The Crown‘s third season is shaping up to be something truly special. Taking place in the mid-1960s and running right up until some time in the late 1970s, this will be the second of three instances that the show recasts its characters as the decades pass for the Royal family. And damn, what a cast they’ve got cooked up. The jewel in the uh, crown, is clearly Olivia Colman’s Elizabeth, but I can’t wait to see Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret and Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher.
Now, in what’s got to be a hint of the drama to come, we’ve got our very first look at Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker Bowles thanks to the set photo down below. Camilla was famously Prince Charles’ first love. They met in 1971, so smack bang in the middle of the third season, and were immediately smitten. But, it took another thirty years for them to get married, with the tiny matter of Charles getting married to Diana throwing a bit of a spanner in the works.
Camilla isn’t exactly liked very much in the UK, so it’ll be interesting to see how Fennell and The Crown team portray her. Perhaps she might even get a bit of an image rehabilitation as a result?
One thing we’re probably not going to see much of in the third season is Diana. Her and Charles first met in late 1977 when she was only 16. This was the same year as the Queen’s silver jubilee, which sounds like a decent season finale to me. I still reckon we’ll meet her though, but perhaps only as a tease to get audiences excited for what’s coming in season 4 (which will keep the same cast).
In any case, I never thought I’d enjoy a slow moving and opulent British drama like The Crown. Despite thinking that the Royal Family is a ridiculous, outdated institution that should be abolished immediately, I’m actually kinda hooked on the show and simply cannot wait for season 3 to arrive later this year.
