The final episode of The Crown will reunite all three actresses who played Queen Elizabeth II as the series goes out with a bang.
Netflix’s royal drama, which concludes today after six series (and several controversies) will bring Imelda Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth face-to-face with versions of herself from days gone by (played by Olivia Colman and Claire Foy).
The streaming giant has revealed little about how the three Queens will interact and what the context will be for their meeting – but a photo shared ahead of the final episodes streaming suggests it may be a reflective moment as the monarch looks back on her decades-long reign.
It will come as the second half of the series dramatises royal events in recent memory, such as King Charles and Queen Camilla’s wedding in 2005.
The episodes will also dramatise William and Kate’s love story after they met at St Andrews University in the early 2000s.
The second half of the final series is set a few years after the first four episodes of series six – which covered the last summer of Princess Diana’s life.
Featuring the late royal spending the summer in St Tropez with Dodi Fayed, the episodes did not show the fatal car crash which killed the pair.
However, it did go as far as showing the car drive into the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in the French capital, while playing an audio of the crash.
In a decision which caused outfry among some royal fans, the episodes also featured appearances from the ‘ghost’ of Diana, who appears as a redemptive character.
The ethereal character speaks to Charles as he flies home from Paris after collecting her body and the pair share a conversation in which each absolves the other of their behaviour during their acrimonious separation and divorce.
She appears again as Queen Elizabeth ponders her public response to Diana’s death – and is positioned as the reason the monarch changed her mind about making a public statement of grief amid growing public anger at her silence.
Part two of series six of The Crown will see Ed McVey take over from Rufus Kampa as Prince William, as the episodes depict William reaching adolescence on the world stage.
It will also depict his romance with Kate Middleton, played by Meg Bellamy – and will cover the moment said to have changed everything in the course of their love story – the charity fashion show at university where Kate donned a see-through dress, which caught the young prince’s attention.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
