King Tony Blair, Kate’s sheer dress and the Queen’s abdication: The Crown’s seven most controversial moments from the final instalment
The final episodes of Netflix spectacle The Crown were released this morning – with more bizarre moments than ever.
After six seasons chronicling the life and times of the Royal Family, the final instalment spans the period from the late 90s to 2005 – covering the deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, Charles and Camilla‘s wedding, and William and Harry reaching adulthood.
Here, Sky News details the seven most controversial moments from the second instalment of the final season.
Warning, spoilers ahead.
King Tony Blair?
The Labour Party as the new Royal Family, Things Can Only Get Better as the national anthem… and Tony Blair as King?
Alas no, it was just Queen Elizabeth‘s dream.
But a bizarre series of events sees the Queen consulting the then-prime minister for advice on how to modernise the monarchy.
Peter Morgan’s show also depicts the Queen being intimidated by Blair’s impressive poll ratings. She commissions research using focus groups on public opinion about the monarchy.
“Historically, I’ve not worried too much about prime ministers’ popularity. It tends to come and go very quickly,” she tells aides in the show.
“But I’ve a feeling that could be different with Mr Blair. People really do seem to love him and see him as a true son of England, and a unifying national symbol in a way they used to see, well, me.”
Tony Blair depicted in The Crown Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix
But when Mr Blair presents his proposed reforms, the Queen is quick to rebuff them. The show depicts his popularity falling shortly afterward.
Princess Margaret’s death
The decline of the Queen’s sister’s health is chronicled in the seventh episode of this season.
It alternates between the present day and the sisters’ joyful celebrations on VE Day in 1945 – including an early morning walk home to Buckingham Palace from a music club after a night of kissing and dancing.
Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret Pic: Daniel Escale/Netflix
As both sisters grapple with their childhood memories, and declining health, the importance of their relationship is highlighted – with the Queen seen reading stories to Margaret and kissing her affectionately.
Margaret faces her demise as she suffers several strokes. She tells her older sister: “I’m not thrilled about [death]. In fact, I’m furious. I’m not ready to leave this particular party.”
And as Margaret’s death is imminent, she promises a young Queen: “I will always be by your side – no matter what.”
Kate Middleton in that dress
After years of scheming by Carole Middleton, and one see-through dress, The Crown shows Kate becoming the object of William’s affections.
Kate Middleton depicted in The Crown Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix
Before this is several months in which she and William become friends – then the young prince pines after the spoken for-Kate.
A break-up and a risque fashion show later, the pair confess their feelings towards each other.
“I’ve always been interested. Bordering on obsessed. To the point where I thought if I couldn’t be with you, I’d sooner not be here at all,” William says.
The pair share a kiss – only to be interrupted by his security guard informing him of the death of the Queen Mother.
Meg Bellamy and Ed McVey as Kate Middleton and Prince William in The Crown Pic: Netflix
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Imelda Staunton portrays Queen Elizabeth II in the hit drama The Crown.
As the relationship progresses, the pair move in together, along with two friends, to a house in St Andrews.
The ghost of Queens past
Both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman return in the final episodes to offer sage, and contradictory, words of wisdom to the older version of the Queen.
Colman – the middle-aged Queen – calls Imelda Staunton’s Queen a “coward” for not telling her husband how she was feeling about planning her funeral.
She urges the older Queen to consider making way for Charles after more than 50 years on the throne.
“Stepping down is the right thing to do. Both as Queen and as a mother,” Colman’s Queen says.
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Four moments from the first instalment of The Crown’s last season
Later, Foy’s Queen implores the older Queen to consider the oath she made at 21.
“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service,” Foy’s Queen reminds her.
“If you step down, you will be symbolising instability and impermanence. You’ll also be indicating the luxury of choice, which is the one thing we cannot have if we claim the Crown is our birthright.”
The aftermath of Diana’s death
As William and Harry struggle with the grief of their mother’s passing, the young heir takes his anger out on his father.
After a months-long stand-off between Charles and William, frustrations reach a boiling point with the teenager blaming his father for Diana‘s death.
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in the sixth and final series of The Crown. Pic: Netflix
He shouted: “She should never have been anywhere near the Fayeds. She should have been safe with us. The fact that she wasn’t is your fault.
“You didn’t actually drive the car but you drove her into the arms of those who did. By making her so unhappy, by loving someone else.
He added: “She still loved you and only wanted to be in the South of France so she would not to be there when you threw a birthday party for the other one.”
Later on, we see the young princes struggle to cope with the police investigation into the Paris car crash which was sparked by Mohamed al Fayed’s conspiratorial claims in the British press.
Harry vs William
The early signs of the current frosty relationship between Princes William and Harry are depicted in the season’s second instalment.
From bickering over the death of their mother, to the acceptance of Charles and Camilla’s relationship – the tensions between the heir and the spare emerge early on.
Prince Harry and Prince William in The Crown Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix
But it culminates in the Queen asking Prince William to look out for Harry – after a photograph of him wearing a swastika to a fancy dress party makes the front pages of the newspapers.
“Be kind to him,” the Queen says to William. “In many ways, it’s harder being number two than number one. The system protects number one. Number two tends to…”
“Go mad,” William interrupts.
“I was going to say, ‘need extra care and attention’,” the Queen replies.
The Queen abdicating… and the end of the monarchy?
As both the Queen and Prince Philip are forced to plan out their funeral, their minds wander towards the future.
Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce and the Queen and Prince Philip in The Crown Pic: Netflix
The Queen appears to contemplate abdicating the throne, with speculation mounting over a top-secret speech she is due to deliver at Charles and Camilla’s wedding.
Instead, she appears to skip several cards on which her speech is written at the reception and decides to stay on.
But that doesn’t stop Prince Philip from predicting the end of the monarchy.
In the final scene of the series, he tells Elizabeth: “The system makes no sense anymore to those outside it, nor to those of us inside it.
“We’re a dying breed, you and I. Oh, I’m sure everyone will carry on, pretending all is well. But the party’s over.”
Coach tickets to Glastonbury 2025 were sold out in half an hour, organisers have said, as they roll out a new booking system for festivalgoers.
They were the first group of tickets to be sold for the world-famous festival in Somerset, which is set to take place between 25 and 29 June.
This year, fans navigated a new system to buy the tickets as they were “randomly assigned a place in a queue” instead of having to refresh the holding page once they went live.
The organisers said in a post on X: “The Glastonbury 2025 tickets + coach travel which were on sale this evening have now all been sold.
“Our thanks to everyone who bought one.”
They added that National Express services would be available to bring festivalgoers from across the country to Glastonbury.
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Standard tickets will go on sale on Sunday at 9am. Last year they were sold out within an hour.
See Tickets said in a post on X that “confirmation emails are going out now to everyone who got @Glastonbury coach tickets this evening”.
Tickets for the annual event at Worthy Farm in Somerset cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, and are sold exclusively through the See Tickets website, with no third-party sellers involved.
The new ticket system has changed the way people join the booking system.
Organisers previously warned hopefuls to log in “at least a few minutes” before the sale opened today and to avoid refreshing the page.
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Festivalgoers were also told not to attempt to game the system by using multiple devices.
The sale follows chaos earlier this year when tickets for the Oasis reunion went on sale, seeing a multitude of disappointed fans as well as those who felt cheated after being charged hundreds of pounds more for their tickets than was originally advertised.
Anyone wishing to buy tickets for Glastonbury must have registered by 11 November, a rule in place to avoid touting.
Entertainment
Christmas adverts – the 10 most-anticipated ads as the festive battle for customers commences
With just under six weeks to go to Christmas Day, the countdown has officially begun, with all the big brands rolling out their seasonal adverts.
Becoming something of an institution over recent years, many see the festive ads as the starting pistol for their Christmas preparation/panic, despite us only being halfway through November.
And with an estimated £10.5bn spent on this year’s Xmas ads, it’s not just about inducing a fuzzy warm feeling in viewers, but also about encouraging them to put their hand in their pocket.
As we brace ourselves for festive fun, we take a swift look at this year’s bevvy of commercial offerings, as the annual battle of the Christmas adverts begins.
John Lewis
A girl called Sally falls into a clothes rack reminiscent of CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, but instead of finding Narnia, she ends up in John Lewis.
Pic: PA
Through family flashbacks we lean how much she loves her older sister, whose gift she has carelessly left it to the last minute to buy. Spoiler alert – as one would expect in an advert for a retailer, she finds a pressie.
With the retailer famous for its use of cover versions in their Christmas ads, this one is the origin story for a new cover, with a concurrent competition on TikTok to find an aspiring artist to rerecord a version, which will be featured on the Christmas Day airing and released by record label BMG too.
Waitrose
Marketed as a whodunnit – this big-budget production has a host of celebrity cameos, an intricate storyline and not one but two parts.
Pic: Waitrose
Comedian Joe Wilkinson, Fleabag star Sian Clifford and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen all have a role in the ensemble, revolving around hunting down the thief of a “chilled desert”.
Being Christmas, when tensions are traditionally high, everyone has reason to have scoffed it. The culprit won’t be revealed until the second part of the ad is released, but in the meantime, activity at Kings Cross Station, in stores and on social media is set to keep the investigation very much alive.
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s goes big for its advert, calling on a beloved Roald Dahl character – the BFG, or Big Friendly Giant – to travel the country with a supermarket worker called Sophie (who pleasingly is a real store employee) in the search for the perfect festive treats.
Pic: Sainsbury’s
A CGI BFG procures salmon, sprouts and cheese before a bit of magic helps him whip it all up into a feast, which he then gifts to an unsuspecting family through the window.
The first ones to release their ad earlier this month, the dulcet tones of national treasure Stephen Fry wrap the action, with a call to arms to stock up in readiness for Christmas.
M&S
Another national treasure – Dawn French – is back for this one, playing both herself and a festive fairy, who gives both French and her home a make-over ready for a Christmas soiree.
Pic: PA
French, whose multi-Christmas-dinner eating antics on The Vicar Of Dibley put her into the Xmas annals, is transformed into “the quintessential hostess” with a bit of help from her little friend.
Banking on the idea that you can never have enough of a good thing, there are six instalments of the advert running between now and the New Year. Who doesn’t like a second – or sixth – helping.
Lidl
This one pulls on the heartstrings, with a little girl inspired to give a gift to a boy who appears not to have any, after an old lady gives her some magic bells.
Pic: Lidl
Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (he directed The King’s Speech), a CGI racoon and giant gingerbread man add a little action to events around the dinner table.
But the take home message is to think about giving as well as receiving, with the return of the retailer’s toy banks scheme set up at supermarkets with the aim of donating over 100,000 toys, to ensure no child experiences a giftless Christmas.
Aldi
Kevin the Carrot is back for a ninth year running, this time trying to save the Christmas spirit from a bunch of hard-boiled humbug villains.
Pic: Aldi
With the ad narrated by actor Jim Broadbent, our plucky hero braves an oven, a Mission Impossible-inspired ventilation system and Bond-esque snow jet-ski dash across the mountains, all to save Christmas.
Helped by his wife Katie, he of course pulls it off. A fan favourite, soft toys of the root vegetable are sold in stores, and this year cuddly humbugs are on sale too.
Morrisons
It’s a song and dance number from Morrisons, courtesy of their singing oven gloves performing Bugsy Malone’s You Give A Little Love.
Pic: Morrisons
A choir of 26 Morrisons employees gave voice to the gloves, recording their rendition of the song at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London.
Like Lidl, the retailer pulled out the directing big guns, hiring The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey to oversee proceedings.
Asda
Bagging the prize for the most gnome puns in one advert, Asda sees a flash mob of gnomes preparing the store for Christmas.
Pic: Asda
The resulting advert isn’t as irritating as it sounds on paper, thanks to nice performances by the two human characters in the ad – Maggie and Bill.
And as we know, Christmas is all about the merchandise, so the supermarkets are of course selling special Xmas versions of their garden gnomes to accompany their already 50-strong gnome range. Who knew?
Tesco
Tesco reminds us of those members of the family who are no longer here to join us on the big day, with a man carrying on his late grandmother’s festive tradition of baking gingerbread.
Pic: Tesco
He becomes obsessed with the spicy treat, as it infiltrates every part of his day from his haircut to a trip to see the Christmas lights.
He eventually gets together with his grandad to bake a gingerbread house, revealing it to the family at lunch, thus keeping the tradition alive.
Greggs
And in the most unlikely festive cameo of the year, Greggs has enlisted Nigella Lawson to star in its first Christmas ad.
Pic: PA
Rapturously endorsing their festive bakes, Lawson has her hands full of pasties, and her table full of take-away coffees, as she promotes the bakery’s festive-themed fare.
Whether or not you believe the 64-year-old TV chef really tucks into their sausage rolls in real life – the attention-grabbing collaboration looks like a wise move for the chain, whose sales have jumped in recent weeks as it continues its UK expansion.
Entertainment
Paul Mescal says being the star of Gladiator II as it premieres in London is ‘absolutely, wildly overwhelming’
Gladiator II star Paul Mescal has said bringing Sir Ridley Scott’s legacy sequel to the big screen has been a “wildly… overwhelming” experience.
The star was speaking to Sky News on the red carpet at the film’s royal premiere which was attended by His Majesty the King, who had earlier hosted members of the film and TV industry at a Buckingham Palace reception.
When asked about making the move from indie films, like All Of Us Strangers and Aftersun, into one of the most eagerly anticipated films this year, Mescal said: “I’m excited to play with what the audience is expecting of me.”
“The royal audience is one thing… I think we’ve seen how an audience responded to the film, royal or not, and I think we’re excited for people to see it.”
A whole 24 years after Sir Ridley Scott’s Roman blockbuster starring Russell Crowe, Mescal plays Lucius who, much like the original, finds himself trying to win back his freedom after powerful emperors of Rome conquer his home.
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The King greets stars at film and TV event
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With an actual-scale model of the Colosseum built for the production, the film comes with high costs and a lot of hype.
“I’m struggling with words at the moment,” Mescal admitted, taking in the occasion, having come from the champagne reception at Buckingham Palace.
“This has been an absolutely, wildly – I keep using the word overwhelming – but I think if this isn’t slightly overwhelming then I don’t know what the hell is. I’m having a great time.”
Sir Ridley explained his reason for casting Mescal was that he saw aspects of “a young Albert Finney” in him.
While the pressure is on for the sequel to do well at the box office, the director said he’s learnt how to deal with the weight of expectations over the years.
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“Any film of [this] scale, it doesn’t matter how we play it down, it’s colossally stressful. You better embrace stress or don’t do the job.”
Before heading to the premiere, the King welcomed directors, actors, TV presenters, stunt performers and costume designers at the palace to mark the centenary of the Film and TV Charity, of which Charles has become patron.
Sir Ridley, actor Joseph Fiennes, actress India Amarteifio from the hit Netflix show Queen Charlotte, and TV presenter Claudia Winkleman were among the celebrities who attended the event.
Gladiator II is in cinemas on 15 November.
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