What Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ got historically right or wrong in Season 3

The Crown is back and god save the queen. Season 3 of Netflix’s dramatization of decades of royal drama is out, and — as is the custom with many period dramas — there’s a lot in there that’s true and a lot that is somewhat less than true. 

Some of the seasons biggest moments are ripped straight from headlines and history books, but since real life is sometimes less coherent than TV it’s forgivable that The Crown would bend time, space, and occasionally the truth in the name of making better entertainment. Here’s a fact check on Season 3’s most remarkable plotlines.

Episode 1, “Olding”: Was the Queen’s personal art historian Anthony Blunt a Soviet spy?

In short, yes. In April 1964, art historian and former MI5 officer Anthony Blunt confessed to being one of the “Cambridge Five,” a ring of Soviet spies who fed information to the Russians during World War II. By the time Blunt was given up by American agent Michael Straight, he had retired from intelligence and worked in Buckingham Palace as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures. 

After he was caught, Blunt exchanged information and names for immunity from prosecution. Two of the people he named as spies died by suicide after being questioned, which led MI6 to end the investigation instead of risking further attention to the case. Blunt continued to work in the palace until 1972 and was publicly exposed as a spy in 1979. 

That part is all mostly true, but The Crown manufactures extra tension around Blunt’s confession and the 1964 election of PM Harold Wilson. The show is correct in depicting the now-debunked rumor that Wilson himself was a Soviet spy, but he was elected Prime Minister in October 1964, seven months after Blunt confessed to MI6 in April. That climactic scene where Queen Elizabeth II mistakes an intelligence briefing about Blunt’s treason for one about Wilson could not possibly have happened because he was not yet Prime Minister when Blunt was exposed.

Episode 2, “Margaretology”: Did Princess Margaret patch up U.S.-UK relations by wilding out with President Lyndon B. Johnson?

It would be amazing, but no. While it’s true that Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon’s 1965 tour of the United States was so lavish it sparked a 1966 debate over royal spending in the House of Commons, it’s incredibly unlikely that Margaret could have spent her night at the White House trashing Kennedy and getting wasted without any details leaking to the press. The bailout issues and awkward relationship between the Johnson and Wilson administrations continued for years after Margaret’s visit.

As for Margaret and Tony’s big fight this episode, the missed book party is another fabrication. Lord Snowdon didn’t publish a book of photography in 1965, but at that point in their marriage the royal couple had plenty of other things to argue about, like Tony’s constant affairs. 

As a final fun fact for this episode: Of every American president who served during her reign, Lyndon B. Johnson remains the only one who never met Queen Elizabeth II. So much for shooting pheasant at Balmoral.

Episode 3, “Aberfan”: Did the Queen hold back from visiting the site of the Aberfan disaster, even as other members of the royal family rushed to Wales?

The coal tip collapse at Aberfan was a tragedy that took the lives of 28 adults and 116 children in October 1966. 

The Crown depicts the events of that day in horrifying detail, including the reality that teachers died attempting to shield their students from the landslide of coal slurry, and is also correct in showing Queen Elizabeth II’s regret in not visiting the site sooner. 

The Queen did send Prince Philip to survey the damage and represent the royal family at Aberfan, but the reason she initially declined to visit and later arrived in Wales eight days after the disaster is unknown. Robert Lacey’s Monarch: The Life and Reign of Elizabeth II suggests that the Queen viewed gestures like visiting disaster sites as overly performative, since there was little she could constructively do for the people of Aberfan.

The Crown is correct in its notes at the end of the episode, since the Queen does view her failure to arrive sooner as one of her greatest regrets as a monarch, and she later returned to the town to dedicate a building and plant a tree in the Aberfan garden of remembrance. 

Episode 4, “Bubbikins”: Did the royal family really star in a 1969 documentary that has since been scrubbed from existence? 

Hell yeah they did. This episode dramatizes the filming of Royal Family, a documentary that aired on the BBC and ITV in 1969. Much as “Bubbikins” shows, the documentary was an attempt to humanize the royal family in the eyes of the public, and while three-quarters of British people viewed it live, the Queen absolutely hated it. 

Royal Family was last shown in 1972, to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 20th anniversary, and has not been broadcast since. Clips were made available as part of an exhibition for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 2012, but for the most part the original documentary remains locked away for scholarly use.

Episode 5, “Coup”: Did Lord Mountbatten try to overthrow Prime Minister Harold Wilson? 

Not exactly. The idea that Lord Mountbatten was asked to join and lead a coup against PM Harold Wilson floated around for years, but some still consider it to be one of many conspiracy theories surrounding Wilson’s two terms (see above, where some people wrongfully thought he was a Soviet spy). 

According to sources like Peter Wright’s 1987 book Spycatcher, which the government attempted to ban upon its publication, Lord Mountbatten met with Cecil King, the head of the International Publishing Corporation and a member of the Bank of England, in 1968 to discuss deposing Wilson and handing the reins of the country to Mountbatten. In Wright’s history, Mountbatten dismissed the idea as treason and did not act further. 

Whether or not the Queen knew that Mountbatten was in such a meeting is unclear, but historian Andrew Lownie writes in his book The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves that she was instrumental in dissuading him from engaging in “rank treachery.” That appears to be The Crown‘s version of events as well, but as with many royal secrets it’s difficult to ascertain the absolute truth. 

Episode 6, “Twyysog Cmyru”: Did Prince Charles hide pro-Welsh sentiments in his investiture speech as Prince of Wales?

Eh, not really. It is true that Charles studied for a term at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth to learn the Welsh language and that his teacher Edward Millward was a prominent figure in the Welsh independence party Plaid Cymru, but the actual text of Charles’ 1969 speech at Caernarfon Castle was nowhere near as strong as The Crown depicts. 

Where Charles in The Crown goes as far as to say that it’s “completely understandable” that Wales should want independence, the real Prince’s speech focused more on his admiration of Welsh heritage, history, and tradition. There’s no evidence that he had a secret handwritten speech ready to swap out if he felt the need to subtly endorse Welsh independence, and furthermore the latter half of Charles’ speech was delivered in English. The translated Welsh and English speech is available to read on the Prince of Wales’ website. 

On a totally unrelated note: See the coronet Prince Charles is putting on his head in the photo above? The shiny orb on top of it is actually a gold plated ping-pong ball. Not in The Crown, in real life. The chemical engineer in charge of electroforming the gold for the Prince of Wales’ new coronet broke the orb a few weeks before the ceremony and improvised a new one after watching some people play table tennis. The ping-pong ball remains on the coronet to this day.

Episode 7, “Moondust”: Did the moon landing send Prince Philip spiraling into a midlife crisis?

“Moondust” is one of The Crown’s better episodes because it uses a real event, the moon landing, to shine a light on the show’s interpretation of Prince Philip’s internal life. That is all to say, no. 

The moon landing astronauts did visit Buckingham Palace, but Prince Philip probably didn’t request extra time with them and never publicly shared his thoughts on their intellectual acumen. Neil Armstrong did cough in the Queen’s face though, so the part about them all being sick was real. 

Also true is Prince Philip’s friendship with Dean Robin Woods, and that together they founded St. George’s House, which brings clergy and other leaders together to “nurture Wisdom and open up the possibility of a different and better world.” Whether or not the Prince was a huge ass to Woods before they became friends is unknown.

Episode 8, “Dangling Man”: Did the Duke of Windsor host the Emperor of Japan and correspond with Prince Charles before his death?

As seen in the photo above, Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako did visit the French home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor seven months before the Duke’s death. The rest of the episode is massively more difficult to place on the truth scale. 

Many historians and royal experts have drawn comparisons between Prince Charles and the Duke of Windsor, the king-to-be and the king-who-was, but whether or not they corresponded is not an easy fact to determine. A documentary series (also on Netflix) called The Royal House of Windsor, claims the Prince and Duke had a secret meeting in 1971 in which they discussed the burden of kingship, but any actual letters written by the Duke are protected under copyright and would be illegal for The Crown writers to textually reproduce in the show. 

In short, who knows? The copyright on the Duke’s personal writing and correspondence expires in 2042 so … see you then, I guess. 

Episode 9, “Imbroglio”: Did the Queen Mother marry Camilla Shand to Princess Anne’s ex-boyfriend to keep her away from Prince Charles?

No to the Queen Mother part, yes to the Princess Anne’s ex part, maybe to the keeping Camilla away from Prince Charles part. Honestly, this family is a mess. 

The Crown is correct in showing that Camilla Shand dated Andrew Parker-Bowles before meeting Prince Charles, and also correct that Parker-Bowles dated Princess Anne in the “off” parts of his on-and-off relationship with Camilla. Camilla married Andrew Parker-Bowles in July 1973.

While it’s true the royal family wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of Charles marrying Camilla, royal experts find it hard to believe that the Queen Mother and Lord Mountbatten would conspire to keep them apart. For starters, the Queen Mother didn’t like Lord Mountbatten so the two of them plotting anything together is unlikely. Secondly, Prince Charles’ assignment abroad with the Navy was a done deal and not something Lord Mountbatten could have meddled with — he even broke up with Camilla before taking the trip since he knew it was coming up. 

There’s a ton more drama regarding the ongoing relationships between Camilla, Parker-Bowles, and Prince Charles, but all of that is a problem for The Crown Season 4. 

Episode 10, “Cri de Cour”: What was the big deal about Princess Margaret’s affair with Roddy Llewellyn?

Most of the individual events in “Cri de Cour”— Lord Snowdon’s affair with Lucy Hogg, Princess Margaret’s with Roddy Llewellyn, the Mustique pictures and the Queen’s Jubilee — did happen, but The Crown played fast and loose with the timeline to create a better arc for its excellent final episode. 

Lord Snowdon met Lucy Lindsay Hogg in 1971 and began his affair with her in 1972. Margaret was indeed aware of their involvement and met Roddy Llewellyn at a house party in 1973. She often took Roddy on vacations to Les Jolies Eaux, her villa on Mustique, but here’s where the episode gets confusing. 

“Cri de Cour” features a four year time jump that is barely acknowledged in the episode. The trip Margaret takes Roddy on is presumed to be their first, but paparazzi images of Roddy and Margaret didn’t appear in the papers until 1976. More confusing is The Crown mashing the publication of the Mustique photos together with the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 when the scandal had already broken a year before the Jubilee. 

The episode also conflates Princess Margaret’s overdose on sleeping pills with the total collapse of her marriage to Lord Snowdon and being abandoned by Roddy. Margaret did overdose on sleeping pills, but it was after Roddy traveled to Turkey without her and didn’t coincide with her divorce from Lord Snowdon in 1978 or with the 1977 Jubilee. 

Finally, the four-year time jump in “Cri de Cour” obscures one of the most important events in Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter’s, life in the 1970s. In 1974 Anne was the victim of a failed kidnapping attempt — something The Crown completely ignores in its final episode.