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Interesting ? this is coming from not so much a fan of the monarchy.Like a young girl that knows practically nothing about the real world is put in charge of certain parts of a country that claims to be a democracy of some sort????? ThanksDRAMATIC PORTRAYAL OF TODAY’S BRITISH QUEEN Elizabeth II, the focus of this series. Viewers get a look back at history in the making, inside and outside the palace. It is astonishingly well-done, with enough glitter to represent the monarchy, and enough conflict to show the always volatile UK politics. Claire Foy plays the queen, perhaps better than the queen herself. There are liters and meters of outstanding spot-on top acting portrayals of historical figures. Every episode welcomes new characters but with faces previously seen on top British TV series. Way too many super roles played to try to begin mentioning them.One needs not be well informed on British political and monarchy history, but sometimes it helps. It is a show that even Americans can enjoy, a country filled with the bewildered when it comes to understanding Brit lifestyle and parliamentary procedures. Sit back and watch the portrayal in beautiful cinematography of the Queen that rules yet over the British Empire, what remains of it. The only downside is the fact that such a magnificent series, produced by Netflix, failed miserably by providing as bonus only still photos plus one advertisement to buy something else. Regardless, the DVD is worth a tiny piece of the Crown Jewels, because it’s more entertainment than documentary.SDH SUBTITLES provided for all episodes1-Wolferton Splash ==1947. Princess Elizabeth marries. King Geo VI shows health decline as Churchill’s re-upped as Prime Minister.2-Hyde Park Corner ==King Geo nearing death sends Elizabeth & Phillip on tour. Churchill finds foes.3-Windsor ==Flashback 12.10.1936 to King’s bro’s advocating. Then to 1952’s Queen’s reign start.4-Act of God ==Monarchy bi-plane flying lessons. Dec 6, 1952 fog/coal smog hits the holidays. Politics chokes of it, citizens die.5-Smoke and Mirrors ==5.11.1937 flashback to Geo VI’s coronation then planning the next but “with changes” causing riffs. A royal end.6-Gelignite ==Sister Margaret causes the new Q Elisabeth scandal. Crisis of “The Crown.”7-Scientia Potentia Est ==1940 flashback to wartime England, a young Royal Highness being educated to monarchy life. Russian H-bomb.8-Pride & Joy ==Q Elizabeth & Phillip’s 2-week 1953-54 tour leaving Princess Margaret in London playing ruler-wanna-be.9-Assassins ==1954 finds the Queen-couple further at odds; reenter Porchey and his horsey.10-Gloriana ==12.10.1936 flashback when a King informs a brother of advocating. Princess Margaret finds yet another hurdle to romance. Monarchy moves onward into season two.Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary as I write. They must be the best known couple in the world and have become permanent fixtures in many of our imaginations. After 70 years of marriage and 65 years on the throne it might seem that there is little more to know about them. The Crown, a dramatized and highly dramatic depiction of Elizabeth and Philip's early married life is a speculative look into their relationship, because neither has ever answered questions about their private lives. Even so, The Crown is plausible and intriguing.There are 10 episodes in the first season of The Crown, beginning just before the royal marriage in 1947 and lasting until 1955. We see the young Princess Elizabeth and her handsome naval officer husband balancing royal and military duties and starting a family, then suddenly being required to give up any semblance of a private life when King George VI died in 1952. Elizabeth II became Queen at a difficult period for Great Britain. The Empire was fragmenting, the economy stagnating, and world leadership seemed to be slipping away. We see the young Queen finding her footing and learning how to deal with her ministers, especially her first Prime Minister Winston Churchill. At the same time her husband was searching for a role of his own and chafing at the necessity of playing second fiddle to his wife. Any marriage would be stressed by these complications, and the depictions of conflict between the Queen and her husband are plausible. Also looking for new places in the world were the widowed Queen Mother and her younger daughter Princess Margaret. The series does an adroit job depicting those struggles, particularly the ones faced by Margaret, whose wish to marry a divorced man put her and her elder sister at odds. By the last episode we have seen some of these conflicts resolved, but many more await resolution in future seasons.Season One of The Crown is a magnificent production which promises much and amply delivers. I await future seasons with eager anticipation.Good show but difficult to understand due to lack of sub-titlesThe acting is excellent. Insightful, if even 50% truthful the history of the UK Monarchy is interesting. It took several episodes to follow the "Queen's English". Sound issue.This is certainly a beautifully made series and I'd been thoroughly enjoying it until I reached the final episode. In it, The Queen breaks her promise to Princess Margaret that if she waits two years she may marry Group Captain Peter Townsend, who is divorced.When the time is up the Queen refuses to give her permission once again and adds, chillingly, that if Margaret does wed Townsend she will be cast out of the Royal family.I found this rather hard to believe and Googled it.It didn't take much research to ascertain that this never happened. The Queen did indeed maintain her refusal on advice from senior clerics, but she worked out a compromise with Prime Minister Anthony Eden, who is shown, inaccurately, as being opposed to the match. Margaret was told she could marry Townsend on the condition that she give up her right to the accession and that of any descendants.A letter from Princess Margaret to Eden also emerged in 2009 showing that she was actually undecided after the two years about whether or not she still wanted to marry Townsend.When the offer was made to her she decided not to.Instead of telling the truth, the programme makers decided to reinforce the popular perception at the time that the authorities had forced Margaret apart from her ideal match, thereby ruining her life. It's quite clear they did this to give the episode and the first series a nice, dramatic end.I find now that I can't watch the second series. I don't mind them messing around with details as long as the fundamentals are right, but this is not a trivial thing. I wouldn't want to follow the fortunes of a family that behaved like this towards their members and, in that spirit, I don't want to follow a series, however good, that sacrifices such major facts for the sake of drama.Utterly captivating, moving, mesmerising, beautiful. The episode with Churchill as the focus had me in tears at the end. Claire Foy is astoundingly good, a masterpiece of dignity. Possibly one of the finest dramas of its era. And I might add series 2 is just as good but very different. You will never think the same way about the Queen, or the Duke. In fact any respect you may have will be magnified and enhanced. Even an anti-monarchist such as I will never loose the respect for the Queen this reinforces, it makes you realise that nobody can or ever will fill her shoes when the time comes.I bought this for a friend and fellow English teacher and she kindly let me watch it first. I was only planning on watching one or two episodes just to see what the fuss was about, but I watched them all and will be looking out for series 2 on DVD as well. I found it fascinating, and it sent me looking up all sorts of aspects of fairly recent British history which I wouldn't have done otherwise.This is fascinating stuff. You will find yourself wondering how many of the scenes portrayed actually happened and how many are just conjecture. Whatever the case, this is thought provoking stuff. The transformative effect of such responsibility on the Queen must have be immense, and the fact that she inherited this rather than chose to do the job, makes her position all the more fascinating. This series has the potential to significantly change the way you view the Queen and also the institution of the British monarchy as a whole.Expensive looking series, great costumes and sets, good acting IMO and not a sign that I can see of this 'woke'/revisionist history nonsense that is plaguing the media nowadays. Now I ought to say that it is a drama, not a documentary. Because of this the screenwriters have to work around the basic known facts but fill in the details as they see fit. This means that clearly a great deal of the dialogue is an interpretation of what happened. I see nothing wrong with this and can't imagine that there's a practical alternative anyway.There are a good variety of sub-plots - historical characters and events - and the plot is interspersed with flasbacks to earlier times and events - all to put things into context for the viewer.It's all plausible though, to the average viewer with a reasonable knowledge of history and that's the main thing. I also ought to say the casting people have done quite well to make the actors/actresses look like the person they are playing - well done. I liked it well enough to go out and buy Season II !
