New York Post - USA (2020-11-15)

New York Post, Sunday, November 15, 2020

nypost.com

“Hosting one of these

events after all New

York has been through

is obnoxious and

irresponsible

— not to

mention

illegal.”

— Gov. Cuomo, after it was

revealed that a Long Island

wedding was responsible for

30 coronavirus infections

his young wife and children as he

shamelessly cavorts with a mistress

and pouts and shouts with abandon.

To millions of viewers, Britain’s next

king suddenly looks less like a nice

boy trying to please his mummy and

more like Henry VIII.

It’s quite a change. Up until now

“The Crown” has been a hugely enter-

taining propaganda machine for the

royal family. Icy Queen Elizabeth II has

been portrayed as a saint committed

to a lifetime of duty for the betterment

of her country, while her husband,

Prince Philip, and sister, Princess Marga-

ret, feel sidelined and search for

greater purpose. Conclusion: The

Windsors, they’re just like us!

“The Crown” creator Peter Mor-

gan has been on the pro-royal train

for awhile now. In 2006, he wrote

“The Queen,” an Oscar-winning

film starring Helen Mirren about

Diana’s untimely death in a 1997 car

crash, and the takeaway from that

tragedy was, “Isn’t Queen Elizabeth

wonderful?”

But no one will be singing Charles’

praises next week. Diana, played by

Emma Corrin, is the sympathetic

one now.

The series details how, on the eve

of his 1981 wedding to Di, the 32-

year-old Charles bought his mis-

tress, Camilla Parker Bowles, a

bracelet engraved with the initials

of their nicknames, Fred and Gladys.

It shows a 20-year-old Diana locking

herself inside her Kensington Palace

bedroom for hours to avoid her un-

feeling new family’s scrutiny. We

witness her vomiting in the toilet

due to her bulimia, and see her drop

a beaming smile the second she

leaves an event to join her loveless

husband in a car.

None of this is breaking news. But

“The Crown” — with its lush cine-

matography and Oscar-winning

stars — is more convincing than a

history book, and viewers are ab-

sorbing the episodes like gospel,

whether true or not. (“Beneath its

enticing veneer, much of it is, in

modern parlance, fake news,” wrote

Alastair Bruce in the Spectator. But

“those falsehoods will be accepted

by many millions of people around

the world as truths.”)

As we watch the couple’s romance

disintegrate in horrifying detail, we

pick a side — Diana’s.

For Charles this is a very real cri-

sis. The UK’s Sun recently reported

that Queen Elizabeth intends to step

down next year at age 95 and hand

the reins to her son. While Bucking-

ham Palace has denied this, the bio-

logical fact is that Charles has never

been closer to his destiny. And now,

just as he’s on the precipice of

clinching the throne during his first

proper period of popularity, it’s be-

ing sullied by a streaming service.

This downturn could unleash a

popular old idea: Skip Charles and

give the top job to Prince William.

The notion had so much momentum

after Wills’ marriage to Kate Middle-

ton in 2011, BBC News wrote an ex-

plainer on whether or not it could

happen. (Answer: Sort of.)

Chatter about Charles being

passed over has recently dulled, but

now with the royals embroiled in

controversy — from Prince An-

drew’s connections to Jeffrey Ep-

stein to Harry and Meghan relin-

quishing most duties — more bad

press is the last thing the queen

needs. If “The Crown” leads to an

outpouring of anti-Charles senti-

ment, perhaps she will start giving

renewed thought to the idea of a

King William.

Or at least until “The Crown” cov-

ers the war between Will and Harry

in 2025.

Johnny Oleksinski is the New York Post’s

entertainment critic.

L

asT season on Netflix’s

“The Crown,” Prince

Charles had a watershed

moment.

To earn his eventual title as

Prince of Wales, the 20-year-old

showed a progressive and collabora-

tive attitude toward the small coun-

try by giving a rousing speech in the

ancient language of Welsh. Playing

the prince, actor Josh O’Connor was

heartfelt and lovable. Many viewers,

previously unaware of the historical

event, left with a rare feeling:

Charles rocks!

In recent years, the poor old guy

has needed a bit of love. In 2012, a

Guardian poll found that just 39 per-

cent of Britons wanted the monar-

chy’s longest-serving heir apparent,

now 71, to ascend to the throne, with

48 percent preferring to see the

crown pass to his son William. But

the passage of time, his endearing

new role as grandpa to Will and

Kate’s kids (Harry’s son Archie lives

in LA), and, yes, shows like “The

Crown” have softened his crusty im-

age. A recent YouGov survey gave

Charles a comparatively chipper 59

percent popularity rating.

This weekend, all that goodwill

goes up in flames. Season 4 of “The

Crown,” which debuts Sunday, de-

picts Charles’ rocky marriage to the

late Princess Diana from their first

meeting in 1977 until two years be-

fore their split in 1992. And, unlike

Di, the plot isn’t pretty.

Whereas Season 3 presented the

prince as a forward-thinking, sensi-

tive and attractive option for a sov-

ereign, these latest episodes portray

a prince (again played by O’Connor)

as sinister and scowling, living in a

man-cave mansion miles away from

jOHNNY

OlekSINSkI

POSTSCRIPT Culture Club

His Royal

Lowness

Season 4 of ‘The Crown’ could turn

Prince Charles’ subjects against him

Prince Charles is revealed

warts and all in “The Crown”

— portrayed here by Josh

O’Connor, opposite Emma

Corrin’s Princess Diana.

Netflix

Chatter

“There will be a smooth transition

to a second Trump administration.”

— Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, seeming to ignore the election results

“When Democratic leaders... [show] off

two sub-zero freezers full of ice cream on

national television... while Trump tells

voters we are the party of the swamp,

it is not surprising that we lose.”

— A post-mortem election letter from progressive groups knocking Nancy

Pelosi for a stunt that may have cost her Democratic seats in the House

eleCTION DISSeCTION

“An

embarrassment.”

— President-

elect Biden,

on President

Trump’s

refusal to

concede the

election