“Beryl” (It rhymes with “peril.”)
This episode was a delightful Margaret-a-thon! She goes from sad and lonely to the pit of despair and back up to the hopeful elation of a new relationship. We do get a peek at Elizabeth and Phillip celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary and Prime Minister and Mrs. Macmillian’s…unusual marriage, too, but really? It’s all about Margaret.
Huuuloooo.
There is a secondary storyline about the Macmillans’ relationship status: it’s complicated
Surprisingly, we disagreed on her wardrobe, but agreed that the music was amazing and set the tone as Margaret is miserable at a wedding:
It is a bit wrinkly
When Margaret bottomed out after her engagement was called off:
Lovely dress (especially when it moves) but the end of an engagement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agN7oQYxD3Q
And as Margaret got her groove back!
Nope, he’s not. Well… that’s a discussion for another day.
Margaret was smart to get out of a yoking with ol’ Billy Wallace!
Yes, at duel is a time honored,gentlemanly way to settle a dispute, uh huh, tell us more Billy about how brave you were. (He was totally dragged out of someplace where he had been naked.)
The song that should have been playing but it would be over 50 years before it was written so….
We got to play a couple rounds of Identify the Tiara, but if you want to play at home, here is another place where you can keep up with the jewels of Queen Elizabeth II, From Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault and how does one wear a tiara? What are the rules? Royal Splendor: Tiara Rules
And we picked our most and least favorite outfits.
Beckett (eventually) picked a favorite outfit ( more like she picked a least not-favorite)
Susan loved this one
Beckett’s most least favorite outfit, it does look like a bathrobe.
Susan’s least favorite (the tiara is pretty, though)
Horrendous dress in its very own special category: ET Ugly
Beckett did, at one time, wear a strapless dress. Once. (With Mr. Graham)
“The” Portrait. The Crown’s version of Princess Margaret’s racy birthday portrait is the subject of much debate. Was it an attempt to recreate the actual portrait that Anthony Armstrong-Jones took of her for her 29th birthday or was it a recreation of one he took years later? Here is an article that lays out all the images for you to decide, Mamamia.com. and here is just the 1969 portrait. What it definitely is not is Cecil Beaton’s Fairytale Princess portrait, that one they did pretty well copying (adding the Cartier Halo Tiara.) 
We talked about more of Tony’s work through the many years that he photographed the Royal Family (including ones pre-dating the “meeting” shown in this episode.) There are spoilers about his life here (he photographed them for many years including photos of Charles and Diana) but it’s a nice collection of his work (no strippers, though.) Daily Mail Online Snowden Photography
The art video Beckett was talking about:
In Westminster Abbey by John Betjeman can be found here at All Poetry.
Want to track the very long history of the word “queer”? Dazed Digital
Maybe you want to fall down a history of the space age? NASA has a place for you to start.
When Margaret got to define her own brand with her birthday portrait, the reactions were mixed:
The Queen was not amused
Photo Credit: Netflix ; Stills: The History Chicks, via Netflix
