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.”
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
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