Ahh, another regal season of The Crown! It’s amazing that we’ve all survived an entire quarantine without the show and it’s a thrill now that it’s back. (I’ve spent this whole time writing the script for the season of The Crown that tackles the present day and the positive Covid diagnoses of Princes Charles and William, with a B-plot revolving around Harry and Meghan’s escape to Santa Barbara. Feel free to @ me for the beat sheet. Harry is played by Ed Sheeran in my version.) A heart welcome back to the Sovereign. And now, on to the premiere.
The position of Gold Stick, for which the first episode of season 4 of The Crown is named, was one held by Lord Louis Mountbatten, and is a bodyguard and security detail position, one who protects the Sovereign at ceremonial events. Mountbatten, who was integral to so many personal and political decisions within the royal family for decades, is the focal point of the episode, with his death defining the trajectory of his family and his country as the 1980s begin. But before we get to that breathtaking, tense moment of his murder, let me back up.
The episode begins with images of Irish unrest as the result of Britain’s occupation in Ireland. It’s the middle of The Troubles and the Irish – in particular the Irish Republican Army and nationalist protesters – have been battling British security forces bent on maintaining a stronghold in Northern Ireland. This unrest is juxtaposed with Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman) preparing for the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony, flanked by her son, Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor), husband Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies), and Lord Louis Mountbatten (Charles Dance), her trusty Gold Stick.
The decadent celebration in London is an obvious contrast to the rioting and unrest in Ireland, and Mountbatten’s participation in the festivities is symbolic of his stature with the royals. It’s all very “let them eat soda bread,” with fighter jets spewing the colors of the Union Jack as the cherry on top of the imperial sundae.
After the celebration in London, the royal family gathers to discuss the most important matter of all, Charles’ love life.
The simultaneously sip and spill tea as they go through the laundry list of women he’s dated, from Sabrina Guinness, heir to the Guinness fortune, to Sarah Spencer (a relationship that would fizzle out after Sarah would give a public interview stating that she wouldn’t marry Charles “if he were the dustman or the King of England”). Spencer’s public remarks would create tension in her relationship with Charles, but their relationship propelled him to seek out her sister Diana after meeting her when she was dressed as a wood nymph for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Diana (Emma Corrin) peeks at Charles through the potted trees of Sandringham, her family home, a mere teenager at age 16 (the show takes some liberties with the timeline), and the number of close-ups of Corrin’s masked face really hammers home the fact that this fairy Diana just might be the original manic-pixie-dreamgirl, and it’s no wonder Charles is taken with her.
Diana’s not the only new girl in town this season. Have you guys met the Queen’s new friend Maggie Thatcher? She’s one of those women who’s like, “I don’t have any female friends,” but it’s also that kind of attitude that got her elected Prime Minister so…
The Queen seems chuffed that a woman has gained control of the government and, after Thatcher’s election, the two finally meet to play one of the Queen’s favorite games, “Who’s In Ya Cabinet?” The Queen explains to Thatcher, played gloriously and stuffily by Gillian Anderson, that upon a Prime Minister’s election, she likes to guess who will be installed in the Minister’s cabinet, and goes right ahead guessing names. Thatcher, impressed by the Queen’s interest in politics, appreciates the discourse. But as we’ve mentioned, Thatcher’s not a girl’s girl, and explains that she’ll never bring a woman into her cabinet because women are too emotional. Bitches be crazy, basically. (“Two menopausal women! That’ll be a smooth ride,” Thatcher’s husband comments when he hears about Thatcher’s meeting with the Queen.) The episode features the running theme that women are hormonal, shrill harpies and good luck with that kind of leadership, England! Which is actually the kind of commentary and criticism that Thatcher had to deal with for her entire Premiership.
So. Now that we’ve met our two new cast members, let’s get rid of an old one, shall we?
The most tense sequence of the episode is the one where everyone is hunting and fishing. Over three separate scenes, we see Charles fly fishing in Iceland, Elizabeth and Philip hunting game in Scotland, and Mountbatten on his lobster boat near his home in coastal Ireland. Mountbatten has just gotten off the phone with Charles, having chastised him for continuing an illicit dalliance with Camilla Parker Bowles who is now married, and telling him he should find a nice, sweet girl to settle down with, so Charles is understandably annoyed by his grandfather figure, which will make his impending demise all the more bitter.
If you’re unfamiliar with the manner in which Mountbatten died in real life, the scene builds uncomfortably as Charles guts a bloody fish by a river, while gunshots are fired at unsuspecting game birds as they pile up in the woods outside Balmoral Castle, each little creature’s death building up to the moment when the most dangerous game of all is finally hunted. As someone who is not up on all her royal assassination history, I had no idea what was coming. The gunshots and uneasy, slow build of it all masterfully conveyed a sense of dread, but I wasn’t expecting the explosion of his fishing boat, shot from beneath the water as he tosses a lobster back to the sea. Hot tomalley, indeed!
Mountbatten’s intimacy with the royal family and his symbolic role as advisor to them (and the fact that he continued to enjoy vacations at his castle in Ireland) made him a perfect target to send a message from the Provisional IRA to the British that unless Britain pulled back their troops, the government and the monarchy itself would be vulnerable to further attack.
After Mountbatten’s death, Charles receives a letter from him, penned just before he died, telling him what a disappointment he is in life and in matters of the heart, and how he’ll bringing the family to ruin by chasing Camilla, and he needs to find a woman with whom he can build a life, “one that people will love as a princess and, in due course as a queen.” And with that, the courtship of Charles and Diana begins.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Western Mass. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
Watch The Crown Season 4 Episode 1 (“Gold Stick”) on Netflix
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