The Crown Recap : Episode 5, Season 2 : Marionettes

“Marionettes”

Queen Elizabeth and her queenly crowd are going to get dragged into the modern age whether they like it or not. (They don’t.) The dragger in this episode is journalist and editor of the National and English Review, Lord Altrincham. After Her Majesty delivers an insensitive speech with an outdated perspective, Altrincham publishes an article giving examples of EXACTLY how she is living in the past and ways for her to high tail it to the present before she becomes irrelevant and the monarchy dies off.

Yes, like that Elizabeth. Dead. (Metaphorically, of course.)

But he does it out of love. No, really. He WANTS her to improve her image and spends most of the episode convincing her.

Lord Altrincham is victim of a bait and switch.

Of course this rolling-with-the-times theme runs the course of this show, but in this case we get it told by one-off “normal people” characters that really did have an impact on the image of the monarchy.

The real Lord Altrincham

 

Phillip Burbridge, the guy who smacked Altrincham, really did have several medals, here’s his record. National Archives

 

This music would be great to play whenever you do anything wonderful, or simply bring another tuna casserole to the table for dinner. “Alexa, Play Zadok the Priest” (It’s the official coronation music)

Along the way we follow Elizabeth as she gets a new, birth control ‘do…

Take that Phillip, she keeps the hair forevermore!

…as she gives that horrendous speech at the Jaguar factory…

It’s a floating Queen head!

…to her not-normal-people castle…

Balmoral on the left, Not-Balmoral- Ardverkie Estate– on the right. Close enough.

 

… and mucking through in the fields.

In her happy place

We also get to see her making history with her first televised Christmas speech that was one of Lord Altrincham’s suggestions!

HBH dress. Beckett’s least favorite and Susan’s favorite garment

 

Beckett had to look hard to find a favorite outfit

 

Speaking of least favorites, here’s the Brain Hat

 

Always a Best Dressed…and only in one short, very funny scene. We love you Margaret!

 

Dressing the Queen Mum must be so fun! Gloriously Ugly!

You can read the whole of Pilgrim’s Promise online at Project Gutenberg, learn the history of the underground in London and why we didn’t venture into the land of Bagpipe regalia.

To see Altricham’s Impact with Robin Day interview, you have to click on over to Getty Images, but here is Queen Elizabeth meeting Marilyn Monroe.

 

History of the underground in london

 

A man and his hounds

Photo credit: Netflix; Stills: The History Chicks via Netflix