to the Queen that she was really that. That scene is such a marvelous scene to me, an old Queen and grandmother who a young Princess has spent her entire life curtesying finally believes that she is Queen when she sees roles reversed. Did not happen. 

These make the humans behind the scene more real. 

But they do bring a lot of historical events like the Duke and Duchess of  Windsor meeting Hitler. It is sobering to see the real photos in the credits. Prince Charles being invested as Prince of Wales. They pay great attention to costume and that makes it more real and most of all the acting.

I would say thus much of it is history and it did happen, but they also put a spin on it. 

 

Wow! You know your stuff. Now I'm looking up the Duke and Duchess meeting Hitler.

Thank you!!

Edited by Alicia64
Posted
1 hour ago, Dreamergal said:

My grandmother grew up in Colonial India (When Britain colonized India) and Queen Mary was crowned Empress when she was a little girl. So she had all these books about the BRF I used to love looking at. 

My feelings about the BRF are complicated, but because much of my country of origin's history for over 200 years before 1947 is tied to England and the BRF were the figurehead, we studied about them in history class.

Also, we are known as what is called a Commonwealth country (54 Former British Colonies) with the Queen as the head. So all the royals pretty much visit a lot officially and unofficially (they go to the Ayurvedic Spas).

All this to say, lots of useless knowledge stored which comes in handy while watching the Crown, but even then they surprise me. 🤣

 

You would so interesting to have coffee with!!

Thank you!

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