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Changed line(s) 298 (click to see context) from:
* StepfordSmiler: She is rather concerned with putting forth a fairy-tale like image of the royal family and cares for more frivolous pleasures. True to rumours, as the Queen Mother was stated to be almost emphatically unwilling to confront anything she found unpleasant.
to:
* StepfordSmiler: She is rather She's very concerned with putting forth a fairy-tale like image of the royal family and cares for more frivolous pleasures. True to rumours, as the Queen Mother was stated to be almost emphatically unwilling to confront anything she found unpleasant.
Changed line(s) 303 (click to see context) from:
* YouAreFat: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor make references to her being fat constantly, in spite of the fact that, [[AdaptationalAttractiveness as played by Victoria Hamilton]], she is not as round as the Queen Mother turned out to be. This is partly out of spitefulness more than accuracy, however; the Windsors and the Queen Mother famously ''detested'' each other quite viciously, and things tended to get personal quite quickly.
to:
* YouAreFat: YouAreFat:
** The Duke and Duchess of Windsor make references to her being fat constantly, in spite of the fact that, [[AdaptationalAttractiveness as played by Victoria Hamilton]], she is not as round as the Queen Mother turned out to be. This is partly out of spitefulness more than accuracy, however; the Windsors and the Queen Mother famously ''detested'' each other quite viciously, and things tended to get personal quite quickly.
** The Duke and Duchess of Windsor make references to her being fat constantly, in spite of the fact that, [[AdaptationalAttractiveness as played by Victoria Hamilton]], she is not as round as the Queen Mother turned out to be. This is partly out of spitefulness more than accuracy, however; the Windsors and the Queen Mother famously ''detested'' each other quite viciously, and things tended to get personal quite quickly.
* BastardBoyfriend: Sure, Princess Margaret can be bossy, irritable and haughty, but he seems to get off on treating her cruelly -- whether that be physically manhandling her when they row, or more sneakily when he leaves vile messages in the books she's reading, savaging her appearance in the most personal way possible.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Towards the end of his marriage to Princess Margaret, he's blatant about taking a young female lover, but when Margaret understandably follows suit, he resorts to SlutShaming.
Changed line(s) 447 (click to see context) from:
* LonelyRichKid: He's depicted as an extremely isolated individual, with a distant realtionship to most of his family and no friends. His one confidante is his sister, Anne, and his one consistent parental figure is his uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
to:
* LonelyRichKid: He's depicted as an extremely isolated individual, with a distant realtionship relationship to most of his family and no friends. His one confidante is his sister, Anne, and his one consistent parental figure is his uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
Changed line(s) 452 (click to see context) from:
* ParentalSubstitute: Due to a combination of emotionally distant parents and being sent away to boarding schools, Charles turns to others for emotional support including Lord Mountbatten[[note]]they affectionately called each other "Honorary Grandfather" and "Honorary Grandson" until the very end[[/note]] and Donald Green, the detective assigned to guard him at Gordonstoun.
to:
* ParentalSubstitute: ParentalSubstitute:
** Due to a combination of emotionally distant parents and being sent away to boarding schools, Charles turns to others for emotional support including Lord Mountbatten[[note]]they affectionately called each other "Honorary Grandfather" and "Honorary Grandson" until the very end[[/note]] and Donald Green, the detective assigned to guard him at Gordonstoun.
** Due to a combination of emotionally distant parents and being sent away to boarding schools, Charles turns to others for emotional support including Lord Mountbatten[[note]]they affectionately called each other "Honorary Grandfather" and "Honorary Grandson" until the very end[[/note]] and Donald Green, the detective assigned to guard him at Gordonstoun.
Changed line(s) 458,459 (click to see context) from:
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He’s on the receiving end of a vicious one, courtesy of Edward Millward - his Welsh tutor who's also a proud Welsh nationalist and republican - for not taking his time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, seriously.
** Later gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has to offer, or his romance with Camilla.
** Later gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has to offer, or his romance with Camilla.
to:
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** He’s on the receiving end of a vicious one, courtesy of Edward Millward- -- his Welsh tutor who's also a proud Welsh nationalist and republican - -- for not taking his time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, seriously.
**Later Later, he gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has to offer, or his romance with Camilla.
** He’s on the receiving end of a vicious one, courtesy of Edward Millward
**
Changed line(s) 479 (click to see context) from:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker Bowles that she checking him out when he was playing polo, despite the fact she was supposed to be cheering on her father and brother.
to:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker Bowles that she was checking him out when he was playing polo, despite the fact she was supposed to be cheering on her father and brother.
Changed line(s) 482,483 (click to see context) from:
* LonelyRichKid: Not a huge example as Charles as she enjoys an active social life, but she does feel isolated from her mother.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Her mother and grandmother are shocked to learn that a young princess such as her had sex and before marriage, she is non-plussed by their reaction and serves to show a gulf between her generation and the generations represented by the Queen and Queen Mother.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Her mother and grandmother are shocked to learn that a young princess such as her had sex and before marriage, she is non-plussed by their reaction and serves to show a gulf between her generation and the generations represented by the Queen and Queen Mother.
to:
* LonelyRichKid: Not a huge example in the same way as Charles Charles, as she enjoys an active social life, but she does feel isolated from her mother.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Her mother and grandmother are shocked to learn that a young princesssuch as like her has had sex and before marriage, she is marriage and Anne's non-plussed by attitude to their reaction and serves to show a highlight the gulf between her generation and the generations represented by the Queen and Queen Mother.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Her mother and grandmother are shocked to learn that a young princess
Changed line(s) 488 (click to see context) from:
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker Bowles's delight, she has developed into an attractive young woman and she calls him out on his surprise in a flirtacious manner.
to:
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker Bowles's delight, she has developed into an attractive young woman and she calls him out on his surprise in a flirtacious flirtatious manner.
Changed line(s) 490 (click to see context) from:
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: She engages in verbal jousting matches with her father, who is seen enjoying them.
to:
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: She engages in verbal jousting matches with her father, who is seen thoroughly enjoying them.the badinage.
Deleted line(s) 529,530 (click to see context) :
Changed line(s) 654,656 (click to see context) from:
* CoattailRidingRelative: Absolutely viewed as such by Princess Margaret:
-->'''Margaret''': “Marina? She'd do well to remember her place. As a low-ranking member of your husband's refugee family, she's lucky to be here at all.”
** Consider that Marina is both also a princess in her native Greece and Margaret's ''aunt''.
-->'''Margaret''': “Marina? She'd do well to remember her place. As a low-ranking member of your husband's refugee family, she's lucky to be here at all.”
** Consider that Marina is both also a princess in her native Greece and Margaret's ''aunt''.
to:
* CoattailRidingRelative: Absolutely viewed as such by Princess Margaret:
-->'''Margaret''':Margaret, which is pretty shocking considering that Marina is both also a princess in her native Greece and Margaret's ''aunt''.
->'''Margaret''': “Marina? She'd do well to remember her place. As a low-ranking member of your husband's refugee family, she's lucky to be here at all.”
** Consider that Marina is both also a princess in her native Greece and Margaret's ''aunt''.”
-->'''Margaret''':
->'''Margaret''': “Marina? She'd do well to remember her place. As a low-ranking member of your husband's refugee family, she's lucky to be here at all.
** Consider that Marina is both also a princess in her native Greece and Margaret's ''aunt''.
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* OCCIsSeriousBusiness: The events of "Aberfan" as recounted to her by Tony over a telephone have shocked her to the point she is very thoughtful about it and trying to restrain from sobbing.
Changed line(s) 417 (click to see context) from:
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: During the Aberfan disaster he goes to document the incident showing endless grief and horror for the tragedy. Margaret (and the viewer) have never seen him so shocked.
to:
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: During the Aberfan disaster he goes to document the incident showing endless grief and horror for the tragedy. Margaret (and the viewer) have never seen him so shocked.shocked, especially when she recounted that he told her (shell-shocked) to kiss their children tonight and that she never wanted him to sound that way again.
Added DiffLines:
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Her mother and grandmother are shocked to learn that a young princess such as her had sex and before marriage, she is non-plussed by their reaction and serves to show a gulf between her generation and the generations represented by the Queen and Queen Mother.
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* LonelyRichKid: Not a huge example as Charles as she enjoys an active social life, but she does feel isolated from her mother.
Changed line(s) 483 (click to see context) from:
* ParentalFavoritism: Philip is shown to be more affectionate to her than with Charles.
to:
* ParentalFavoritism: Philip is shown to be more affectionate to her than with Charles.Charles; but while her Mother can criticize Charles, she ignores Anne.
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* LonelyRichKid: He's depicted as an extremely isolated individual, with a distant realtionship to most of his family and no friends. His one confidante is his sister, Anne, and his one consistent parental figure is his uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
Changed line(s) 458 (click to see context) from:
* TookALevelInBadass: He is still an awkward LonelyRichKid but he had formed a tough enough skin to withstand the boos of critics, TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from a Welsh Nationalist, learned how to excel in Naval Academy, and to stand up for himself to his family.
to:
* TookALevelInBadass: He is still an awkward LonelyRichKid but he had formed a tough enough skin to withstand the boos of critics, TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from a Welsh Nationalist, learned how to excel in at Britannia Royal Naval Academy, College and to stand up for himself to his family.
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Changed line(s) 477 (click to see context) from:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker Bowles that she checked out him out when he was playing polo, despite the fact she was supposed to be cheering on her father and brother.
to:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker Bowles that she checked out checking him out when he was playing polo, despite the fact she was supposed to be cheering on her father and brother.
Changed line(s) 483 (click to see context) from:
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker Bowles's amazement, she has developed into an attractive young woman and she calls him out on his surprise in a flirtacious manner.
to:
* RebelliousPrincess: She’s a tough cookie, always speaking her mind in an often curt tone, even to her own royal parents. Additionally, the Queen and Queen Mother are shocked at her frank admittance of promiscuity.
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker Bowles'samazement, delight, she has developed into an attractive young woman and she calls him out on his surprise in a flirtacious manner.
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker Bowles's
Changed line(s) 489,490 (click to see context) from:
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: She is more interested in riding horses than Royal protocols but also has a stylish bouffant hairdo and takes to wearing the body-con fashions and mini-skirts of the 1960s.
* ToughLove: Gives it to her brothers, either telling them to cheer up after snarking with him (Charles) or pushing them to say hi to the astronauts (Andrew or Edward).
* ToughLove: Gives it to her brothers, either telling them to cheer up after snarking with him (Charles) or pushing them to say hi to the astronauts (Andrew or Edward).
to:
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: She is She’s more interested in riding horses than Royal protocols but also has a stylish bouffant hairdo and takes to wearing the body-con fashions and mini-skirts of the 1960s.
* ToughLove: Gives it to her brothers, either telling them to cheer up after snarking with him (Charles) orpushing giving them a shove when they’re too shy to say hi to the astronauts (Andrew or Edward).
* ToughLove: Gives it to her brothers, either telling them to cheer up after snarking with him (Charles) or
Changed line(s) 492 (click to see context) from:
** In a later episode she has a ShesAllGrownUp and SheCleansUpNicely moment when Andrew sees her wearing an old gown of her mother's that makes her "look like a hydrangea".
to:
** In a later episode she has a ShesAllGrownUp and SheCleansUpNicely moment when Andrew Parker Bowles sees her wearing an old gown of her mother's that makes her "look like a hydrangea".
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Changed line(s) 477 (click to see context) from:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker Bowles that she checked out playing polo because of all the players, more than the game.
to:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker Bowles that she checked out him out when he was playing polo because of all polo, despite the players, more than the game.fact she was supposed to be cheering on her father and brother.
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Deleted line(s) 50 (click to see context) :
* GenreSavvy: When she hears that Charles and Camilla are being broken up, her immediate reaction is to call for her scheming uncle Lord Mountbatten and manipulative mother.
Deleted line(s) 481,483 (click to see context) :
* GenreSavvy:
** She's savvier than her family when it comes to the media at large, and expresses concern when they agree to go ahead with an "at home with the Royals" documentary. When this backfires, and her father coerces her into being interviewed by a hostile reporter from ''The Guardian'' (rather than a friendlier publication), she smartly shoves her nun grandmother, Princess Alice, in his path and her tragically amazing life-story turns out to be exactly the ''right'' sort of PR the family needs.
** She also proves to be savvy about the kind of womanizer Andrew Parker Bowles is and wants to draw clear lines.
** She's savvier than her family when it comes to the media at large, and expresses concern when they agree to go ahead with an "at home with the Royals" documentary. When this backfires, and her father coerces her into being interviewed by a hostile reporter from ''The Guardian'' (rather than a friendlier publication), she smartly shoves her nun grandmother, Princess Alice, in his path and her tragically amazing life-story turns out to be exactly the ''right'' sort of PR the family needs.
** She also proves to be savvy about the kind of womanizer Andrew Parker Bowles is and wants to draw clear lines.
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Changed line(s) 360 (click to see context) from:
** It turns out Charles has been writing and confiding to him, the younger man looks up to him for the individual he dared to be and for fighting for his true love.
to:
** It turns out Charles has been writing to and confiding to in him, the younger man looks looking up to him for the individual he dared to be and for fighting for his true love.
Changed line(s) 478 (click to see context) from:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker-Bowles that she checked out out playing polo even when her brother and father are playing.
to:
* DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker-Bowles Parker Bowles that she checked out out playing polo even when her brother and father are playing.because of all the players, more than the game.
Changed line(s) 481,482 (click to see context) from:
* GenreSavvy: She's savvier than her family when it comes to the media at large, and expresses concern when they agree to go ahead with an "at home with the Royals" documentary. When this backfires, and her father coerces her into being interviewed by a hostile reporter from ''The Guardian'' (rather than a friendlier publication), she smartly shoves her nun grandmother, Princess Alice, in his path and her tragically amazing life-story turns out to be exactly the ''right'' sort of PR the family needs.
** She also proves to be savvy about the kind of womanizer Andrew Parker-Bowles is and wants to draw clear lines.
** She also proves to be savvy about the kind of womanizer Andrew Parker-Bowles is and wants to draw clear lines.
to:
* GenreSavvy: GenreSavvy:
** She's savvier than her family when it comes to the media at large, and expresses concern when they agree to go ahead with an "at home with the Royals" documentary. When this backfires, and her father coerces her into being interviewed by a hostile reporter from ''The Guardian'' (rather than a friendlier publication), she smartly shoves her nun grandmother, Princess Alice, in his path and her tragically amazing life-story turns out to be exactly the ''right'' sort of PR the family needs.
** She also proves to be savvy about the kind of womanizer AndrewParker-Bowles Parker Bowles is and wants to draw clear lines.
** She's savvier than her family when it comes to the media at large, and expresses concern when they agree to go ahead with an "at home with the Royals" documentary. When this backfires, and her father coerces her into being interviewed by a hostile reporter from ''The Guardian'' (rather than a friendlier publication), she smartly shoves her nun grandmother, Princess Alice, in his path and her tragically amazing life-story turns out to be exactly the ''right'' sort of PR the family needs.
** She also proves to be savvy about the kind of womanizer Andrew
Changed line(s) 484 (click to see context) from:
* OutnumberedSibling: She is the only daughter of Elizabeth and Philip and one of their four children.
to:
* OutnumberedSibling: She is the only daughter of Elizabeth and Philip and one of their the Queen’s four children.
Changed line(s) 486 (click to see context) from:
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker-Bowles's amazement she has developed and she calls him out on it in a flirtacious manner.
to:
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker-Bowles's amazement Parker Bowles's amazement, she has developed into an attractive young woman and she calls him out on it his surprise in a flirtacious manner.
Changed line(s) 547 (click to see context) from:
* PlasticBitch: Dickie said she has had so many facelifts.
to:
* PlasticBitch: Dickie said she has Mountbatten notes that she’s had so many multiple facelifts.
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Changed line(s) 440 (click to see context) from:
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Gives a few (politely) to Edward Millward in their first meeting.
to:
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Gives Ask a few (politely) to Edward Millward on the sensitive subject of Anglo-Welsh relations in their first meeting.
Changed line(s) 442,444 (click to see context) from:
* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling The Old Lady Out]]: Has a tragic one to give to Elizabeth in Season 3 after she upbraids him for a speech that found comparisons to his plight as heir to the plight of the Welsh people and sympathizes with Welsh national and cultural identity and tells her he is not just a symbol.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Almost tragically, it's not surprising that he bonds with his great uncle the Duke of Windsor stemming from the perceived coldness they receive from their family.
* GenerationXerox: Upon becoming Prince of Wales, he very much sees himself in the former title holder, his great-uncle Edward VIII, wanting to make drastic changes to the entire concept of the monarchy but stifled by the establishment, and especially vows that he also won't let himself be driven from his true love, which history tells us took some twists and turns but got there in the end.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Almost tragically, it's not surprising that he bonds with his great uncle the Duke of Windsor stemming from the perceived coldness they receive from their family.
* GenerationXerox: Upon becoming Prince of Wales, he very much sees himself in the former title holder, his great-uncle Edward VIII, wanting to make drastic changes to the entire concept of the monarchy but stifled by the establishment, and especially vows that he also won't let himself be driven from his true love, which history tells us took some twists and turns but got there in the end.
to:
* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling The Old Lady Out]]: Has a tragic one to give to Elizabeth Launches into an impassioned tirade at the Queen in Season 3 after she upbraids him for adding alterations to a speech that found noted comparisons to with his plight as heir to the plight of the Welsh people and sympathizes people. He impresses on her that he shares sympathy with Welsh national and cultural identity and tells her he is not just a symbol.
symbol, like he feels she is.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Almost tragically, it's not surprising that he bonds with his great uncle the Duke ofWindsor Windsor, stemming from the perceived coldness they both receive from their family.
* GenerationXerox: Upon becoming Prince of Wales, he very much sees himself in the former title holder, his great-uncle EdwardVIII, VIII — wanting to make drastic changes to the entire concept of the monarchy but stifled by the establishment, and especially establishment. In absolute parallel, he vows that he also too won't let himself be driven from his true love, which history tells us took Camilla, which, after some dramatic twists and turns but got there in the end.turns, turned out to be true.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Almost tragically, it's not surprising that he bonds with his great uncle the Duke of
* GenerationXerox: Upon becoming Prince of Wales, he very much sees himself in the former title holder, his great-uncle Edward
Changed line(s) 447 (click to see context) from:
* LoveDodecahedron: The path of his and Camilla's relationship was famously convoluted. Initially they start dating after Camilla broke up with Andrew Parker Bowles, at the same time Bowles hooks up with Charles' sister Anne, only for Camilla and Bowles to marry anyway a few years later.
to:
* LoveDodecahedron: The path of his and Camilla's relationship was famously convoluted. Initially they start dating after Camilla broke up with Andrew Parker Bowles, at Bowles. At all the same time Parker Bowles hooks up with Charles' sister Anne, only for Camilla and Parker Bowles to marry anyway a few years later.
Changed line(s) 453 (click to see context) from:
* RefugeInAudacity: Upon being made the Prince of Wales, he gives a speech in Welsh declaring his intention to respect the country's autonomy and identity in stark contrast to previous holders of the title, with the rest of the family clueless until later due to not speaking the language.
to:
* RefugeInAudacity: Upon being made the Prince of Wales, he gives a speech in Welsh declaring his intention to respect the country's autonomy and identity in stark contrast to previous holders of the title, with the title. The rest of the family are clueless until later later, due to not speaking the language.
Changed line(s) 457,458 (click to see context) from:
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He gets on the receiving end of a vicious one given to him by Edward Millward - his Welsh tutor who's also a proud Welsh nationalist and republican - for not taking his time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, seriously.
** Later gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has to offer or his romance with Camilla.
** Later gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has to offer or his romance with Camilla.
to:
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He gets He’s on the receiving end of a vicious one given to him by one, courtesy of Edward Millward - his Welsh tutor who's also a proud Welsh nationalist and republican - for not taking his time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, seriously.
** Later gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has tooffer offer, or his romance with Camilla.
** Later gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has to
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Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
* IWasQuiteALooker: In the Season 3 premiere she muses about having gone from "young soverign" to "old bat" and how age is rarely kind to anyone but she reasons she always paled in comparison to Margaret so her aging out of her beauty isn't the tragedy it could be.
to:
* IWasQuiteALooker: In the Season 3 premiere premiere, she muses about having gone from "young soverign" to "old bat" and how age is rarely kind to anyone but she reasons she always paled in comparison to Margaret so her aging out of her beauty isn't the tragedy it could be.anyone.
Changed line(s) 61 (click to see context) from:
* MamaBear: Despite being distant and cold with him, she is very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on him. Later when he comes to her after figuring out that someone is trying to break up him and Camilla, she figures she needs to have a talk with Lord Mountbatten and her Mother, who are conspiring against the romance.
to:
* MamaBear: MamaBear:
** Despite being distant and cold with him, she is very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have onhim. him.
** Later in life, when Charles starts dating Camilla Shand, he comes to her after figuring out that someone is trying to breakup him and Camilla, she figures she needs to have a talk with them up. The Queen immediately confronts Lord Mountbatten and her Mother, who are conspiring against the romance.
** Despite being distant and cold with him, she is very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on
** Later in life, when Charles starts dating Camilla Shand, he comes to her after figuring out that someone is trying to break
Changed line(s) 64 (click to see context) from:
* MyGreatestFailure: Season 3 features what the real Elizabeth considers the greatest regret of her reign, delaying a visit to Aberfan for several days after nearly 150 people were killed in a coal avalanche. Afterwards, she admits she's suspected for years that there's something wrong with her mind given her inability to cry at such tragedy.
to:
* MyGreatestFailure: Season 3 features what the real Elizabeth considers the greatest regret of her reign, reign — delaying a visit to Aberfan for several days after nearly 150 people (mostly young children) were killed in a coal avalanche. Afterwards, she admits she's suspected for years that there's something wrong with her mind mind, given her inability to cry at such tragedy.
Changed line(s) 70 (click to see context) from:
* ParentalNeglect: By Season 3, she's become very cold towards her elder children. Charles is saddened as he realizes he's more a chess piece than a child while Anne would like to be elevated to that level because Elizabeth doesn't have any real reaction towards her anymore[[note]]because Anne's so far down the line of succession as to essentially no longer matter[[/note]].
to:
* ParentalNeglect: By Season 3, she's become very cold towards her elder children. Charles is saddened as he realizes he's more a chess piece than a child child, while Anne would like to be elevated to that level because Elizabeth her mother doesn't have any real reaction towards interaction with her anymore[[note]]because Anne's so far down the line of succession as to essentially no longer matter[[/note]].
Changed line(s) 73 (click to see context) from:
* PrincessClassic: Especially when contrasted with Margaret.
to:
* PrincessClassic: Especially Beautiful, kind, but above all dutiful — especially when contrasted with Margaret.
Deleted line(s) 136 (click to see context) :
* OddFriendship: In Season 3, the blue-blooded and traditional Queen has a close, confidential relationship with the Socialist Harold Wilson.
Changed line(s) 161 (click to see context) from:
* BeehiveHairdo: Gets these hairdos in Season 3 (starting in 1964).
to:
* BeehiveHairdo: Gets these hairdos Sports this hairdo in Season 3 (starting in 1964).
Changed line(s) 168 (click to see context) from:
* DrivenToSuicide: Almost does this in the Season 3 finale after getting divorced from Tony and losing her lover, while her Mother makes light of it, Elizabeth actually has a heart to heart with her.
to:
* DrivenToSuicide: Almost does this in the Season 3 finale finale, after getting divorced from Tony and losing her lover, while lover. Whilst her Mother mother makes light of it, Elizabeth actually has a heart to heart with her.
Changed line(s) 201 (click to see context) from:
* PreciousPuppy: In Season 3, she has a King Charles Spaniel at her bedside.
to:
* PreciousPuppy: In Season 3, she has a King Charles Spaniel at by her bedside.
Changed line(s) 213 (click to see context) from:
* SlutShaming: Gets it from her Mother and Tony in the Season 3 finale, rich given that he has been cheating on her.
to:
* SlutShaming: Gets it from her Mother and Tony in the Season 3 finale, finale — which is rich given that he has he’s been cheating on her.
Changed line(s) 303 (click to see context) from:
** By Season 3 she has a more rotund appearance and when the family gathers to watch their documentary, while everyone pokes fun at their appearances and each other, she remarks about how many pounds the camera puts and Margaret jokes about the camera capturing her "good side": her backside.
to:
** By Season 3 she has a more rotund appearance and when the family gathers to watch their documentary, while everyone pokes fun at their appearances and each other, she remarks about how many pounds the camera puts and on. Margaret jokes about the camera capturing her "good side": her backside.
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None
Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
* IWasQuiteALooker: In the Season 3 premiere she muses about having gone from "young soverign" to "old bat" and how age is rarely kind to anyone but she reasons she always paled in comparison to Margaret so her aging out of her beauty isn't the tragedy it could be.
to:
* IWasQuiteALooker: In the Season 3 premiere premiere, she muses about having gone from "young soverign" to "old bat" and how age is rarely kind to anyone but she reasons she always paled in comparison to Margaret so her aging out of her beauty isn't the tragedy it could be.anyone.
Changed line(s) 61 (click to see context) from:
* MamaBear: Despite being distant and cold with him, she is very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on him. Later when he comes to her after figuring out that someone is trying to break up him and Camilla, she figures she needs to have a talk with Lord Mountbatten and her Mother, who are conspiring against the romance.
to:
* MamaBear: MamaBear:
** Despite being distant and cold with him, she is very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have onhim. him.
** Later in life, when Charles starts dating Camilla Shand, he comes to her after figuring out that someone is trying to breakup him and Camilla, she figures she needs to have a talk with them up. The Queen immediately confronts Lord Mountbatten and her Mother, who are conspiring against the romance.
** Despite being distant and cold with him, she is very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on
** Later in life, when Charles starts dating Camilla Shand, he comes to her after figuring out that someone is trying to break
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* MyGreatestFailure: Season 3 features what the real Elizabeth considers the greatest regret of her reign, delaying a visit to Aberfan for several days after nearly 150 people were killed in a coal avalanche. Afterwards, she admits she's suspected for years that there's something wrong with her mind given her inability to cry at such tragedy.
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* MyGreatestFailure: Season 3 features what the real Elizabeth considers the greatest regret of her reign, reign — delaying a visit to Aberfan for several days after nearly 150 people (mostly young children) were killed in a coal avalanche. Afterwards, she admits she's suspected for years that there's something wrong with her mind mind, given her inability to cry at such tragedy.
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* ParentalNeglect: By Season 3, she's become very cold towards her elder children. Charles is saddened as he realizes he's more a chess piece than a child while Anne would like to be elevated to that level because Elizabeth doesn't have any real reaction towards her anymore[[note]]because Anne's so far down the line of succession as to essentially no longer matter[[/note]].
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* ParentalNeglect: By Season 3, she's become very cold towards her elder children. Charles is saddened as he realizes he's more a chess piece than a child child, while Anne would like to be elevated to that level because Elizabeth her mother doesn't have any real reaction towards interaction with her anymore[[note]]because Anne's so far down the line of succession as to essentially no longer matter[[/note]].
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* PrincessClassic: Especially when contrasted with Margaret.
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* PrincessClassic: Especially Beautiful, kind, but above all dutiful — especially when contrasted with Margaret.
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* OddFriendship: In Season 3, the blue-blooded and traditional Queen has a close, confidential relationship with the Socialist Harold Wilson.
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* BeehiveHairdo: Gets these hairdos in Season 3 (starting in 1964).
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* BeehiveHairdo: Gets these hairdos Sports this hairdo in Season 3 (starting in 1964).
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* DrivenToSuicide: Almost does this in the Season 3 finale after getting divorced from Tony and losing her lover, while her Mother makes light of it, Elizabeth actually has a heart to heart with her.
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* DrivenToSuicide: Almost does this in the Season 3 finale finale, after getting divorced from Tony and losing her lover, while lover. Whilst her Mother mother makes light of it, Elizabeth actually has a heart to heart with her.
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* PreciousPuppy: In Season 3, she has a King Charles Spaniel at her bedside.
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* PreciousPuppy: In Season 3, she has a King Charles Spaniel at by her bedside.
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* SlutShaming: Gets it from her Mother and Tony in the Season 3 finale, rich given that he has been cheating on her.
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* SlutShaming: Gets it from her Mother and Tony in the Season 3 finale, finale — which is rich given that he has he’s been cheating on her.
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** By Season 3 she has a more rotund appearance and when the family gathers to watch their documentary, while everyone pokes fun at their appearances and each other, she remarks about how many pounds the camera puts and Margaret jokes about the camera capturing her "good side": her backside.
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** By Season 3 she has a more rotund appearance and when the family gathers to watch their documentary, while everyone pokes fun at their appearances and each other, she remarks about how many pounds the camera puts and on. Margaret jokes about the camera capturing her "good side": her backside.
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* FiftiesHair: Starts the series with a shoulder length 1940s curly do that slightly changes until Season 2 where she gets a shorter cut that she retains for most of her life.
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* FiftiesHair: Has some stylish bob cuts in Seasons 1 and 2 only to change to a BeehiveHairdo for the 1960s.
* SeventiesHair: Holds on to 1960s hair for most of the episodes and then during her affair with Roddy, she wears her hair very long and loose.
* SeventiesHair: Holds on to 1960s hair for most of the episodes and then during her affair with Roddy, she wears her hair very long and loose.
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* ProudBeauty: She is very well aware of how beautiful she is and is annoyed when people tell her that her [[IWasQuiteALooker last birthday portrait made her look like her mother did at that age]].
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* ProudBeauty: She is very well aware of how beautiful she is and is annoyed when people tell her that her [[IWasQuiteALooker last birthday portrait made her look like her mother did at that age]]. She also cannot stand the sight of homely people.
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* SlutShaming: Gets it from her Mother and Tony in the Season 3 finale, rich given that he has been cheating on her.
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* PreciousPuppy: In Season 3, she has a King Charles Spaniel at her bedside.
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* GracefulLadiesLikePurple and TrueBlueFemininity: Most of her outfits are one of these colors.
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* GenreSavvy: When she hears that Charles and Camilla are being broken up, her immediate reaction is to call for her scheming uncle Lord Mountbatten and manipulative mother.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple andTrueBlueFemininity: TrueBlueFemininity and PinkIsFeminine: Most of her outfits are one of these colors.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple and
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* MamaBear: Very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on him.
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* MamaBear: Very Despite being distant and cold with him, she is very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on him.him. Later when he comes to her after figuring out that someone is trying to break up him and Camilla, she figures she needs to have a talk with Lord Mountbatten and her Mother, who are conspiring against the romance.
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** Later gives one to his mother about how she doesn't respect him and what he has to offer or his romance with Camilla.
* TookALevelInBadass: He is still an awkward LonelyRichKid but he had formed a tough enough skin to withstand the boos of critics, TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from a Welsh Nationalist, learned how to excel in Naval Academy, and to stand up for himself to his family.
* TookALevelInBadass: He is still an awkward LonelyRichKid but he had formed a tough enough skin to withstand the boos of critics, TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from a Welsh Nationalist, learned how to excel in Naval Academy, and to stand up for himself to his family.
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* RulingCouple
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* RulingCoupleRulingCouple: With Bertie until he died.
* SpannerInTheWorks: She manages to scuttle the relationship between Margaret and Tony, and later between her grandson Charles and Camilla.
* SpannerInTheWorks: She manages to scuttle the relationship between Margaret and Tony, and later between her grandson Charles and Camilla.
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* SpannerInTheWorks: He works with the Queen Mother in separating Charles from Camilla.
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* CoolUncle: Downplayed, while he despises most of his family he does give Elizabeth some very useful advice and apologizes for the burden that has been placed on her shoulders and close to his dying day she tells him in spite of everything, he was her favorite uncle.
** It turns out Charles has been writing and confiding to him, the younger man looks up to him for the individual he dared to be and for fighting for his true love.
** It turns out Charles has been writing and confiding to him, the younger man looks up to him for the individual he dared to be and for fighting for his true love.
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* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
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* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunetteCoolAunt: To Charles, at least, giving him his Uncle's pocket watch that she had inscribed for him in 1939 and being a confidant to Charles's plans to sleep together with Camilla before a trip.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: She is very pale and dark-haired which is accentuated by the colors and styles she wears.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: She is very pale and dark-haired which is accentuated by the colors and styles she wears.
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* WidowsWeeds: Wears them (complete with the veil) at David's funeral in the Palace grounds.
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* PlasticBitch: Dickie said she has had so many facelifts.
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* DistractedBySexy: She admits to Andrew Parker-Bowles that she checked out out playing polo even when her brother and father are playing.
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* DistractedBySexy: DistractedByTheSexy: She admits to Andrew Parker-Bowles that she checked out out playing polo even when her brother and father are playing.
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* DistractedBySexy: She admits to Andrew Parker-Bowles that she checked out out playing polo even when her brother and father are playing.
** She also proves to be savvy about the kind of womanizer Andrew Parker-Bowles is and wants to draw clear lines.
* ShesAllGrownUp: To Andrew Parker-Bowles's amazement she has developed and she calls him out on it in a flirtacious manner.
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** In a later episode she has a ShesAllGrownUp and SheCleansUpNicely moment when Andrew sees her wearing an old gown of her mother's that makes her "look like a hydrangea".
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* DeadpanSnarker: She delivers this to her Mother regarding the ill health of David, the media coverage of him, and how Charles wants to visit him.
---> It's possible Mummy, that not everyone is as consumed with by loathing of him as you are.
---> One doesn't usually get the opportunity to meet a former king. Former Kings are usually dead.
---> It's possible Mummy, that not everyone is as consumed with by loathing of him as you are.
---> One doesn't usually get the opportunity to meet a former king. Former Kings are usually dead.
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->[[center:[[Characters/TheCrown2016 Main Character Index]] | '''The British Royal Family''' | [[Characters/TheCrown2016FriendsAndAcquaintancesOfTheRoyalFamily Friends & Acquaintances of the Royal Family]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016HerMajestysGovernment Her Majesty's Government]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016TheRoyalHousehold The Royal Household]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016ForeignDignitariesAndLeaders Foreign Dignitaries and Leaders]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016OtherCharacters Other Characters]]
Characters]]]]
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->[[center:[[Characters/TheCrown2016 Main Character Index]] | '''The British Royal Family''' | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Friends & Acquaintances of the Royal Family]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Her Majesty's Government]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 The Royal Household
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]]Household]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 [[Characters/TheCrown2016ForeignDignitariesAndLeaders Foreign Dignitaries and Leaders
]]Leaders]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 [[Characters/TheCrown2016OtherCharacters Other Characters]]
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->[[center:[[Characters/TheCrown2016 Main Character Index]] | '''The British Royal Family''' |
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->[[center:[[Characters/TheCrown2016 The British Royal Family Index]] | '''The British Royal Family''' | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Friends & Acquaintances of the Royal Family]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Her Majesty's Government]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 The Royal Household
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->[[center:[[Characters/TheCrown2016 The British Royal Family Main Character Index]] | '''The British Royal Family''' | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Friends & Acquaintances of the Royal Family]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Her Majesty's Government]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 The Royal Household
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->[[center:[[Characters/TheCrown2016 The British Royal Family Index]] | '''The British Royal Family''' | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Friends & Acquaintances of the Royal Family]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Her Majesty's Government]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 The Royal Household
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The (rather large) main cast of ''Series/TheCrown2016''. Beware of spoilers.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
!!The British Royal Family
[[folder: Queen Elizabeth II]]
!![[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s1_006.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/ClaireFoy (Seasons 1&2), Verity Russell (child, Season 1), Creator/OliviaColman (Seasons 3&4)
->''"You don't think I would have preferred to grow up out of the spotlight? Away from court, away from the scrutiny and the visibility? A simpler life, happier life, as a wife, a mother, an ordinary English countrywoman?"''
The main character of the series, and the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We are first introduced to Elizabeth as a young wife and mother who is unexpectedly thrust into a position of power and authority on the death of her father, and must learn to navigate her new role and the tensions it creates between her family, her own modest nature, and the changing place and nature of post-war Britain.
----
* AffectionateNickname:
** As a child, she was known as "Lilibet" by those who loved her. Her family members still use the nickname sometimes.
** Philip calls her "''ma petite chou''" (French for "my little cabbage") during their anniversary party in "Beryl", referencing one of Philip's actual nicknames for her (he apparently calls her that and also just "Cabbage").
* AllGirlsLikePonies: Horse riding and husbandry is one of the few topics of conversation with which she is completely comfortable.
* AlwaysOnDuty: She rarely lets her hair down, even with close family members.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She gets caught up in the hype surrounding televangelist Billy Graham, and commits herself to living by Christ's example. She soon learns how difficult it is to reconcile this with some of her responsibilities as queen.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Awesome enough to evoke ManlyTears from the Duke of Windsor.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: She is shown to be a kind and just woman, who always wants the best for her people, and graciously takes advice from those she knows are wiser than her. But those who cross her will be reminded, she is the most powerful person in the British Empire.
* BigSisterInstinct: While the two don't always get along, and as Queen must always put her duty before family, she is extremely protective of Margaret, and after learning of Tony's very open sexual nature, as well as her belief that the Princess is doing so out of envy and anger at Peter, she concernedly warns Margaret if marrying Tony is what she truly wants. In the end however, she does allow Margaret to marry, mostly out of guilt how she had failed her and Peter before.
* BookDumb: While by no means unintelligent, her education was extremely limited[[note]]It mainly consisted of extensive lessons on court etiquette and the British Constitution. She also picked up fluent French from her nannies as a child.[[/note]] and she becomes embarrassed that she doesn't have a single school certificate to her name. She hires herself a tutor so that she can properly understand the many matters of state that she has to deal with as Queen.
* BrainyBrunette: Very smart, insightful, knowledgeable, with brown hair.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Averted. While her friend Lord "Porchey" Porchester may have been in love with her, she states that she has only ever loved Philip.
* CoolCrown:
** St Edward's Crown, which she uses for her coronation, as is tradition.
** Her extensive collection of tiaras, which she wears for formal but non-ceremonial occasions.
* DancingIsSeriousBusiness: Her foxtrot with President Kwame Nkrumah essentially saves the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ghana.
* {{Determinator}}: Not even muscle spasms from smiling too much will stop her from continuing on a punishing tour of the Commonwealth.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor call her "Creator/ShirleyTemple" behind her back on account of her curls and precociousness as a child.
* EnglishRose: Porcelain-skinned with rich brown hair and blue eyes, possesses a [[SilkHidingSteel gentle demeanor and iron will]], petite with a modest and elegant beauty.
* ErmineCapeEffect: The Duke of Windsor comments on how her coronation exemplifies this.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: She is thrilled at the variety of wildlife she gets to see up close during her and Philip's visit to Kenya. Subverted in that, like most of the British upper class, she has no problem with TheGrandHunt.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple and TrueBlueFemininity: Most of her outfits are one of these colors.
* GreenEyedMonster: Slightly envious of Jackie Kennedy and her seemingly natural charm.
* IAmVeryBritish: Has perhaps the most heightened ReceivedPronunciation of any character on the show.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Often, and much to her regret.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Would rather be an "ordinary English countrywoman" instead of, well, the Queen.
* IWasQuiteALooker: In the Season 3 premiere she muses about having gone from "young soverign" to "old bat" and how age is rarely kind to anyone but she reasons she always paled in comparison to Margaret so her aging out of her beauty isn't the tragedy it could be.
* ImportantHaircut: She tries out an early version of her current hairstyle in Season 2, soundtracked to the same anthem played at her coronation.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Her Lascelles-approved speeches give off this vibe, especially after her speech to the workers at Jaguar, which comes off as paternalistic and classist. All showing she is rather out of touch with her subjects.
* LackOfEmpathy: A very subdued, tragic version. In the wake of a terrible tragedy in Season 3 Elizabeth reflects that she might be 'broken' due to the fact she cannot connect to most people or cry. Though it is played with, I’m that it is clear that she genuinely does feel empathy for the victims of the tragedy, but cannot seem to make herself express it.
* LettingHerHairDown: While living in Malta in the early years of her and Philip's marriage, and on their visit to Kenya.
* MamaBear: Very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on him.
* MarriedToTheJob: Her royal duties often require her to spend long periods of time away from her husband, and sometimes restrict his behavior according to protocol.
* ModestRoyalty: Not particularly interested in fashion; she usually wears a sensible dress and pearls around Buckingham Palace.
* MyGreatestFailure: Season 3 features what the real Elizabeth considers the greatest regret of her reign, delaying a visit to Aberfan for several days after nearly 150 people were killed in a coal avalanche. Afterwards, she admits she's suspected for years that there's something wrong with her mind given her inability to cry at such tragedy.
* NatureLover: Fond of solitary moments in the country or the garden.
* NotSoDifferent: From Jackie Kennedy; the two bond over their mutual shyness and their attempts to reconcile this with their very public positions.
* OffscreenTeleportation: After meeting with Lord Altrincham to discuss his recommended modernisations, she seemingly disappears as if by magic from the room they were talking in, after he briefly leaves and re-enters. Altrincham is slightly unnerved when relaying this to a colleague, as there is no obvious alternate exit at all.
* OhCrap: Visibly has such a moment as she learns of the depth of the Duke of Windsor's affinity for Nazi Germany. This prevents her from allowing him back into public life out of Christian charity, as she had planned.
* ParentsAsPeople: While she of course loves her children without exception, her job does keep her unavailable from them, something that she herself resents. Also, while she, again, no doubt loves Charles, she is somewhat distant from him, as he represents the succession of the Crown, and therefore is a constant reminder, much like how she was for George, of her own mortality.
* ParentalNeglect: By Season 3, she's become very cold towards her elder children. Charles is saddened as he realizes he's more a chess piece than a child while Anne would like to be elevated to that level because Elizabeth doesn't have any real reaction towards her anymore[[note]]because Anne's so far down the line of succession as to essentially no longer matter[[/note]].
* PimpedOutDress: Wears floor-length gowns bedecked with ribbons for official portraits.
* PreciousPuppy: Several of her corgis are often seen scampering about Buckingham Palace.
* PrincessClassic: Especially when contrasted with Margaret.
* QuitYourWhining: Finally tells Philip to do this after losing her patience with his complaints about his position.
* RageBreakingPoint: Philip's insulting impression of her father. It's the only time in the series where she really loses her temper.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Much of the drama of the show is her struggle to be precisely this.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Margaret's Red.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: Like most modern monarchs, she never dons her crown and robes except for ceremonial occasions.
* RoyalBlood: From a line going back 900 years at least.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: She was a mechanic during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]]Indeed, she is the last surviving monarch to have legitimately served during the war[[/note]]. As a princess and as Queen, she understands that her role is to act as the living symbol of the United Kingdom and tirelessly goes around her realms to show her peoples the nation at work.
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Despite her lamentably limited education, she proves to have a deeper understanding of Britain's constitution than many of her courtiers and ministers, thanks to her childhood lessons with the vice-provost at Eton.
* TheScapegoat: Falls victim to this a lot, especially when it involves the personal lives of her family. As the head of the Royal Family and its most visible member, she gets blamed for the machinations of others, whether it's her government or her mother.
* ShrinkingViolet: Is naturally shy and hates the spotlight.
* SilkHidingSteel: She is naturally shy and hates being in the spotlight...however she proves to be an excellent and strong-willed stateswoman and possesses a very hardy commitment to her role and country. She even refuses to cut her tour short when learning that there have been death threats made from Gibraltar.
--> I am aware that I am surrounded by people who feel they could do the job better. Strong people with powerful characters, more natural leaders, perhaps better-suited to leading from the front, making a mark. But, for better or worse, the Crown has landed on my head. And I say we go.
* SingleTargetSexuality: As far as anyone can tell, and she herself proclaims, she has only ever loved Philip, no one else.
* SlaveToPR: Becomes this after a poorly received speech at the Jaguar factory.
* StealthInsult: After she hears that Jacqueline Kennedy was gossiping about her at a dinner party and describing her as “a middle-aged woman, so incurious, unintelligent”, she listens to the insults Jackie has slung at her, pauses for a moment, and then says, “Well, we must have her again,” with a delivery so cold it should be the new international standard for absolute zero.
* StepfordSmiler: Especially during the Commonwealth tour, when excessive smiling results in facial spasms.
* StiffUpperLip: She will do her duty with as little fuss as possible. It takes an incredible amount of stress for her facade to even start showing cracks and, even then, they are so subtle that few even notice she's under strain.
* StrangelyArousing: Philip can't put his finger on why she is especially attractive after she lectures Bobbety and Winston.
* SurroundedByIdiots: As her Grandmother put it, the crown comes first before any self-centered desires. Unfortunately Elizabeth has to contend with the self-centeredness and buffonery of several family members within the family and advisors.
* TookALevelInBadass: Having erred on the side of caution for much of Series 1, her aforementioned assertion that she will ''not'' miss out Gibraltar from her Commonwealth tour, despite death threats, marks a turning point in her own confidence and authority.
* VerbalTic: "Oh!", to express [[FlatWhat mild surprise]].
* WellDoneSonGuy: Female version; Philip sarcastically suggests that she only puts up with her duties as Queen to make her father love her as much as Margaret. [[RageBreakingPoint This clearly strikes a nerve]].
* WindbagPolitician: Lord Altrincham's opinion of her after her speech at the Jaguar factory.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Her youth and inexperience could have made her much more impulsive and selfish than she allows herself to be.
* WrenchWench: Takes great pride in her wartime service as a mechanic and driver, and jumps at the chance to show off her skills in the event of car trouble.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The day her father dies, she writes him a letter asking permission for her and Philip to return to Malta, where they lived early in their marriage. Later in the series, she refers to Malta as her "island of happy memories."
* YoungAndInCharge: Elizabeth is 25 when she takes the throne.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]]
!!His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s1_012.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/MattSmith (Seasons 1&2), Finn Elliot (child, Season 2). Creator/TobiasMenzies (Seasons 3&4)
->''"What kind of marriage is this? What kind of family? You've taken my career from me, you've taken my home. You've taken my name."''
Elizabeth's husband and consort. After his wife's elevation to the throne, he finds himself in a position of subservience he was unprepared for and must try and find a place for himself in his family's new life.
----
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Whilst the real Philip '''is''' infamous for being hotheaded and perpetually sticking his foot in his mouth, he is also undyingly loyal to Elizabeth and the institution of the British Crown. It's accepted that he'll occasionally grumble about certain things, but the Duke of Edinburgh was never as antagonistic as the show portrays him to be.
* BrokenPedestal: After being fascinated by the Apollo 11 crew during his dissatisfaction with his own achievements, he arranges a private meeting and is surprised to find they're basically blue collar joes who don't seem to have any appreciation for the grandeur of their accomplishment.
* ButIPlayOneOnTV: He finds it a little ridiculous that, as a career sailor, he was made an Honorary Marshal of the Royal Air Force and decides to take flying lessons so that he can legitimately wear pilot's wings on his uniform.
* ChestOfMedals: He has an impressive collection of medals that he often wears (as seen in his page photo). While most of these are of the ceremonial kind, he did earn his World War II campaign medals the hard way.
* CompetitionFreak: The Duke prefers sports and competition to dinners and speeches, and will treat any contest as SeriousBusiness, be it the Royal Navy rowing competition or some tug of war with the natives.
-->Row, you bastards!
* DeadpanSnarker: He has a snide remark for almost every situation.
* TheDrunkenSailor: Feels free to become this while traveling on the Royal Yacht ''Britannia''.
* FreudianExcuse: The second season explores how his harsh experiences at Gordonstoun [[spoiler: compounded with the death of his sister and her family]] and his complicated feelings towards his parents played a role into his hot-heated obsession with personal ego.
* FriendToAllChildren: For all his faults, Philip is consistently shown to be a doting father to his children who despises having to spend time apart from his family. He is also shown playing with two boys who work at Sagana Lodge on his and Elizabeth's return from Treetops. This begins to be subverted as Charles is not turning out the way Philip hoped, and his disappointment is obvious.
* GenerationXerox: His father was distant and cold towards him and, despite his best efforts, he finds himself being distant and cold towards Charles.
* HasAType: Cites Creator/JayneMansfield and Creator/RitaHayworth, both of whom had curly shoulder-length hair, as [[CelebCrush celebrity crushes]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: All of his suggestions about the coronation, which cause much of a flap among the stuffy old establishment types who are organising it, are centred around modernising the monarchy. However he noticeably chafes at the prospect of having to kneel in submission before his own wife, a very old-fashioned attitude indeed.
* IdleRich: As a royal consort, he has no official duties of his own beyond looking presentable next to his wife. He deals with the boredom by frequently partying and getting drunk with friends and by taking up flying as a hobby.
* ImpoverishedPatrician: He grew up under very humble circumstances for someone born into royalty[[note]]Most of his family was forced into exile after a disastrous defeat of Greece by Turkey, with his father Andrew being court-martialed for his role in that defeat. The family were supported by rich relatives in Paris for several years, and then within a very short space of time, his mother Alice became ill and was institutionalized, his four sisters were married to German princes, and his father left for the south of France and only saw Philip (who was sent to school in England, Germany, and then Scotland) rarely, living with a mistress and dying heavily in debt.[[/note]] and was mainly looked after by his mother's equally royal, equally un-wealthy family.[[note]]The only one of his English relatives with a fortune was his aunt Edwina, Louis Mountbatten's wife.[[/note]] He lampshades this just before his own engagement, asking Elizabeth if she wouldn't prefer someone with money and property, and again bitterly during Margaret and Tony's engagement party, pointing out how his grandfather was a king, his father was a prince, and people still said he wasn't good enough.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: This is more or less his story arc in Season 2, where his often secretive, flippant and uncaring attitude is contrasted with his noble motives, inner strength and love for his family.
* JockDadNerdSon: Philip dearly loves Charles but is frequently frustrated by his son's sensitive nature. He decides to enroll Charles in Gordonstoun, a notoriously tough boarding school [[note]]Charles would later bitterly describe the place as "Colditz with kilts"[[/note]], in an attempt to prepare Charles for the harsh realities of the real world.
* KubrickStare: He is very tall and has to look down a lot, so he usually delivers his pungent remarks and strides around in this way.
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: His reaction to Elizabeth's "tidy and sensible" haircut.
* TheMaidenNameDebate: He and Elizabeth both want their children to take his surname of Mountbatten. Her advisors, the government, and the Queen Mother insist otherwise. A case of TruthInTelevision as Philip complained that he was "the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." A 1960 Privy Council declaration created the surname "Mountbatten-Windsor" for male-line descendants of the Queen who do not have royal titles, or when royals who do not typically use surnames require one, such as for a marriage registry.
* MissingMom: Separated from his mother Alice for much of his childhood and young adulthood, due to her illness and institutionalization, followed by WWII, to the point where Philip refers to her in 1967 as "she gave birth to me. That's all." (His father Andrea followed this by then becoming a DisappearedDad, moving to the Riviera and letting other people play a far more active role in Philip's life, before dying during WWII. Small wonder the Duke of Windsor snarkily refers to Philip as "the foundling".)
* MistakenForCheating: Since he spends most of his time partying with his friends away from the palace, his possible infidelity nags at the back of Elizabeth's mind. Rumors did swirl at the time that Philip was having an affair (if not several), and do play a part during the second season, enough for Elizabeth to issue an official denial.
* OddFriendship: In Season 3, the blue-blooded and traditional Queen has a close, confidential relationship with the Socialist Harold Wilson.
* OnlySaneMan: As one of the few characters who haven't spent their entire lives dealing with the British Royal Court, he is able to see some of the absurdities inherent in the system. Unfortunately for him, no one listens to what he has to say.
* ParentalFavoritism: He gets on much better with outgoing tomboy Anne rather than shy, sensitive Charles.
* {{Pride}}: Several of the conflicts between himself and Elizabeth stem from his pride chafing at his inferior role in their relationship since she became Queen.
* RichBoredom: Because he has nothing to do as a royal consort, he begins going out and partying all day long. When that gets to be boring, he starts taking flying lessons and decides to become the fastest-qualified pilot in Britain simply because he has time to spare.
* SeadogBeard: Allows this to grow over the course of his solo Commonwealth tour.
* StuckInTheirShadow: His wife's shadow, to be exact, and he ''hates'' it.
* ToughLove: He engages in this with Charles, sending his son to a notoriously tough boarding school and openly expressing his displeasure at Charles' sensitive nature. He's even tough when being affectionate towards Charles, roughly clasping his son and manhandling him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Margaret]]
!!Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nintchdbpict000310906315_e1490253709761.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/VanessaKirby (Seasons 1&2), Beau Gadsdon (child, Season 1), Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter (Seasons 3&4)
->"''You think that I am free? To be constantly in your shadow. Constantly the overlooked one.''"
Elizabeth's younger sister. More vivacious, modern and charismatic than Elizabeth, she resents living in her sister's shadow, but her own arrogance and wilful sense of independence creates just as many problems for Elizabeth.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Margot, as she was known within the Royal Family.
* AgeGapRomance: With Peter Townsend, he was 16 years her senior.
* TheBeautifulElite: When she was born in 1930, her grandfather was King-Emperor of the largest Empire the world has ever known, or will likely ever know again, so in terms of elite, she's about as elite as it gets -- and doesn't she know it. Cecil Beaton gushingly explains to her this is why her annual birthday portrait is so important to the British public; -- her image can invoke the fantasies of the drab reality many of the people face. As in real life, Princess Margaret was quite famed for her ethereal beauty, as well as her haughty superiority at times.
* BeehiveHairdo: Gets these hairdos in Season 3 (starting in 1964).
* BourgeoisBohemian: The counterculture of the 1960s agrees with her, except for the side of her that still ''loves'' to be a princess. The Queen chides her that she's "the least egalitarian person she's ever met."
* CheerfulChild: A flashback shows her playfully sticking her tongue out at Elizabeth during an etiquette lesson.
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: She shreds Elizabeth over showing a lack of personality as monarch. She doesn’t seem to realize that, as monarch, this is exactly what Elizabeth is ''supposed'' to be doing and that the [[TheChainsOfCommanding suppression of her own personality and desires in favor of her royal duty]] is actually quite hard on her.
* CoolAunt: A downplayed example. She is rather concerned about the choice of name for her 2nd nephew and in one episode of Season 2 is seen holding and cuddling her niece Anne.
** In Season 3, her niece Anne is rather amused at her remarks, in comparison to anything her maternal grandmother and parents have to say.
* DaddysGirl: As their father says "Elizabeth is my pride, but Margaret is my joy."
* DrivenToSuicide: Almost does this in the Season 3 finale after getting divorced from Tony and losing her lover, while her Mother makes light of it, Elizabeth actually has a heart to heart with her.
* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: Played with; she is at her best when reading her own words, not those provided to her by courtiers.
* EnglishRose: Beautiful, elegant, fashionable, slim, and spirited...she fits the image of the English Rose. An image that is foisted on her by her position, her mother, and the palace photographer. She tries to rebel against that image with sexier portraits of all things.
* TheFashionista: She can be seen parading around in the haute couture and outdoor fashions of her era.
* GreenEyedMonster: Much as she accuses Elizabeth of jealousy towards her, it's pretty clear that she's even more jealous about Elizabeth's position in the spotlight and how constantly overshadowed she is.
* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: She enjoys the perks of being a princess, but loathes the responsibilities and restraints it entails.
* HonorableMarriageProposal: Receives one of these from her friend Billy Wallace, as they know he will be accepted by her family. This falls apart quickly after one of her other suitors [[DuelsDecideEverything challenges him]] over flirting with other women.
* HeroicBSOD: She falls into deep despair the evening she finds out about Wallace’s behaviour, detailed above, and trashes her bedroom in a mascara-smeared, drunken rage, which is scored by the deeply melancholic ''Angel Eyes'' by Music/EllaFitzgerald.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She claims to be a free modern woman, breaking away from the stale traditions of the royal family -- but Elizabeth calmly points out that she's not giving up her titles or her privileges, and she never will, because she values all the trappings of royalty too much. She also makes a big deal of how much of an egalitarian, modern woman she is, prompting Elizabeth to note that Margaret is possibly the ''least'' egalitarian woman Elizabeth has ever met.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Couldn't care less that her renovations are bothering the other residents of Kensington Palace, and assumes their complaints are out of jealousy.
** While Margaret does have some valid reasons to feel jealous with regards to being overshadowed by Elizabeth and hard-done-by with regards to how she and her romantic partners have been treated, she often tends to default to the position that anything Elizabeth does is part of some overarching malicious scheme to spite her rather than consider the possibility that the inconveniences Elizabeth imposes might not be personal. For example, when Elizabeth reveals that her pregnancy means that Margaret's engagement announcement will have to be delayed for a few months[[note]]Royal protocol means that the birth of a child of the monarch, and thus another immediate heir to the throne, takes precedence over any other Royal family member's news[[/note]], Margaret's response is an outburst of outraged whining and petty insults with a curt, tossed-off "Congratulations, by the way," briefly thrown in.
* IWillWaitForYou: Her and Peter willingly undergo this for two years so that they will be allowed to marry. In an unusual variation, they still don’t get to be together when it’s over as Margaret can't reconcile giving up her place in the Royal Family to do so.
* JerkassHasAPoint: She gets a few of these
** Margaret is justified at being upset over how her role as princess interferes with her personal life and restricts her freedom. This is particularly noticeable in her doomed relationship with Peter Townsend. Most of her JerkAss moments come from her tendency to lash out with personal insults and pettiness when dealing with it instead of trying to approach the issue with maturity or showing any understanding of the other side’s arguments.
-->'''Elizabeth''': As your sister, I would have been perfectly happy for you to marry Peter. It was the Crown that forbade it. Not to mention the fact that he was a little old. Not really from the right -
-->'''Margaret''': No, no, don't you dare say background.
-->'''Elizabeth''': Well I just think it might have all come back to haunt you.
-->'''Margaret''': What, did Philip's Nazi sisters come back to haunt him? Or his lunatic mother? Or his womanising, bankrupt father?
** She is absolutely right about the dangerous work faced by British coal miners.
** She understandably feels betrayed [[spoiler: after her two year separation from Peter is over and she finds out they still won’t be allowed to marry. She did keep up her end of the bargain, after all.]]
** She might have a point about the eagerness of the press to paint her as the wicked sister to Elizabeth's 'good queen' persona.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She can be abrasive, rude and snarky, but she does love her family very much, and at times does thoroughly respect her sister's position as head of the family. Also she publicly expresses her sympathy to the plight of the British coal miners, however this is frowned upon by both the monarchy and government due to their staunch stance on remaining politically neutral.
* LadyDrunk: She drinks an awful lot and blames it on her being unhappy. It's a habit that gets worse as the time goes by.
* MustHaveNicotine: Almost constantly seen with a cigarette in her hand, as per real life.
* MutualEnvy: Elizabeth and Margaret often wish they could trade roles.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Much like in real life, Margaret is a notable aversion to this trope. She treats her staff with terrible rudeness. It's implied that it's partly because of her unhappiness, but she continues to be abrasive even after she gets married.
* NonIdleRich: At least by the end of Season 2, she shows hints of her becoming the famous patron of the arts history would remember her for.
* NotAMorningPerson: Typically rises around 11:30 -- mostly due to being out partying til 4am.
* OddFriendship: The young, cultured, blue-blooded British Royal Princess has this with the middle-aged, abrasive, Texan President and Farmer's Son Lyndon B. Johnson enjoy this relationship in "Margaretology" bonding over their shared rude sense of humor and inferiority complexes.
* ParentalFavoritism: Knows all too well, and almost explicitly states, that she was on the receiving end of this from the King.
* PhotosLie: Has this opinion of the fantastical portraits taken by court photographer Cecil Beaton, whom she despises.
* ThePianoPlayer: Plays and sings "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" with her father [[spoiler:the night before he dies]].
* ProudBeauty: She is very well aware of how beautiful she is and is annoyed when people tell her that her [[IWasQuiteALooker last birthday portrait made her look like her mother did at that age]].
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Especially in Season 3, with her dark hair in a beehive and her pale skin.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** She delivers a positively ''withering'' one of these to Billy Wallace, after she discovers his cheating ways during their engagement:
-->'''Margaret''': "You pathetic, weak, contemptible fool. I never even wanted to marry you. You were only ever an act of charity. Or desperation. And now you insult me? You? People like you don't get to insult people like me. You get to be eternally grateful. You've quite the way with women. Take a look at this face. A picture of disappointment and disgust. This is the look that every woman you ever know will come to share. This is what the next forty years of your life will look like."
** She has a tendency to deliver rather waspish put-downs towards Elizabeth as well, particularly around the whole Peter Townsend mess. Deconstructed, however, since in this case it's really out of Margaret's own sense of inferiority and jealousy, and no matter how cruel towards Elizabeth she is that feeling will never go away.
* RebelliousPrincess: Unlike the rest of the royal family, who strive to present an image of political neutrality and moral sobriety, Margaret freely gives her opinions and thrives on her party girl lifestyle.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Elizabeth's Blue.
* RichBitch: Margaret often behaves like a spoiled snob, and is capable of cutting remarks and hauteur, as per real life.
* RidiculouslyPhotogenic: As Wallis says after the photo taken by Tony appears in the papers: "Ooh-la-la!"
* SilentSnarker: Philip sometimes joins her in this.
* SpeakTruthToPower: '''No one''', bar herself (and Prince Philip) ever back-chat, argue, or volley insults at the Queen; -- she only gets away with it because she's her sister.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Very proud of the definite article “The” before her title, a distinction only a child of a King or Queen is entitled to have, which elevates her from those she considers “low-ranking” princesses like her neighbour Princess Marina.
* UpperClassEquestrian: Is seen riding horses on several occasions most notably after her father's sudden death when she rides a horse to a secret meeting with Peter, who in comparison drives to the meeting place.
* UptownGirl: To Antony Armstrong-Jones, who is something of a "backstreet guy."
* YoureJustJealous: Accuses Elizabeth of this after every hindrance of her and Peter's relationship. [[JerkassHasAPoint She's not entirely wrong]].
** Also her reaction to complaints about her constant, noisy renovations from minor royals living in Kensington Palace.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: King George VI]]
!!His Majesty King George VI
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/le_roi_george_vi_dans_the_crown.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/JaredHarris
-> ''"I no longer am Albert Windsor. That person was murdered by his elder brother... when he abdicated."''
King of the United Kingdom from 1936-1952, and Elizabeth's father. A shy, modest and gentle man with a lingering stutter, he is forced to confront his own mortality upon being diagnosed with cancer, and his unexpectedly sudden death will propel Elizabeth into the role of the monarch that she is not fully prepared for.
----
* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Shown to be a genuinely gentle and compassionate man who loved his family and carried on with his job despite the toll it took on him. The fact that he both took over when his brother abdicated despite being ''very'' reluctant to do so and then subsequently reigned during the Second World War certainly helped with this.
* AffectionateNickname: Downplayed. Everyone in his family always called him "Bertie." However, this is because his birth name was Albert.
* BloodFromTheMouth: He opens the series coughing up blood. He and his courtiers try and convince themselves that it's merely because of the cold weather and nothing more serious.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: His plans for a relatively normal life are scrapped after his brother's abdication, and the mounting stress of the kingship becomes a contributing factor to his early death.
* DecoyProtagonist: He is pretty much the central character in the first episode, but dies halfway through episode two. The series averts the usual "sudden twist" aspect of the trope by making it clear pretty much from the first scene of the series with the IncurableCoughOfDeath that he's not going to be around long (plus, well, anyone with a basic grasp of modern British history will have this figured out from the start), and the episode is all about his grappling with his mortality.
* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Only a selected few know about his "structural alterations", a malignant tumor, and then only Churchill calls it by its real name, ''cancer''. His Majesty is not told the true nature of the illness until some months before it becomes fatal.
* DotingGrandparent: Is shown cuddling baby Anne in a home movie and playing with Charles at Sandringham.
* FreakOut: When a valet has trouble adjusting his collar.
* TheGoodKing: Is shown to be a kind and benevolent ruler, who always wanted what was best for his people, despite the toll it took on his health, and in turn is thoroughly adored by the British population.
* GoodParents: A genial father to his daughters.
* TheHero: Explicitly according to Tommy Lascelles, and implicitly according to the rest of Britain.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Dies of lung cancer and begins the series coughing up blood.
* MustHaveNicotine: He was a heavy smoker and the habit was exacerbated by the stresses of being King. He was smoking up to 40 cigarettes a day towards the end of his life, resulting in the removal of one cancerous lung and an early death. He keeps smoking even after losing a lung.
* OutsideTheBoxTactic: Turns his daily red box upside down before opening it so he can be sure to see the most sensitive papers, which Cabinet officials place at the bottom. Elizabeth [[ContinuityNod does the same]] with her red boxes.
* PapaWolf: Protective of his daughters, particularly Elizabeth. Openly makes it clear to Philip, as George knows due to his increasingly failing health that the very young Elizabeth will be Queen much sooner than she realizes, that his job will be to always and without exception protect, love and support her, both as his wife and as his Monarch.
-->''She'' is the job!
* PosthumousCharacter: He dies in the second episode but his presence and influence is felt throughout the rest of the first season through flashbacks, and [[TheCameo once]] in the second season in a WWII flashback.
* TheQuietOne: He was a painfully shy person by nature and had a terrible stutter that needed [[Film/TheKingsSpeech significant therapy]] to keep under control and would avoid speaking if at all possible.
* SiblingYinYang: Contrast his self-effacing heroics with his self-interested elder brother the Duke of Windsor.
* SophisticatedAsHell: He's introduced getting dressed in his finery while swapping bawdy limericks with his equerry.
-->There was an old Countess of Bray. And you might think it odd when I say, that despite her high station, rank and education, she always spelled "Cunt" with a K!
* SpareToTheThrone: As the second son of George V, Albert was not expected to inherit the throne and never wanted the crown, but the abdication of his brother Edward changed Albert's life dramatically.
* SpeechImpediment: Has a noticeable stammer.
* StiffUpperLip: He was never intended to be Monarch and most definitely didn't aspire to the throne[[note]]There was even talk of finding a way to bypass him in favor of his younger brother Prince George[[/note]]. Nevertheless, he did his duty and won the love and respect of his peoples without ever letting the public see just how much he was suffering under the stress.
* ThatManIsDead: Eden goes to the King asking him to encourage Churchill to retire, not as the sovereign George VI, but as Churchill's friend Albert Windsor. While the King hints that Churchill's friend Albert Windsor would indeed encourage Churchill to retire, Albert Windsor died when he became George VI, and he cannot involve himself directly in politics. [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech He then gently tells the ambitious Eden that his ambition is misplaced as he will become Prime Minister eventually.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother]]
!!Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5b6ad2ae_4539_4a72_bb30_b28090297357.jpeg]]
->'''Played By''': Victoria Hamilton (Seasons 1&2), Marion Bailey (Seasons 3&4)
-> ''"We taught you how to be a lady, a princess. What do you want? A degree? No one wants a bluestocking or college lecturer as sovereign. They want a Queen."''
The Queen Mother. A source of strength and support to the late King, on his death she finds herself without a role and with her traditional views of Britain and the monarchy increasingly under challenge.
----
* ADayInTheLimelight: In "Pride and Joy", where she takes a solo trip to her native Scotland and spends time with local friends.
* AbusiveParents: Seasons 1 and 2 show her to be belittling of Elizabeth as both a sovereign and not allowing her to have an education because no one wants a "bluestocking for a Queen" and a ControlFreak when it comes to Margaret's romantic life and even her birthday portrait. In Season 3 she goes so far as to call Margaret a "whore" after having an affair [[DoubleStandard despite Tony having carrying on affairs with both men and women]] and make light of her suicide attempt.
* AppealToTradition: A big part of her character is used to show how there was a push and pull between a more democratic progressiveness and elitist tradition, all in the goal of keeping the monarchy relevant. Her speech regarding how the Royal Family must modernize, smells of both [[SnobsVersusSlobs snobbery]] and this trope.
---> First the barons, then the merchants, now the journalists. That’s all we are now — marionettes.
* DeathWail: When the King is discovered to have passed away during the night, she races to his bedroom wracked with sobs. Princess Margaret, overhearing her mother's agonised cries from the hallway, realises the worst has happened.
* DemocracyIsBad: Her speech in ''Marionettes'' pretty much starts lamenting the [[https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/magna-carta Magna Carta]], which started England on the path towards a less autocratic government and her reaction to Lord Altrincham's opinions regarding the Royal Family suggests that she is not in favor of freedom of speech and expression.
* DramaQueen: She often does get rather dramatic and shrill -- particularly where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are concerned.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor dismissively call her "Cookie" because they believed she looked more like a servant rather than the someone of noble blood.
* TheGadfly: Between her UpperClassTwit voice and the rather rail-roading opinions she expresses to Elizabeth and Margaret (often triggering anxieties), she can come across as vaguely manipulative.
* GrannyClassic: A regal example. She seems to dote on her grandchildren and is rather concerned that Philip is being too hard on Charles.
* HappilyMarried: She is absolutely shattered by the death of King George VI, and vows never to forgive the Duke of Windsor for driving her beloved Bertie into an early grave.
* HistoricalDowngrade: Her real life counterpart was a British national hero for her role in providing moral support to the nation during the blitz, causing her to be named "the most dangerous woman in Europe" by Hitler. So far this hasn't quite been referenced, and she is depicted as a sweet, if slightly shrill, matriarch. This does reflect wider public opinion of her in her later years, however, as after the King's death and her subsequent stepping into the background, she tended to be regarded by the general public more as everyone's favourite slightly dotty grandmother with a fondness for a tipple.
* IWasQuiteALooker: It was said that Margaret's birthday portrait looked like how her Mother looked in her youth. Margaret is not happy about this.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Her hysteria over any changes the monarchy has to adapt to is less about her family and more about her comfort with luxury and tradition; also she seems more concerned with how things are for her rather than her daugher, one of whom is now Queen and she, by tradition, has to submit to.
* MyBelovedSmother: She never gets the notice that her daughters are grown and able to make their own decisions, trying to advise and control Elizabeth (who is a ruling monarch on top of being in her 30s and a wife and mother) and Margaret (over 21 and still trying to steer her to a "suitable" match).
* NeverMyFault: When confronted about how she and her husband didn't provide Elizabeth with a formal education (beyond lessons about court etiquette and the British Constitution), she shifts the blame to their advisors for not suggesting that the young princess be sent to school.
* NiceToTheWaiter: For the most part she is unfailingly polite to most everyone, (with notable exceptions being the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and at times Philip and his family) and even after his retirement, depended on Tommy Lascelles as both a confidant and friend. "Pride and Joy" sees her revelling in the fact that a man doesn't recognize her, allowing her the chance to befriend him on a more natural level, without her status as Queen complicating matters.
-->'''Captain Terry''': ''(after realizing the woman he's become friends with is the Queen Mother)'' Why on earth didn't you say, Ma'am?\\
'''Elizabeth''': Because people always makes such a fuss, and stop being themselves. ''(Then motions to The Castle of Mey, with a slight chuckle)'' And you would have double the price.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Was opposed to Philip marrying Elizabeth and while the two are civil, Elizabeth finds it surprising Philip celebrated at a bar with her and Tommy Lascelles (who he really dislikes). On the other hand, she really likes Tony, which annoys Margaret in the Season 3 premiere.
* OneSteveLimit: Also called Queen Elizabeth. A fact that amuses Queen Mary, also a "Queen", and confuses her nurse.
* ParentalMarriageVeto: Tried to invoke this on Elizabeth and Philip, which failed as she eventually married him anyway. She is much more successful and subtle in preventing Margaret's intention to marry Peter Townsend.
* PerpetualSmiler: In Season 3 she seems to smile a lot and crack jokes, a far cry from her whiny image in the first two seasons.
* RulingCouple
* StepfordSmiler: She is rather concerned with putting forth a fairy-tale like image of the royal family and cares for more frivolous pleasures. True to rumours, as the Queen Mother was stated to be almost emphatically unwilling to confront anything she found unpleasant.
* TechnologicallyBlindElders: "Dear Mrs. Kennedy" shows her furiously banging on the top of the tv despite Elizabeth's protestations that it will only make it worse when the signal gets messed up.
* ThriftyScot: The owner of the Castle of Mey invokes this when the Queen Mother cites the price for the Castle as a reason for not sharing her identity.
-->'''Captain Terry:''' Spoken like a true Scotswoman.
* UpperClassTwit: She doesn't possess a lot of common sense and shifts blame to her advisors when Elizabeth confronted her about her meagre education.
* YouAreFat: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor make references to her being fat constantly, in spite of the fact that, [[AdaptationalAttractiveness as played by Victoria Hamilton]], she is not as round as the Queen Mother turned out to be. This is partly out of spitefulness more than accuracy, however; the Windsors and the Queen Mother famously ''detested'' each other quite viciously, and things tended to get personal quite quickly.
** By Season 3 she has a more rotund appearance and when the family gathers to watch their documentary, while everyone pokes fun at their appearances and each other, she remarks about how many pounds the camera puts and Margaret jokes about the camera capturing her "good side": her backside.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Queen Mary]]
!!Her Majesty Queen Mary
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queenmary_7.png]]
->'''Played By''': Eileen Atkins
-> ''"The Crown must win. Must ''always'' win."''
Elizabeth and Margaret's grandmother, and George VI's mother. She is ailing by the time the season starts, but nevertheless possesses great reserves of strength and support.
----
* CoolOldLady: She suffers no fools, but also is quite charming. She expresses to Elizabeth the importance of her position as the Crown, and not as simply Elizabeth, explaining that God intended the monarchy's most important position is to present itself as stability and security to the country and act as an archetype and example of which their subjects can strive to live their lives. That said she isn't above sharing a sly joke with her young nurse, at the same time giving her a quick lesson on the succession of the Crown.
* FoodPorn: She inquires about [[FancyDinner the food]] her nephew Prince Ernst August of Hanover enjoyed at Lord Mountbatten's table, and positively salivates to hear him describe it.
-->'''Queen Mary''': The food is normally quite good at Broadlands.
-->'''Ernst August''': Outstanding!
-->'''Queen Mary''': Especially the duck, from memory, with oranges.
-->'''Ernst August''': Rum-soaked raisins...
-->'''Queen Mary''': Oh! A Prussian recipe.
-->'''Ernst August''': ''(in German)'' Spaetzle, too. Crispy, with cheese and breadcrumbs.
-->'''Queen Mary''': ''(in German)'' Delicious!
* GrandeDame: Multiple authors have not called her "the formidable Queen Mary" for nothing.
* GratuitousGerman: Engages in some of this with "meine liebe Ernst."
* HatesSmallTalk: Makes Elizabeth promise not to ask about her health, which at that point is quite fragile.
-->Forget death by lung disease. It's death by bad conversation.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Typically seen with a glass of amber liquid in stressful moments.
* MeaningfulLook: To Elizabeth, when bowing to her for the first time. It's as if she's channeling the determination Elizabeth needs directly into her with her eyes.
* MentorArchetype: In a way. Before dying, she gives Elizabeth valuable advice which is to shape her reign. She emphasises impartiality at all times, even advising against smiling, lest it reveal the monarch’s opinion and impresses upon her granddaughter, as the quote above indicates, that the Crown must trump all else.
* MustHaveNicotine: Does not have many scenes that ''don't'' include a cigarette.
* NeverMessWithGranny: Prince Ernst August looks genuinely terrified to admit to her that he drank champagne the day after her son's funeral.
* NeverSayThatAgain: Strongly advises son David not to speak his wife's name (the scandalous Wallis Simpson) in her presence.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: She outlived three sons before she died.
* ParentalFavoritism: For George VI, and she doesn't particularly care if [[DisappointedInYou his older brother]] knows it.
* StealthInsult: When Edward visits her before George VI's funeral, she calls George the perfect son, cementing Edward's status as TheUnfavorite ''right in front of him''.
* WidowsWeeds: Although she's mourning her son, not her husband, when she goes to bow to the new Queen for the first time in full widow regalia.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Duke of Windsor]]
!!His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dukeofwindsor_3.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Alex Jennings (Seasons 1&2), Creator/DerekJacobi (Season 3)
-> ''"I will always be half King, my tragedy is that I have no kingdom. You have it. And you must protect it."''
The former King Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in 1936 in order to marry his twice-divorced lover Wallis Simpson. This act caused a crisis which threatened the monarchy, forced his reluctant younger brother to take the throne and had effects which continue to ripple through British society. Reduced to glorified exiles as a result, he is bitter towards the Windsors for insults and mistreatment both real and perceived, an enmity which several in the family and British establishment alike are more than willing to return.
----
* AbdicateTheThrone: Edward was infamously driven to it to marry his twice-divorced lover. The memory of the crisis still haunts the House of Windsor.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The ending of "Vergangenheit" is played as if the Duke is banished from Britain forever and remains forever estranged from his family from that point on. In fact, he returned to Britain frequently and saw his extended family again even after the release of the Marburg Papers.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's all charm and obsequiousness to his niece and relatives in person, but shares bitchy gossip and snide nicknames about them with his wife in private. In a variation, said niece and relatives are well aware that he does this, which is one reason why they dislike him so much.
* BlackSheep: After the abdication crisis, where he puts his own person before the crown, he is effectively banished and becomes persona non grata for most of the family.
* CoattailRidingRelative: But his attempts to use his niece's position to his advantage never seem to work out.
* EvilUncle: Downplayed, but it's still clear that most of his family still blame him for the abdication and indirectly causing George VI's early death.
* GreenEyedMonster: He can be particularly vicious about Elizabeth behind her back, but it's implied to be because she now holds the position -- and the power -- that he gave up. In a particularly sad irony, Elizabeth is often shown to be one of the few members of his extended family who is willing to show kindness and forgiveness towards him (at least, until she learns the full extent of his connections with the Nazis).
* GuiltyPleasures
-->Having had a naval background, I don't much care for fussy things or smells. But I do like a good well-milled soap.
* HiddenDepths: Is shown crying while playing the bagpipes after Elizabeth's coronation, hinting at some regret at the abdication if not the circumstances it occurred under.
* {{Hypocrite}}: On several occasions, scenes of Edward's family members experiencing some kind of grief or loss, or offering Edward some hospitality (even if grudgingly), are contrasted with a voiceover of one of Edward's bitchy letters to Wallis in which he denounces them as awful, selfish, cold and unfeeling. In general, he's all charm (or smarm) and obsequiousness to their faces, but vicious, waspish and spiteful behind their backs.
* ImStandingRightHere: When Queen Mary calls Bertie the perfect son, his expression practically shouts this.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: A lifelong smoker, in his final months he suffers from hideous bloody coughing fits.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Or all about "me and Wallis" at least; he's incapable of letting go of his bitterness and resentment for how his extended family treat him over a decision that was entirely within his own power and which caused them no small amount of upheaval and grief as well.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He's not entirely wrong to feel resentment at his treatment at the hands of the Royal Family and the British establishment at times, nor that their treatment of him and his wife can be a bit unnecessarily cruel. However, [[ItsAllAboutMe it just never seems to register]] that they ''also'' have a point and it's largely due to [[NeverMyFault his own selfish actions that he gets treated the way he does]]. He also gives genuinely good advice to Elizabeth on a couple of occasions, although it's usually out of self-serving reasons that he'll benefit from in some way.
* JerkassRealization:
** An understated example: he seems genuinely regretful when he realizes Elizabeth doesn't hate him for the same reasons as her family and that she wanted nothing to do with her royal position. While still treating her and the family with disdain, he gives Elizabeth a genuine apology and is much more helpful in private conversation afterwards.
** He's also left visibly shaken when, after being confronted with the true depths he went to with regards to his fondness for the Nazis, Elizabeth coldly asks how he can possibly forgive himself.
* KickTheDog: He gets some real villain moments:
** He declares he wants his mother to die when she becomes very ill because, if she recovers, a second trip would be unbearable.
** He and Wallis laugh over Elizabeth's bad press.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: For all his snideness about his family and the institution, the weight of his decision to abdicate the throne clearly weighs on him. He's also left looking very shaken when Elizabeth confronts him about his connections to and dealings with the Nazis.
* NeverLiveItDown: The Abdication, full stop, whatever he tries. His Nazi affiliations are a close second.
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Does so, about King George VI, much to the anger of Tommy Lascelles.
* TheNicknamer: He has unflattering nicknames for his entire family, and flattering ones for Wallis.
* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: His family and Wallis call him "David" [[note]]last of his many given names[[/note]], not Edward.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: InUniverse, you can tell he's picked up some Americanisms from his wife over the last sixteen years. He pronounces “past” and “bath” with a flat a, for example.
* OpenMouthInsertFoot: When he gets riled up and his charm begins to slip, he has a tendency to [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech lash out at the people around him]] until he goes too far and completely undercuts himself:
** In "Coronation Day", he's infuriated when it's made clear that his wife won't be invited to the coronation in a transparent attempt to prevent him from attending as well. He makes some points about the hypocrisy and cruelty of the situation in a way that those he's attacking [[JerkassHasAPoint can't really argue with]]... until he makes the mistake of referring to the late King George VI as "weak." Tommy Lascelles immediately smacks that down, and even the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has tried to be a mediating and neutral figure throughout the meeting, makes it clear that that was a step too far.
--->'''Tommy Lascelles:''' [[TranquilFury Nothing weak about the late King,]] ''[[GentlemanSnarker sir]]''. I'm sure I speak for everyone present when I call him a hero.\\
'''Archbishop of Canterbury:''' ''[Firmly]'' Here here.
** In "Vergangenheit", he delivers a bitter retort when Elizabeth refuses his request for royal engagements, and implicitly refuses to allow him to rehabilitate his public image, and denounces the "inhumanity" of her and her family towards him and his wife. It quickly becomes apparent that this was a ''very'' bad choice of words on his part, coming as it does on the heels of Elizabeth learning ''precisely'' how chummy with the Nazis he and Wallis got, and she proceeds to give it back to him with both barrels, making it abundantly clear that forgiveness is not forthcoming and if he knows what's good for him he'll not be showing his face in her presence any time soon. [[JerkassRealization The look on his face]] [[OhCrap makes it clear he knows]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone just how deeply he's trodden in it this time]], and he quickly scurries away.
* PetTheDog: Actually gives Elizabeth good advice when she asks him for it. He also quickly gives her an apology for indirectly forcing her into her current role when she spells out why she's owed it. He also genuinely loves Wallis.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Would like to be one of these after growing bored with the TwentyFourHourPartyPeople at Villa Windsor. A MoralEventHorizon makes this impossible. Though it's played with, since he quails a bit at the thought of anything which might actually require him to do some proper work; he'd like something fairly glamourous, easy and showy, but which doesn't require him to actually do much. In essence, he'd like to be a Royal Who Actually Does Something As Long As It's Glamorous And Very Easy.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Complains of the "pusillanimity" of the Royal Family in denying an invitation to Elizabeth's coronation to his wife.
* SharpDressedMan
-->"No matter the fashion, a well-cut suit in a beautiful fabric will take you anywhere."[[note]] TruthInTelevision: the Duke of Windsor was very much a style icon in RealLife.[[/note]]
* SiblingYinYang: With George VI. Bertie gave his life for his country despite being awkward and unprepared, while charming David ran away from self-interest. Perhaps it's more accurate that their fear drove them in different directions.
* TheStarscream: He schemed a plot with the Nazis that would give the Germans a free reign in Europa in exchange for reinstating him as the King of England, usurping his brother.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Elizabeth was willing to forgive him even after she learns of some of his Nazi sympathies, but when the full extent of his collusion with Adolf Hitler -- tantamount to treason -- is revealed to her, she banishes Edward for good.
* TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Series two episode "Vergangenheit" tackles the Duke’s relationship with the Nazis, after the unearthing of the so-called Marburg Files. In its telling, the Duke is nothing short of a treacherous Nazi sympathizer, whose loathing for his former kingdom extended so far as to encourage the Germans to bomb it into suing for peace.
* TheUnfavourite: Compared to Bertie, after the abdication.
* UnreliableNarrator: In-Universe. Tends to exaggerate his family's more unsavoury traits in his letters to Wallis. On at least one occasion, his description of his arrival in England and being greeted by crowds of admirers is contrasted with the reality, in which everyone else carries on with their business not paying him the slightest bit of attention except for one person who shouts a greeting to him.
* VoiceoverLetter: Sends one or two of these to Wallis whenever he visits London.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Lord Snowdon]]
!!The Right Honourable Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lordsnowdon.png]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/MatthewGoode (Season 2), Ben Daniels (Seasons 3&4)
A British photographer and film-maker, who marries Princess Margaret. Their relationship proved to be turbulent for themselves, the Royal Family, and British society.
----
* BiTheWay: Has relations not just with multiple women, but with a few men as well, something that the real Earl of Snowdon never outright confirmed, nor did he ever deny.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Male version; his unconventional irreverence is Margaret's main draw to "Tony."
* MistakenForGay: Margaret believes he is "simply queer" after their first meeting. [[AnythingThatMoves It's not that simple]].
* MrFanservice: Played by the classically handsome Matthew Goode, and often shown to be in the nude.
* MustHaveNicotine: Is constantly smoking, something he and Margaret have in common.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: During the Aberfan disaster he goes to document the incident showing endless grief and horror for the tragedy. Margaret (and the viewer) have never seen him so shocked.
* RebelRelaxation: He's very laid back, even literally. At one point he's seen waiting resting on the floor of a large empty room of the Palace.
* ReallyGetsAround: Crossed with AnythingThatMoves: exotic-looking dancers? Check. Young British couples? Check. Actresses? Check. Princess Margaret? He's had them all.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Suffers from a terrible case of this towards his mother, who is shown to be very cold and uncaring to him and to favor his step-brother. Tony sees himself (rightfully so) as TheUnfavorite, the son born from an unsuccessful marriage with no title, and tries very hard to win his mother's favor. It's even implied that he married Margaret because he thought it would please his mother and help him to prove himself in her eyes. His mother actually ponders it, on their way to the wedding no less.
-->'''Tony:''' I suppose I always thought that eventually you'd find it in you to admit that you're proud of me. Perhaps even that you love me.\\
'''Anne Messel:''' Darling, I do hope you haven't done all this for me.\\
''(no answer)''
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Prince Charles]]
!!His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princecharles_6.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Billy Jenkins (Season 1&2), Julian Baring (Season 2), Josh O'Connor (Seasons 3&4)
The oldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and heir to the throne.
----
* AbusiveParents:
** Philip gives out what would now be considered emotional abuse, because of his disappointment at Charles's disposition.
** Elizabeth is also very distant with her son, implied to be because she can not see anything in Charles other than her own mortality as her heir and successor.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Gives a few (politely) to Edward Millward in their first meeting.
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: The harsh and disciplined Gordonstoun, Philip's own alma mater, is hell for the empathetic and sensitive Charles, who described it as "Colditz in Kilts."
* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling The Old Lady Out]]: Has a tragic one to give to Elizabeth in Season 3 after she upbraids him for a speech that found comparisons to his plight as heir to the plight of the Welsh people and sympathizes with Welsh national and cultural identity and tells her he is not just a symbol.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Almost tragically, it's not surprising that he bonds with his great uncle the Duke of Windsor stemming from the perceived coldness they receive from their family.
* GenerationXerox: Upon becoming Prince of Wales, he very much sees himself in the former title holder, his great-uncle Edward VIII, wanting to make drastic changes to the entire concept of the monarchy but stifled by the establishment, and especially vows that he also won't let himself be driven from his true love, which history tells us took some twists and turns but got there in the end.
* FriendToAllChildren: Like his uncle and father, he is fond of children, like Professor Millward's young son Andras.
* JockDadNerdSon: Philip is driven to frustration by Charles' sensitive nature and dislike of physical activity[[note]]ArtisticLicenseHistory as Charles is well-known as a competitive sportsman who enjoys hiking around the Scottish highlands in little more than a kilt and a tweed jacket. He also legitimately qualified as a military pilot and paratrooper, both extremely tough things to do[[/note]]. Philip's attempts at trying to connect with Charles are shown to fail as Philip can't help but start berating his son to become tougher.
* LoveDodecahedron: The path of his and Camilla's relationship was famously convoluted. Initially they start dating after Camilla broke up with Andrew Parker Bowles, at the same time Bowles hooks up with Charles' sister Anne, only for Camilla and Bowles to marry anyway a few years later.
* MilitarySalute: ''Adorably'' does this when presenting Philip with his new rank insignia.
* ModestRoyalty: He was the first-ever British royal heir to be sent to public school[[note]]fee-paying[[/note]] rather than be educated by a private tutor. Unfortunately, his classmates all being well aware of his status leads to horrible bullying.[[note]]While not shown in the series, it was reportedly popular among his classmates to be able to brag that they'd punched the future king in the bollocks.[[/note]]
* NiceToTheWaiter: Even after [[AbusiveParents a fight with his father has been distressing him]], he is still well-mannered, even cheerful with some members of the Royal staff. In Season 3, after returning to his investiture, he is greeted by a member of the staff and it's implied they have had a friendly chat.
* ParentalSubstitute: Due to a combination of emotionally distant parents and being sent away to boarding schools, Charles turns to others for emotional support including Lord Mountbatten[[note]]they affectionately called each other "Honorary Grandfather" and "Honorary Grandson" until the very end[[/note]] and Donald Green, the detective assigned to guard him at Gordonstoun.
** The end of "Paterfamilias" seems to imply he has a closer relationship to the children's governess than with either of his parents.
* RefugeInAudacity: Upon being made the Prince of Wales, he gives a speech in Welsh declaring his intention to respect the country's autonomy and identity in stark contrast to previous holders of the title, with the rest of the family clueless until later due to not speaking the language.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Charles and Philip.
* ShoppingMontage: Before Charles receives the news that he will be going to Gordonstoun, Lord Mountbatten takes him on a visit to "the finest house in Savile Row" to buy some very snappy clothes for Eton.
* ShrinkingViolet: He's very shy and has difficulty socializing, evidenced by how he's perpetually hunching over and turning his body away from others.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He gets on the receiving end of a vicious one given to him by Edward Millward - his Welsh tutor who's also a proud Welsh nationalist and republican - for not taking his time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, seriously.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: At age 8, Elizabeth is distressed to see how formal he is with his father, even away from the cameras.
* YouthfulFreckles: His close-up in "Tywysog Cymru" reveals him to be a young adult male example of this trope.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Anne]]
!!Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princess_anne_erin_doherty.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Amelia and Grace Gilmour (Seasons 1&2), Lyla Barrett-Rye (Season 2), Erin Doherty (Seasons 3&4)
The second child (and only daughter) of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
----
* BrutalHonesty: A prominent trait of hers in the series, as in real life, adding to her snarkiness and savvy.
* TheConfidant: Serves as this (mutually) to Charles in "Tywysog Cymru" discussing the pros and cons of being comfortable but ignored by their Mother (Anne) or the important Heir yet treated more harshly (Charles).
* DaddysGirl: The end of "Paterfamilias" shows her to be thoroughly excited at seeing her father home from a long tour abroad and he is much more affectionate with her than with Charles.
* DeadpanSnarker: It must be a Mountbatten thing because she can snark with the best of them.
-->'''The Queen Mother''': We'd like to ask you some questions. And it's important while answering those questions that you remain clearheaded, unemotional, rational and calm.
-->'''Princess Anne''': As opposed to what? The hysterical and neurotic way I normally behave?
* GenerationXerox: Much like her Aunt Margaret, she's much more media-savvy than some of her relatives, which leads to bitterness that her place in the family relegates her to the sidelines (even worse in her case as she's stuck behind two much younger brothers). And when her father, Prince Philip, upbraids her for her blunt, no-nonsense attitude, she snarks right back with this little gem:
-->'''Princess Anne''': Oh I wonder where I get ''that'' from?
* GenreSavvy: She's savvier than her family when it comes to the media at large, and expresses concern when they agree to go ahead with an "at home with the Royals" documentary. When this backfires, and her father coerces her into being interviewed by a hostile reporter from ''The Guardian'' (rather than a friendlier publication), she smartly shoves her nun grandmother, Princess Alice, in his path and her tragically amazing life-story turns out to be exactly the ''right'' sort of PR the family needs.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: She is the only girl and in the middle between Charles the Heir and two baby brothers.
* OutnumberedSibling: She is the only daughter of Elizabeth and Philip and one of their four children.
* ParentalFavoritism: Philip is shown to be more affectionate to her than with Charles.
* ShesGotLegs: Spends a lot of time in jodhpurs and miniskirts that show off her legs.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: She engages in verbal jousting matches with her father, who is seen enjoying them.
* SpareToTheThrone: She spends most of Seasons 1 and 2 as the spare to Charles. By the end of Season 2, and the births of her younger brothers Andrew and Edward, she's been bumped down to fourth in line. In Season 3, she feels emotionally neglected by her mother because of this, despite being free from Elizabeth's criticisms.
* SpeakTruthToPower: '''No one''' back-chats the formidable Duke of Edinburgh -- except his daughter.
* TomboyPrincess: Philip complains that "our daughter's a boy and our son is, God bless him, a girl."
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: She is more interested in riding horses than Royal protocols but also has a stylish bouffant hairdo and takes to wearing the body-con fashions and mini-skirts of the 1960s.
* ToughLove: Gives it to her brothers, either telling them to cheer up after snarking with him (Charles) or pushing them to say hi to the astronauts (Andrew or Edward).
* TrueBlueFemininity: Like her mother, she favors blue tones, though often in bright shades.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Prince Andrew]]
!!His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew
The third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and, due to being male, the second in line to the throne.
----
* CheerfulChild: In his few appearances in Season 3, he appears to be very playful and excitable, in contrast to the serious and dramatic issues going on amongst the elder members of his family.
* DeadGuyJunior: His parents briefly considered naming him "George", but he wasn't because there were too many Georges and nobody could live up to Elizabeth's Papa anyway. They end up naming him for Philip's father.
* SpannerInTheWorks: His very conception forces Margaret to delay her wedding announcement, as royal protocol is that no other family news can precede the birth.
* SpareToTheThrone: Due to British male primogeniture laws of the time (overturned to become absolute primogeniture in the [=21st=] century), he displaces Anne to become second in line to the throne at the moment of his birth.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Prince Edward]]
!!His Royal Highness The Prince Edward
The Queen and Prince Philip's youngest child, and third in line to the throne.
----
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: He is the youngest of Elizabeth's and Philip's four children. Only about four years younger than his brother Andrew, fourteen years younger than Anne, and finally sixteen years younger than Charles.
* CheerfulChild: Excitable, innocent, playful. This is in great contrast to the dramatic and serious issues facing his family.
* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: The Season 2 finale covers Elizabeth's especially troubled pregnancy with him.
* SpareToTheThrone: Like his brother Andrew before him, he displaces Anne to become third in line to the throne at the moment of his birth.
[[/folder]]
!!Relatives of the Royal Family
[[folder: The Duchess of Windsor]]
!!Her Grace Wallis, Duchess of Windsor
[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wallissimpson.PNG]]
->'''Played By''': Lia Williams (Seasons 1&2), Creator/GeraldineChaplin (Season 3&4)
The wife of the Duke of Windsor, formerly Mrs. Simpson, whose relationship with him led to the abdication crisis.
----
* TwentyFourHourPartyPeople: Loves to entertain and is happy to fill her home with friends night after night.
* AffectionateNickname: Edward addresses her as his "dear darling Peaches" in his letters.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The problems her marriage to Edward cause aren't a thousand miles away from the obstacles Margaret and Peter are to encounter to their engagement.
* HappilyMarried: Despite the chaos it brought to the British monarchy, she and Edward do seem to genuinely love each other.
* KickTheDog: She and Edward have no problem laughing over Elizabeth's bad press during the Townsend Affair, seeing it as a vindication for their own relationship.
* ManipulativeBitch: Persuades Edward to pump the Royal Family for a larger allowance during his visit for the King's funeral. [[spoiler:The Queen Mother sees this coming from a mile away and cuts them off completely.]]
* NeverLiveItDown: The Abdication. She's still equally well-known to history for being "Mrs. Simpson" as much as The Duchess of Windsor. It's shown as harder for her husband, the former King Edward VIII, though.
* TheNicknamer: She and Edward often refer to members of the Royal Family and British Establishment by various [[EmbarrassingNickname embarrassing nicknames]].
* ReallyGetsAround: Members of the Royal household believe she was sleeping with Von Ribbentrop while he was the German Ambassador to London, while carrying on her affair with Edward.
* TheResenter: Openly disdainful that despite her marriage to Edward, she has no true royal title.
* SlutShaming: The Queen Mother describes her as "that Jezebel divorcée."
* UnholyMatrimony: Virtually everyone else in the Royal Family views Wallis and Edward's marriage this way.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: British-born Lia Williams plays Wallis with a mix of English and mid-Atlantic accents. This is quite similar to how Wallis spoke in real life, though.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Lord Mountbatten]]
!!The Right Honourable Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lord_louis_mountbatten.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Greg Wise (Seasons 1&2), Creator/CharlesDance (Seasons 3&4)
->''"Having Mountbatten as the name of the Royal house, having your first-born son, Charles, as the first Mountbatten king... Well, that would be some achievement, wouldn't it?"''
The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and the uncle of Prince Philip. He is both a family friend and an advisor to Philip, but his advice frequently causes tension with both the Windsors and the British establishment.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Known as "Dickie" by his family and friends (even though "Richard" is not among his several given names[[labelnote:*]]It was going to be "Nicky" from Nicholas, but that was already taken by Nicholas II of Russia, so it became "Dickie"[[/labelnote]]).
* AgentPeacock: A highly decorated naval commander, he was Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia during the war, with such impeccable and refined tastes that the biggest room in his home is not his ball room, but his closet, which is solely for all his uniforms.
* AmbitionIsEvil:
** When he raises a toast to the Royal House now being called Mountbatten, warning bells go off for Queen Mary, the Queen Mother and Sir Tommy Lascelles, the House of Windsor's staunchest defenders.
** His boundless ambition becomes a liability to the government in Season 3. After being forced out as Chief of Defence Staff, he seriously considers participating in a coup against the government.
* CoolOldGuy: From the Edwardian generation, his lordship is still a quite jolly, personable, and unstuffy war hero.
* CoolUncle: To Philip, followed by Charles.
* ImmigrantPatriotism: His sister, Princess Alice, reminds him that the Battenberg family, whilst counting kings and queens amongst their numbers, don't have a home country, and are something of a German/Greek/Danish mix. Dickie won't hear of it, citing the United Kingdom as the only proper home he's ever known.
* MentorArchetype:
** After being bounced around various relatives, Lord Louis Mountbatten takes the young Philip into his home and under his wing. His wish for the Royal House to be known as Mountbatten make him more of an EvilMentor in the minds of Windsor loyalists.
** He does the same with Charles, to the point they refer to each other as Honorary Grandfather and Honorary Grandson respectively.
* {{Nephewism}}: Is very much a father figure to Philip. Whether this is out of affection or his own ambitions is never made clear. He later forms a close relationship with Charles and becomes a warmer alternative for the prince, in contrast to the harsh Philip.
* NeverLiveItDown: His enemies are fond of snidely pointing out how he "gave away India" (namely, that he was the Viceroy who oversaw the partitioning and transitioning of India from a British colony to the independent nations of India and Pakistan).
* ParentalSubstitute: He’s Philip’s father for all intents and purposes. He was also particularly close to Charles. This is something from real life that the show didn’t take any liberties with.
* SexlessMarriage: Of a sort; he and his wife have sex often, but rarely, perhaps never, with each other.
* SharpDressedMan: While many of the men in the show know how to rock a suit, Lord Mountbatten is particularly well-dressed, and even passes on some of his passion for Savile Row to his nephew Charles.
* SiblingYinYang: With the ascetic and detached, yet forgiving Princess Alice. Impatient, angry Dickie tried to carry out a coup and nearly embodies "worldly", while she turned her back on her old life to give her time and possessions to the poor.
* YourCheatingHeart: Both he and his wife, Edwina, while fond enough of each other, carried on in what could be called an open marriage[[labelnote:*]]Edwina's most famous affair was with Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India; Dickie's was with Yola Letellier, the wife of a French newspaper publisher[[/labelnote]].
-->'''Edwina''': I'm all in favour of [[DoubleEntendre foreign affairs]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Cecilie]]
!!Her Royal Highness Princess Cecilie, The Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cecilie.png]]
->'''Played By''': Leonie Benesch
Prince Philip's third of his four sisters, and a member of the Greek royal family. A German princess by marriage to her cousin.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Although her given name was Cecilie, she was known to her family as Cécile.
* AlasPoorVillain: To a modern audience's sensibilities, Nazis are beyond the pale, but from the way she is presented as a supportive, caring character, it's difficult not to feel sorry for her, as her death is nothing short of horrific in every way possible.
* CallBack: She and her sisters are referenced in the very first episode, when Churchill loudly mentions Prince Philip's "Nazi sisters" at the royal wedding, though Cecilie only appears right at the end of Series 2.
* CoolBigSis: For Prince Philip, who looks to her for emotional support and a touch of levity in place of his ice-cold father and mentally-ill mother. He reminds Charles that Cecilie was his favourite sister.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Utterly terrified of flying at the best of times, Cecilie dies along with her husband Georg Donatus, their two young sons and Georg's mother when the aircraft in which they were travelling crashes in flames after hitting a factory chimney near Ostend, Belgium, killing all on board. Cecilie was eight months pregnant with her fourth child at the time of the crash, and the remains of the baby were found in the wreckage; a Belgian official enquiry concluded that Cecilie had given birth mid-flight. The crash-site is hauntingly depicted in episode 9 of Series 2, as Philip imagines himself picking his way through the wreckage.
* ParentalFavoritism: Prince Philip's father, Prince Andrew, acknowledges her as his favourite child after her death, and appears to blame Philip's acting up at school as the cause.
* PosthumousCharacter: She appears throughout the episode "Paterfamilias", which features flashbacks of Prince Philip's time at Gordonstoun, and the events surrounding her death.
* SympatheticPOV: A rare example of a card-carrying Nazi depicted as a normal, seemingly nice young woman who dies in tragic circumstances.
* ThoseWackyNazis: Cecilie, her sisters, and her husband were prominent Nazis, which is acknowledged multiple times within the series, though she is presented as a perky, quite jolly young woman and displays none of the associated overtly villainous behaviour, apart from some over-zealous remarks about Hitler's mandate that his followers bear multiple children to bolster his available soldiers.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Absolutely ''hated'' planes and having to fly anywhere in them, which makes her death in a plane crash even more tragic.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Alice]]
!!Her Royal Highness Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princessalice.png]]
->'''Played By''': Rosalind Knight (Season 1), Sophie Leigh Stone (Season 2), Jane Lapotaire (Season 3)
Prince Philip's mother Alice, born Her Serene Highness Princess Alice of Battenberg, and eldest sister of Lord Mountbatten. Shortly after Philip and Elizabeth's wedding, she started a convent in Greece and increasingly fell on hard times. After the Colonels' Coup in 1967, she left Greece for the last time, to live in Buckingham Palace.
----
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: When she first comes to stay at Buckingham Palace, Philip spends a lot of time trying to avoid her as much as possible, especially as the Royal Family documentary is under production at the palace. The first time he speaks to her is after he realises exactly how much she has been through in her life.
* TheBeautifulElite: At the time of her birth in 1885, she was about as elite as it gets, even with MixedAncestry. As she herself says, she was born at Windsor Castle with her great-grandmother UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria present. She then grew up to be so good-looking that despite her deafness, Edward VII said "no throne is too good for her".
* CoolOldLady: She enthrals her teenage granddaughter, Princess Anne, with stories of her colourful past, as well as a very critical, anti-monarchist reporter from ''The Guardian'' during an interview.
* DeadpanSnarker: It runs through Philip's maternal family. Princess Alice's only response to a jeweller calling the police on her[[labelnote: context]]After trying to sell an old brooch of hers, he thought her nunnery was a front for a crime ring[[/labelnote]] is "Did you come up with a price yet, sweetie?"
* DisabilityImmunity: She was born deaf, and used her deafness during the Nazi occupation of Greece to obfuscate her way through their questioning when she sheltered a Jewish family. Subverted with her psychiatric issues as they made her life very hard.
* GoodShepherd: She is honest in her piety, and has almost beggared herself trying to support her convent.
* InspirationalMartyr: She lived a remarkable life of altruism and service, serving as a military nurse during World War I, sheltering Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, and founding an Orthodox order of nursing nuns in Athens -- all despite having had to escape her native Greece during a military coup, and having been forcibly institutionalised and cruelly treated for most of her life. It's this level of altruism that softens the heart of an anti-monarchist ''Guardian'' journalist, inspiring him to write a favourable article about Princess Alice's life, and giving the Royals a much-needed PR boost.
* LivingRelic: During her lifetime (1885 - 1969) the world changed ''unimaginably'' so, considering the rapid advances in technology and the breaking down of rigid social-class structures in the egalitarian 1960s. With a childhood spent in the antiquated Victorian era, and a death coinciding with the moon landings, her presence in the series is that of an emissary from a long-gone chapter in the history of Europe's monarchies.
* MissingMom: Confesses to having been this to Philip due to having first been institutionalized and then separated from him by World War II. [[note]]In real life, they had no communication for a total of ten years.[[/note]]
* MixedAncestry: In royal terms. The morganatic Battenberg side comes from her German princely grandfather [[note]]Alexander of Hesse, their father Louis of Battenberg's father[[/note]] making an unsuitable and totally unapproved marriage to a lady-in-waiting[[note]]Julia von Hauke, in the employ of Alexander's sister the Tsarina. The Tsar then banned them from Russia and they were both PersonaNonGrata in other places for quite a while[[/note]]; the royal equivalent of bastardy since the children couldn't inherit any of the father's titles.[[note]]Julia was finally created "Princess Battenberg".[[/note]] It's why she reminds Dickie that despite their mother Victoria's royal Hessian blood and their current high social status, they're "mongrels".
* ModestRoyalty: She's had some of the most famous and prestigious relatives in the world and is currently the Queen's mother-in-law, yet by 1967, she was living an incredibly rustic, selfless life as a nun in a run-down covent in Athens. The only remnant of her regal past is a priceless, perfect sapphire she has kept hidden away, but is willing to sell if it helps pay for repairs to her church's roof.
* MustHaveNicotine: A contender for the worst offender in the series so far, smoking in nearly every scene in which she appears.
* NunsAreFunny: When she first said she wanted to become a nun, her mother Princess Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven, scoffed, "What can you say of a nun that smokes and plays canasta?". In-series, her eccentricity, permanent smoking, and the fact she keeps turning up in places she's not supposed to be makes for an amusing scenario.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: After she married, her title for the remainder of her life was [[GenderBlenderName "Princess Andrew"]]. To undoubtedly make things easier for the audience, she's only referred to as "Princess Alice", her birth name.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Her third daughter Cecile died in a plane crash when Philip was a teenager. She outlived her grandchildren from Cecile as well.
* SiblingYinYang: With Lord Mountbatten. He tries to stage a coup after losing his previous position and is rather attached to luxury while she turned her back on her old life to give her time and her worldly possessions to the poor.
* TheStateless: Due to her turbulent life and MilitaryBrat childhood [[UpToEleven on top of her Battenberg family's colorful history]], she views herself this way. A proud Briton, her brother Dickie firmly disagrees but still calls her "Princess Alice of Nowhere-At-All".
* UselessBystanderParent: To Philip, given how her problems took her away from him and left her unable to counter his father's unhappiness.
* TheVoiceless: Up to Season 3. Her character made appearances on-screen in Season 1 and Season 2, but "Bubbikins" is the first time she gets to say anything.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Marina]]
!!Her Royal Highness Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
[[quoteright:211:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marina_0.png]]
->'''Played By''': Clare Holman
The widow of the Queen's late uncle George, the Duke of Kent, and Prince Philip's first cousin. Like Philip, a member of the Greek royal family who married in.
----
* CoattailRidingRelative: Absolutely viewed as such by Princess Margaret:
-->'''Margaret''': “Marina? She'd do well to remember her place. As a low-ranking member of your husband's refugee family, she's lucky to be here at all.”
** Consider that Marina is both also a princess in her native Greece and Margaret's ''aunt''.
* FeudingFamilies: The relatives are utterly furious with the constant noise coming from the renovations Princess Margaret organises for her apartments at Kensington Palace -- so much so that the slightly frazzled Marina is compelled to complain to the Queen herself about it.
* SpeakTruthToPower: She's Prince Philip's cousin and the Queen's aunt, and so has no compunction about animatedly complaining about Princess Margaret's unreasonably loud building work to the Queen herself, fearing no reproach, when most people would find it unthinkable to even bring the matter up. Though as the Queen herself acknowledges, she's got a pretty valid point in this case.
[[/folder]]
]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Foreign Dignitaries and Leaders
]] | [[Characters/TheCrown2016 Other Characters]]
The (rather large) main cast of ''Series/TheCrown2016''. Beware of spoilers.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
!!The British Royal Family
[[folder: Queen Elizabeth II]]
!![[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s1_006.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/ClaireFoy (Seasons 1&2), Verity Russell (child, Season 1), Creator/OliviaColman (Seasons 3&4)
->''"You don't think I would have preferred to grow up out of the spotlight? Away from court, away from the scrutiny and the visibility? A simpler life, happier life, as a wife, a mother, an ordinary English countrywoman?"''
The main character of the series, and the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We are first introduced to Elizabeth as a young wife and mother who is unexpectedly thrust into a position of power and authority on the death of her father, and must learn to navigate her new role and the tensions it creates between her family, her own modest nature, and the changing place and nature of post-war Britain.
----
* AffectionateNickname:
** As a child, she was known as "Lilibet" by those who loved her. Her family members still use the nickname sometimes.
** Philip calls her "''ma petite chou''" (French for "my little cabbage") during their anniversary party in "Beryl", referencing one of Philip's actual nicknames for her (he apparently calls her that and also just "Cabbage").
* AllGirlsLikePonies: Horse riding and husbandry is one of the few topics of conversation with which she is completely comfortable.
* AlwaysOnDuty: She rarely lets her hair down, even with close family members.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She gets caught up in the hype surrounding televangelist Billy Graham, and commits herself to living by Christ's example. She soon learns how difficult it is to reconcile this with some of her responsibilities as queen.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Awesome enough to evoke ManlyTears from the Duke of Windsor.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: She is shown to be a kind and just woman, who always wants the best for her people, and graciously takes advice from those she knows are wiser than her. But those who cross her will be reminded, she is the most powerful person in the British Empire.
* BigSisterInstinct: While the two don't always get along, and as Queen must always put her duty before family, she is extremely protective of Margaret, and after learning of Tony's very open sexual nature, as well as her belief that the Princess is doing so out of envy and anger at Peter, she concernedly warns Margaret if marrying Tony is what she truly wants. In the end however, she does allow Margaret to marry, mostly out of guilt how she had failed her and Peter before.
* BookDumb: While by no means unintelligent, her education was extremely limited[[note]]It mainly consisted of extensive lessons on court etiquette and the British Constitution. She also picked up fluent French from her nannies as a child.[[/note]] and she becomes embarrassed that she doesn't have a single school certificate to her name. She hires herself a tutor so that she can properly understand the many matters of state that she has to deal with as Queen.
* BrainyBrunette: Very smart, insightful, knowledgeable, with brown hair.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Averted. While her friend Lord "Porchey" Porchester may have been in love with her, she states that she has only ever loved Philip.
* CoolCrown:
** St Edward's Crown, which she uses for her coronation, as is tradition.
** Her extensive collection of tiaras, which she wears for formal but non-ceremonial occasions.
* DancingIsSeriousBusiness: Her foxtrot with President Kwame Nkrumah essentially saves the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ghana.
* {{Determinator}}: Not even muscle spasms from smiling too much will stop her from continuing on a punishing tour of the Commonwealth.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor call her "Creator/ShirleyTemple" behind her back on account of her curls and precociousness as a child.
* EnglishRose: Porcelain-skinned with rich brown hair and blue eyes, possesses a [[SilkHidingSteel gentle demeanor and iron will]], petite with a modest and elegant beauty.
* ErmineCapeEffect: The Duke of Windsor comments on how her coronation exemplifies this.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: She is thrilled at the variety of wildlife she gets to see up close during her and Philip's visit to Kenya. Subverted in that, like most of the British upper class, she has no problem with TheGrandHunt.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple and TrueBlueFemininity: Most of her outfits are one of these colors.
* GreenEyedMonster: Slightly envious of Jackie Kennedy and her seemingly natural charm.
* IAmVeryBritish: Has perhaps the most heightened ReceivedPronunciation of any character on the show.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Often, and much to her regret.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Would rather be an "ordinary English countrywoman" instead of, well, the Queen.
* IWasQuiteALooker: In the Season 3 premiere she muses about having gone from "young soverign" to "old bat" and how age is rarely kind to anyone but she reasons she always paled in comparison to Margaret so her aging out of her beauty isn't the tragedy it could be.
* ImportantHaircut: She tries out an early version of her current hairstyle in Season 2, soundtracked to the same anthem played at her coronation.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Her Lascelles-approved speeches give off this vibe, especially after her speech to the workers at Jaguar, which comes off as paternalistic and classist. All showing she is rather out of touch with her subjects.
* LackOfEmpathy: A very subdued, tragic version. In the wake of a terrible tragedy in Season 3 Elizabeth reflects that she might be 'broken' due to the fact she cannot connect to most people or cry. Though it is played with, I’m that it is clear that she genuinely does feel empathy for the victims of the tragedy, but cannot seem to make herself express it.
* LettingHerHairDown: While living in Malta in the early years of her and Philip's marriage, and on their visit to Kenya.
* MamaBear: Very protective of Charles and has no wish for him to attend Gordonstoun, as she can predict exactly the effect it will have on him.
* MarriedToTheJob: Her royal duties often require her to spend long periods of time away from her husband, and sometimes restrict his behavior according to protocol.
* ModestRoyalty: Not particularly interested in fashion; she usually wears a sensible dress and pearls around Buckingham Palace.
* MyGreatestFailure: Season 3 features what the real Elizabeth considers the greatest regret of her reign, delaying a visit to Aberfan for several days after nearly 150 people were killed in a coal avalanche. Afterwards, she admits she's suspected for years that there's something wrong with her mind given her inability to cry at such tragedy.
* NatureLover: Fond of solitary moments in the country or the garden.
* NotSoDifferent: From Jackie Kennedy; the two bond over their mutual shyness and their attempts to reconcile this with their very public positions.
* OffscreenTeleportation: After meeting with Lord Altrincham to discuss his recommended modernisations, she seemingly disappears as if by magic from the room they were talking in, after he briefly leaves and re-enters. Altrincham is slightly unnerved when relaying this to a colleague, as there is no obvious alternate exit at all.
* OhCrap: Visibly has such a moment as she learns of the depth of the Duke of Windsor's affinity for Nazi Germany. This prevents her from allowing him back into public life out of Christian charity, as she had planned.
* ParentsAsPeople: While she of course loves her children without exception, her job does keep her unavailable from them, something that she herself resents. Also, while she, again, no doubt loves Charles, she is somewhat distant from him, as he represents the succession of the Crown, and therefore is a constant reminder, much like how she was for George, of her own mortality.
* ParentalNeglect: By Season 3, she's become very cold towards her elder children. Charles is saddened as he realizes he's more a chess piece than a child while Anne would like to be elevated to that level because Elizabeth doesn't have any real reaction towards her anymore[[note]]because Anne's so far down the line of succession as to essentially no longer matter[[/note]].
* PimpedOutDress: Wears floor-length gowns bedecked with ribbons for official portraits.
* PreciousPuppy: Several of her corgis are often seen scampering about Buckingham Palace.
* PrincessClassic: Especially when contrasted with Margaret.
* QuitYourWhining: Finally tells Philip to do this after losing her patience with his complaints about his position.
* RageBreakingPoint: Philip's insulting impression of her father. It's the only time in the series where she really loses her temper.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Much of the drama of the show is her struggle to be precisely this.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Margaret's Red.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: Like most modern monarchs, she never dons her crown and robes except for ceremonial occasions.
* RoyalBlood: From a line going back 900 years at least.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: She was a mechanic during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]]Indeed, she is the last surviving monarch to have legitimately served during the war[[/note]]. As a princess and as Queen, she understands that her role is to act as the living symbol of the United Kingdom and tirelessly goes around her realms to show her peoples the nation at work.
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Despite her lamentably limited education, she proves to have a deeper understanding of Britain's constitution than many of her courtiers and ministers, thanks to her childhood lessons with the vice-provost at Eton.
* TheScapegoat: Falls victim to this a lot, especially when it involves the personal lives of her family. As the head of the Royal Family and its most visible member, she gets blamed for the machinations of others, whether it's her government or her mother.
* ShrinkingViolet: Is naturally shy and hates the spotlight.
* SilkHidingSteel: She is naturally shy and hates being in the spotlight...however she proves to be an excellent and strong-willed stateswoman and possesses a very hardy commitment to her role and country. She even refuses to cut her tour short when learning that there have been death threats made from Gibraltar.
--> I am aware that I am surrounded by people who feel they could do the job better. Strong people with powerful characters, more natural leaders, perhaps better-suited to leading from the front, making a mark. But, for better or worse, the Crown has landed on my head. And I say we go.
* SingleTargetSexuality: As far as anyone can tell, and she herself proclaims, she has only ever loved Philip, no one else.
* SlaveToPR: Becomes this after a poorly received speech at the Jaguar factory.
* StealthInsult: After she hears that Jacqueline Kennedy was gossiping about her at a dinner party and describing her as “a middle-aged woman, so incurious, unintelligent”, she listens to the insults Jackie has slung at her, pauses for a moment, and then says, “Well, we must have her again,” with a delivery so cold it should be the new international standard for absolute zero.
* StepfordSmiler: Especially during the Commonwealth tour, when excessive smiling results in facial spasms.
* StiffUpperLip: She will do her duty with as little fuss as possible. It takes an incredible amount of stress for her facade to even start showing cracks and, even then, they are so subtle that few even notice she's under strain.
* StrangelyArousing: Philip can't put his finger on why she is especially attractive after she lectures Bobbety and Winston.
* SurroundedByIdiots: As her Grandmother put it, the crown comes first before any self-centered desires. Unfortunately Elizabeth has to contend with the self-centeredness and buffonery of several family members within the family and advisors.
* TookALevelInBadass: Having erred on the side of caution for much of Series 1, her aforementioned assertion that she will ''not'' miss out Gibraltar from her Commonwealth tour, despite death threats, marks a turning point in her own confidence and authority.
* VerbalTic: "Oh!", to express [[FlatWhat mild surprise]].
* WellDoneSonGuy: Female version; Philip sarcastically suggests that she only puts up with her duties as Queen to make her father love her as much as Margaret. [[RageBreakingPoint This clearly strikes a nerve]].
* WindbagPolitician: Lord Altrincham's opinion of her after her speech at the Jaguar factory.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Her youth and inexperience could have made her much more impulsive and selfish than she allows herself to be.
* WrenchWench: Takes great pride in her wartime service as a mechanic and driver, and jumps at the chance to show off her skills in the event of car trouble.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The day her father dies, she writes him a letter asking permission for her and Philip to return to Malta, where they lived early in their marriage. Later in the series, she refers to Malta as her "island of happy memories."
* YoungAndInCharge: Elizabeth is 25 when she takes the throne.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]]
!!His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s1_012.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/MattSmith (Seasons 1&2), Finn Elliot (child, Season 2). Creator/TobiasMenzies (Seasons 3&4)
->''"What kind of marriage is this? What kind of family? You've taken my career from me, you've taken my home. You've taken my name."''
Elizabeth's husband and consort. After his wife's elevation to the throne, he finds himself in a position of subservience he was unprepared for and must try and find a place for himself in his family's new life.
----
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Whilst the real Philip '''is''' infamous for being hotheaded and perpetually sticking his foot in his mouth, he is also undyingly loyal to Elizabeth and the institution of the British Crown. It's accepted that he'll occasionally grumble about certain things, but the Duke of Edinburgh was never as antagonistic as the show portrays him to be.
* BrokenPedestal: After being fascinated by the Apollo 11 crew during his dissatisfaction with his own achievements, he arranges a private meeting and is surprised to find they're basically blue collar joes who don't seem to have any appreciation for the grandeur of their accomplishment.
* ButIPlayOneOnTV: He finds it a little ridiculous that, as a career sailor, he was made an Honorary Marshal of the Royal Air Force and decides to take flying lessons so that he can legitimately wear pilot's wings on his uniform.
* ChestOfMedals: He has an impressive collection of medals that he often wears (as seen in his page photo). While most of these are of the ceremonial kind, he did earn his World War II campaign medals the hard way.
* CompetitionFreak: The Duke prefers sports and competition to dinners and speeches, and will treat any contest as SeriousBusiness, be it the Royal Navy rowing competition or some tug of war with the natives.
-->Row, you bastards!
* DeadpanSnarker: He has a snide remark for almost every situation.
* TheDrunkenSailor: Feels free to become this while traveling on the Royal Yacht ''Britannia''.
* FreudianExcuse: The second season explores how his harsh experiences at Gordonstoun [[spoiler: compounded with the death of his sister and her family]] and his complicated feelings towards his parents played a role into his hot-heated obsession with personal ego.
* FriendToAllChildren: For all his faults, Philip is consistently shown to be a doting father to his children who despises having to spend time apart from his family. He is also shown playing with two boys who work at Sagana Lodge on his and Elizabeth's return from Treetops. This begins to be subverted as Charles is not turning out the way Philip hoped, and his disappointment is obvious.
* GenerationXerox: His father was distant and cold towards him and, despite his best efforts, he finds himself being distant and cold towards Charles.
* HasAType: Cites Creator/JayneMansfield and Creator/RitaHayworth, both of whom had curly shoulder-length hair, as [[CelebCrush celebrity crushes]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: All of his suggestions about the coronation, which cause much of a flap among the stuffy old establishment types who are organising it, are centred around modernising the monarchy. However he noticeably chafes at the prospect of having to kneel in submission before his own wife, a very old-fashioned attitude indeed.
* IdleRich: As a royal consort, he has no official duties of his own beyond looking presentable next to his wife. He deals with the boredom by frequently partying and getting drunk with friends and by taking up flying as a hobby.
* ImpoverishedPatrician: He grew up under very humble circumstances for someone born into royalty[[note]]Most of his family was forced into exile after a disastrous defeat of Greece by Turkey, with his father Andrew being court-martialed for his role in that defeat. The family were supported by rich relatives in Paris for several years, and then within a very short space of time, his mother Alice became ill and was institutionalized, his four sisters were married to German princes, and his father left for the south of France and only saw Philip (who was sent to school in England, Germany, and then Scotland) rarely, living with a mistress and dying heavily in debt.[[/note]] and was mainly looked after by his mother's equally royal, equally un-wealthy family.[[note]]The only one of his English relatives with a fortune was his aunt Edwina, Louis Mountbatten's wife.[[/note]] He lampshades this just before his own engagement, asking Elizabeth if she wouldn't prefer someone with money and property, and again bitterly during Margaret and Tony's engagement party, pointing out how his grandfather was a king, his father was a prince, and people still said he wasn't good enough.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: This is more or less his story arc in Season 2, where his often secretive, flippant and uncaring attitude is contrasted with his noble motives, inner strength and love for his family.
* JockDadNerdSon: Philip dearly loves Charles but is frequently frustrated by his son's sensitive nature. He decides to enroll Charles in Gordonstoun, a notoriously tough boarding school [[note]]Charles would later bitterly describe the place as "Colditz with kilts"[[/note]], in an attempt to prepare Charles for the harsh realities of the real world.
* KubrickStare: He is very tall and has to look down a lot, so he usually delivers his pungent remarks and strides around in this way.
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: His reaction to Elizabeth's "tidy and sensible" haircut.
* TheMaidenNameDebate: He and Elizabeth both want their children to take his surname of Mountbatten. Her advisors, the government, and the Queen Mother insist otherwise. A case of TruthInTelevision as Philip complained that he was "the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." A 1960 Privy Council declaration created the surname "Mountbatten-Windsor" for male-line descendants of the Queen who do not have royal titles, or when royals who do not typically use surnames require one, such as for a marriage registry.
* MissingMom: Separated from his mother Alice for much of his childhood and young adulthood, due to her illness and institutionalization, followed by WWII, to the point where Philip refers to her in 1967 as "she gave birth to me. That's all." (His father Andrea followed this by then becoming a DisappearedDad, moving to the Riviera and letting other people play a far more active role in Philip's life, before dying during WWII. Small wonder the Duke of Windsor snarkily refers to Philip as "the foundling".)
* MistakenForCheating: Since he spends most of his time partying with his friends away from the palace, his possible infidelity nags at the back of Elizabeth's mind. Rumors did swirl at the time that Philip was having an affair (if not several), and do play a part during the second season, enough for Elizabeth to issue an official denial.
* OddFriendship: In Season 3, the blue-blooded and traditional Queen has a close, confidential relationship with the Socialist Harold Wilson.
* OnlySaneMan: As one of the few characters who haven't spent their entire lives dealing with the British Royal Court, he is able to see some of the absurdities inherent in the system. Unfortunately for him, no one listens to what he has to say.
* ParentalFavoritism: He gets on much better with outgoing tomboy Anne rather than shy, sensitive Charles.
* {{Pride}}: Several of the conflicts between himself and Elizabeth stem from his pride chafing at his inferior role in their relationship since she became Queen.
* RichBoredom: Because he has nothing to do as a royal consort, he begins going out and partying all day long. When that gets to be boring, he starts taking flying lessons and decides to become the fastest-qualified pilot in Britain simply because he has time to spare.
* SeadogBeard: Allows this to grow over the course of his solo Commonwealth tour.
* StuckInTheirShadow: His wife's shadow, to be exact, and he ''hates'' it.
* ToughLove: He engages in this with Charles, sending his son to a notoriously tough boarding school and openly expressing his displeasure at Charles' sensitive nature. He's even tough when being affectionate towards Charles, roughly clasping his son and manhandling him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Margaret]]
!!Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nintchdbpict000310906315_e1490253709761.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/VanessaKirby (Seasons 1&2), Beau Gadsdon (child, Season 1), Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter (Seasons 3&4)
->"''You think that I am free? To be constantly in your shadow. Constantly the overlooked one.''"
Elizabeth's younger sister. More vivacious, modern and charismatic than Elizabeth, she resents living in her sister's shadow, but her own arrogance and wilful sense of independence creates just as many problems for Elizabeth.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Margot, as she was known within the Royal Family.
* AgeGapRomance: With Peter Townsend, he was 16 years her senior.
* TheBeautifulElite: When she was born in 1930, her grandfather was King-Emperor of the largest Empire the world has ever known, or will likely ever know again, so in terms of elite, she's about as elite as it gets -- and doesn't she know it. Cecil Beaton gushingly explains to her this is why her annual birthday portrait is so important to the British public; -- her image can invoke the fantasies of the drab reality many of the people face. As in real life, Princess Margaret was quite famed for her ethereal beauty, as well as her haughty superiority at times.
* BeehiveHairdo: Gets these hairdos in Season 3 (starting in 1964).
* BourgeoisBohemian: The counterculture of the 1960s agrees with her, except for the side of her that still ''loves'' to be a princess. The Queen chides her that she's "the least egalitarian person she's ever met."
* CheerfulChild: A flashback shows her playfully sticking her tongue out at Elizabeth during an etiquette lesson.
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: She shreds Elizabeth over showing a lack of personality as monarch. She doesn’t seem to realize that, as monarch, this is exactly what Elizabeth is ''supposed'' to be doing and that the [[TheChainsOfCommanding suppression of her own personality and desires in favor of her royal duty]] is actually quite hard on her.
* CoolAunt: A downplayed example. She is rather concerned about the choice of name for her 2nd nephew and in one episode of Season 2 is seen holding and cuddling her niece Anne.
** In Season 3, her niece Anne is rather amused at her remarks, in comparison to anything her maternal grandmother and parents have to say.
* DaddysGirl: As their father says "Elizabeth is my pride, but Margaret is my joy."
* DrivenToSuicide: Almost does this in the Season 3 finale after getting divorced from Tony and losing her lover, while her Mother makes light of it, Elizabeth actually has a heart to heart with her.
* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: Played with; she is at her best when reading her own words, not those provided to her by courtiers.
* EnglishRose: Beautiful, elegant, fashionable, slim, and spirited...she fits the image of the English Rose. An image that is foisted on her by her position, her mother, and the palace photographer. She tries to rebel against that image with sexier portraits of all things.
* TheFashionista: She can be seen parading around in the haute couture and outdoor fashions of her era.
* GreenEyedMonster: Much as she accuses Elizabeth of jealousy towards her, it's pretty clear that she's even more jealous about Elizabeth's position in the spotlight and how constantly overshadowed she is.
* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: She enjoys the perks of being a princess, but loathes the responsibilities and restraints it entails.
* HonorableMarriageProposal: Receives one of these from her friend Billy Wallace, as they know he will be accepted by her family. This falls apart quickly after one of her other suitors [[DuelsDecideEverything challenges him]] over flirting with other women.
* HeroicBSOD: She falls into deep despair the evening she finds out about Wallace’s behaviour, detailed above, and trashes her bedroom in a mascara-smeared, drunken rage, which is scored by the deeply melancholic ''Angel Eyes'' by Music/EllaFitzgerald.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She claims to be a free modern woman, breaking away from the stale traditions of the royal family -- but Elizabeth calmly points out that she's not giving up her titles or her privileges, and she never will, because she values all the trappings of royalty too much. She also makes a big deal of how much of an egalitarian, modern woman she is, prompting Elizabeth to note that Margaret is possibly the ''least'' egalitarian woman Elizabeth has ever met.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Couldn't care less that her renovations are bothering the other residents of Kensington Palace, and assumes their complaints are out of jealousy.
** While Margaret does have some valid reasons to feel jealous with regards to being overshadowed by Elizabeth and hard-done-by with regards to how she and her romantic partners have been treated, she often tends to default to the position that anything Elizabeth does is part of some overarching malicious scheme to spite her rather than consider the possibility that the inconveniences Elizabeth imposes might not be personal. For example, when Elizabeth reveals that her pregnancy means that Margaret's engagement announcement will have to be delayed for a few months[[note]]Royal protocol means that the birth of a child of the monarch, and thus another immediate heir to the throne, takes precedence over any other Royal family member's news[[/note]], Margaret's response is an outburst of outraged whining and petty insults with a curt, tossed-off "Congratulations, by the way," briefly thrown in.
* IWillWaitForYou: Her and Peter willingly undergo this for two years so that they will be allowed to marry. In an unusual variation, they still don’t get to be together when it’s over as Margaret can't reconcile giving up her place in the Royal Family to do so.
* JerkassHasAPoint: She gets a few of these
** Margaret is justified at being upset over how her role as princess interferes with her personal life and restricts her freedom. This is particularly noticeable in her doomed relationship with Peter Townsend. Most of her JerkAss moments come from her tendency to lash out with personal insults and pettiness when dealing with it instead of trying to approach the issue with maturity or showing any understanding of the other side’s arguments.
-->'''Elizabeth''': As your sister, I would have been perfectly happy for you to marry Peter. It was the Crown that forbade it. Not to mention the fact that he was a little old. Not really from the right -
-->'''Margaret''': No, no, don't you dare say background.
-->'''Elizabeth''': Well I just think it might have all come back to haunt you.
-->'''Margaret''': What, did Philip's Nazi sisters come back to haunt him? Or his lunatic mother? Or his womanising, bankrupt father?
** She is absolutely right about the dangerous work faced by British coal miners.
** She understandably feels betrayed [[spoiler: after her two year separation from Peter is over and she finds out they still won’t be allowed to marry. She did keep up her end of the bargain, after all.]]
** She might have a point about the eagerness of the press to paint her as the wicked sister to Elizabeth's 'good queen' persona.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She can be abrasive, rude and snarky, but she does love her family very much, and at times does thoroughly respect her sister's position as head of the family. Also she publicly expresses her sympathy to the plight of the British coal miners, however this is frowned upon by both the monarchy and government due to their staunch stance on remaining politically neutral.
* LadyDrunk: She drinks an awful lot and blames it on her being unhappy. It's a habit that gets worse as the time goes by.
* MustHaveNicotine: Almost constantly seen with a cigarette in her hand, as per real life.
* MutualEnvy: Elizabeth and Margaret often wish they could trade roles.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Much like in real life, Margaret is a notable aversion to this trope. She treats her staff with terrible rudeness. It's implied that it's partly because of her unhappiness, but she continues to be abrasive even after she gets married.
* NonIdleRich: At least by the end of Season 2, she shows hints of her becoming the famous patron of the arts history would remember her for.
* NotAMorningPerson: Typically rises around 11:30 -- mostly due to being out partying til 4am.
* OddFriendship: The young, cultured, blue-blooded British Royal Princess has this with the middle-aged, abrasive, Texan President and Farmer's Son Lyndon B. Johnson enjoy this relationship in "Margaretology" bonding over their shared rude sense of humor and inferiority complexes.
* ParentalFavoritism: Knows all too well, and almost explicitly states, that she was on the receiving end of this from the King.
* PhotosLie: Has this opinion of the fantastical portraits taken by court photographer Cecil Beaton, whom she despises.
* ThePianoPlayer: Plays and sings "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" with her father [[spoiler:the night before he dies]].
* ProudBeauty: She is very well aware of how beautiful she is and is annoyed when people tell her that her [[IWasQuiteALooker last birthday portrait made her look like her mother did at that age]].
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Especially in Season 3, with her dark hair in a beehive and her pale skin.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** She delivers a positively ''withering'' one of these to Billy Wallace, after she discovers his cheating ways during their engagement:
-->'''Margaret''': "You pathetic, weak, contemptible fool. I never even wanted to marry you. You were only ever an act of charity. Or desperation. And now you insult me? You? People like you don't get to insult people like me. You get to be eternally grateful. You've quite the way with women. Take a look at this face. A picture of disappointment and disgust. This is the look that every woman you ever know will come to share. This is what the next forty years of your life will look like."
** She has a tendency to deliver rather waspish put-downs towards Elizabeth as well, particularly around the whole Peter Townsend mess. Deconstructed, however, since in this case it's really out of Margaret's own sense of inferiority and jealousy, and no matter how cruel towards Elizabeth she is that feeling will never go away.
* RebelliousPrincess: Unlike the rest of the royal family, who strive to present an image of political neutrality and moral sobriety, Margaret freely gives her opinions and thrives on her party girl lifestyle.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Elizabeth's Blue.
* RichBitch: Margaret often behaves like a spoiled snob, and is capable of cutting remarks and hauteur, as per real life.
* RidiculouslyPhotogenic: As Wallis says after the photo taken by Tony appears in the papers: "Ooh-la-la!"
* SilentSnarker: Philip sometimes joins her in this.
* SpeakTruthToPower: '''No one''', bar herself (and Prince Philip) ever back-chat, argue, or volley insults at the Queen; -- she only gets away with it because she's her sister.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Very proud of the definite article “The” before her title, a distinction only a child of a King or Queen is entitled to have, which elevates her from those she considers “low-ranking” princesses like her neighbour Princess Marina.
* UpperClassEquestrian: Is seen riding horses on several occasions most notably after her father's sudden death when she rides a horse to a secret meeting with Peter, who in comparison drives to the meeting place.
* UptownGirl: To Antony Armstrong-Jones, who is something of a "backstreet guy."
* YoureJustJealous: Accuses Elizabeth of this after every hindrance of her and Peter's relationship. [[JerkassHasAPoint She's not entirely wrong]].
** Also her reaction to complaints about her constant, noisy renovations from minor royals living in Kensington Palace.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: King George VI]]
!!His Majesty King George VI
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/le_roi_george_vi_dans_the_crown.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/JaredHarris
-> ''"I no longer am Albert Windsor. That person was murdered by his elder brother... when he abdicated."''
King of the United Kingdom from 1936-1952, and Elizabeth's father. A shy, modest and gentle man with a lingering stutter, he is forced to confront his own mortality upon being diagnosed with cancer, and his unexpectedly sudden death will propel Elizabeth into the role of the monarch that she is not fully prepared for.
----
* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Shown to be a genuinely gentle and compassionate man who loved his family and carried on with his job despite the toll it took on him. The fact that he both took over when his brother abdicated despite being ''very'' reluctant to do so and then subsequently reigned during the Second World War certainly helped with this.
* AffectionateNickname: Downplayed. Everyone in his family always called him "Bertie." However, this is because his birth name was Albert.
* BloodFromTheMouth: He opens the series coughing up blood. He and his courtiers try and convince themselves that it's merely because of the cold weather and nothing more serious.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: His plans for a relatively normal life are scrapped after his brother's abdication, and the mounting stress of the kingship becomes a contributing factor to his early death.
* DecoyProtagonist: He is pretty much the central character in the first episode, but dies halfway through episode two. The series averts the usual "sudden twist" aspect of the trope by making it clear pretty much from the first scene of the series with the IncurableCoughOfDeath that he's not going to be around long (plus, well, anyone with a basic grasp of modern British history will have this figured out from the start), and the episode is all about his grappling with his mortality.
* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Only a selected few know about his "structural alterations", a malignant tumor, and then only Churchill calls it by its real name, ''cancer''. His Majesty is not told the true nature of the illness until some months before it becomes fatal.
* DotingGrandparent: Is shown cuddling baby Anne in a home movie and playing with Charles at Sandringham.
* FreakOut: When a valet has trouble adjusting his collar.
* TheGoodKing: Is shown to be a kind and benevolent ruler, who always wanted what was best for his people, despite the toll it took on his health, and in turn is thoroughly adored by the British population.
* GoodParents: A genial father to his daughters.
* TheHero: Explicitly according to Tommy Lascelles, and implicitly according to the rest of Britain.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Dies of lung cancer and begins the series coughing up blood.
* MustHaveNicotine: He was a heavy smoker and the habit was exacerbated by the stresses of being King. He was smoking up to 40 cigarettes a day towards the end of his life, resulting in the removal of one cancerous lung and an early death. He keeps smoking even after losing a lung.
* OutsideTheBoxTactic: Turns his daily red box upside down before opening it so he can be sure to see the most sensitive papers, which Cabinet officials place at the bottom. Elizabeth [[ContinuityNod does the same]] with her red boxes.
* PapaWolf: Protective of his daughters, particularly Elizabeth. Openly makes it clear to Philip, as George knows due to his increasingly failing health that the very young Elizabeth will be Queen much sooner than she realizes, that his job will be to always and without exception protect, love and support her, both as his wife and as his Monarch.
-->''She'' is the job!
* PosthumousCharacter: He dies in the second episode but his presence and influence is felt throughout the rest of the first season through flashbacks, and [[TheCameo once]] in the second season in a WWII flashback.
* TheQuietOne: He was a painfully shy person by nature and had a terrible stutter that needed [[Film/TheKingsSpeech significant therapy]] to keep under control and would avoid speaking if at all possible.
* SiblingYinYang: Contrast his self-effacing heroics with his self-interested elder brother the Duke of Windsor.
* SophisticatedAsHell: He's introduced getting dressed in his finery while swapping bawdy limericks with his equerry.
-->There was an old Countess of Bray. And you might think it odd when I say, that despite her high station, rank and education, she always spelled "Cunt" with a K!
* SpareToTheThrone: As the second son of George V, Albert was not expected to inherit the throne and never wanted the crown, but the abdication of his brother Edward changed Albert's life dramatically.
* SpeechImpediment: Has a noticeable stammer.
* StiffUpperLip: He was never intended to be Monarch and most definitely didn't aspire to the throne[[note]]There was even talk of finding a way to bypass him in favor of his younger brother Prince George[[/note]]. Nevertheless, he did his duty and won the love and respect of his peoples without ever letting the public see just how much he was suffering under the stress.
* ThatManIsDead: Eden goes to the King asking him to encourage Churchill to retire, not as the sovereign George VI, but as Churchill's friend Albert Windsor. While the King hints that Churchill's friend Albert Windsor would indeed encourage Churchill to retire, Albert Windsor died when he became George VI, and he cannot involve himself directly in politics. [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech He then gently tells the ambitious Eden that his ambition is misplaced as he will become Prime Minister eventually.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother]]
!!Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5b6ad2ae_4539_4a72_bb30_b28090297357.jpeg]]
->'''Played By''': Victoria Hamilton (Seasons 1&2), Marion Bailey (Seasons 3&4)
-> ''"We taught you how to be a lady, a princess. What do you want? A degree? No one wants a bluestocking or college lecturer as sovereign. They want a Queen."''
The Queen Mother. A source of strength and support to the late King, on his death she finds herself without a role and with her traditional views of Britain and the monarchy increasingly under challenge.
----
* ADayInTheLimelight: In "Pride and Joy", where she takes a solo trip to her native Scotland and spends time with local friends.
* AbusiveParents: Seasons 1 and 2 show her to be belittling of Elizabeth as both a sovereign and not allowing her to have an education because no one wants a "bluestocking for a Queen" and a ControlFreak when it comes to Margaret's romantic life and even her birthday portrait. In Season 3 she goes so far as to call Margaret a "whore" after having an affair [[DoubleStandard despite Tony having carrying on affairs with both men and women]] and make light of her suicide attempt.
* AppealToTradition: A big part of her character is used to show how there was a push and pull between a more democratic progressiveness and elitist tradition, all in the goal of keeping the monarchy relevant. Her speech regarding how the Royal Family must modernize, smells of both [[SnobsVersusSlobs snobbery]] and this trope.
---> First the barons, then the merchants, now the journalists. That’s all we are now — marionettes.
* DeathWail: When the King is discovered to have passed away during the night, she races to his bedroom wracked with sobs. Princess Margaret, overhearing her mother's agonised cries from the hallway, realises the worst has happened.
* DemocracyIsBad: Her speech in ''Marionettes'' pretty much starts lamenting the [[https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/magna-carta Magna Carta]], which started England on the path towards a less autocratic government and her reaction to Lord Altrincham's opinions regarding the Royal Family suggests that she is not in favor of freedom of speech and expression.
* DramaQueen: She often does get rather dramatic and shrill -- particularly where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are concerned.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor dismissively call her "Cookie" because they believed she looked more like a servant rather than the someone of noble blood.
* TheGadfly: Between her UpperClassTwit voice and the rather rail-roading opinions she expresses to Elizabeth and Margaret (often triggering anxieties), she can come across as vaguely manipulative.
* GrannyClassic: A regal example. She seems to dote on her grandchildren and is rather concerned that Philip is being too hard on Charles.
* HappilyMarried: She is absolutely shattered by the death of King George VI, and vows never to forgive the Duke of Windsor for driving her beloved Bertie into an early grave.
* HistoricalDowngrade: Her real life counterpart was a British national hero for her role in providing moral support to the nation during the blitz, causing her to be named "the most dangerous woman in Europe" by Hitler. So far this hasn't quite been referenced, and she is depicted as a sweet, if slightly shrill, matriarch. This does reflect wider public opinion of her in her later years, however, as after the King's death and her subsequent stepping into the background, she tended to be regarded by the general public more as everyone's favourite slightly dotty grandmother with a fondness for a tipple.
* IWasQuiteALooker: It was said that Margaret's birthday portrait looked like how her Mother looked in her youth. Margaret is not happy about this.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Her hysteria over any changes the monarchy has to adapt to is less about her family and more about her comfort with luxury and tradition; also she seems more concerned with how things are for her rather than her daugher, one of whom is now Queen and she, by tradition, has to submit to.
* MyBelovedSmother: She never gets the notice that her daughters are grown and able to make their own decisions, trying to advise and control Elizabeth (who is a ruling monarch on top of being in her 30s and a wife and mother) and Margaret (over 21 and still trying to steer her to a "suitable" match).
* NeverMyFault: When confronted about how she and her husband didn't provide Elizabeth with a formal education (beyond lessons about court etiquette and the British Constitution), she shifts the blame to their advisors for not suggesting that the young princess be sent to school.
* NiceToTheWaiter: For the most part she is unfailingly polite to most everyone, (with notable exceptions being the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and at times Philip and his family) and even after his retirement, depended on Tommy Lascelles as both a confidant and friend. "Pride and Joy" sees her revelling in the fact that a man doesn't recognize her, allowing her the chance to befriend him on a more natural level, without her status as Queen complicating matters.
-->'''Captain Terry''': ''(after realizing the woman he's become friends with is the Queen Mother)'' Why on earth didn't you say, Ma'am?\\
'''Elizabeth''': Because people always makes such a fuss, and stop being themselves. ''(Then motions to The Castle of Mey, with a slight chuckle)'' And you would have double the price.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Was opposed to Philip marrying Elizabeth and while the two are civil, Elizabeth finds it surprising Philip celebrated at a bar with her and Tommy Lascelles (who he really dislikes). On the other hand, she really likes Tony, which annoys Margaret in the Season 3 premiere.
* OneSteveLimit: Also called Queen Elizabeth. A fact that amuses Queen Mary, also a "Queen", and confuses her nurse.
* ParentalMarriageVeto: Tried to invoke this on Elizabeth and Philip, which failed as she eventually married him anyway. She is much more successful and subtle in preventing Margaret's intention to marry Peter Townsend.
* PerpetualSmiler: In Season 3 she seems to smile a lot and crack jokes, a far cry from her whiny image in the first two seasons.
* RulingCouple
* StepfordSmiler: She is rather concerned with putting forth a fairy-tale like image of the royal family and cares for more frivolous pleasures. True to rumours, as the Queen Mother was stated to be almost emphatically unwilling to confront anything she found unpleasant.
* TechnologicallyBlindElders: "Dear Mrs. Kennedy" shows her furiously banging on the top of the tv despite Elizabeth's protestations that it will only make it worse when the signal gets messed up.
* ThriftyScot: The owner of the Castle of Mey invokes this when the Queen Mother cites the price for the Castle as a reason for not sharing her identity.
-->'''Captain Terry:''' Spoken like a true Scotswoman.
* UpperClassTwit: She doesn't possess a lot of common sense and shifts blame to her advisors when Elizabeth confronted her about her meagre education.
* YouAreFat: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor make references to her being fat constantly, in spite of the fact that, [[AdaptationalAttractiveness as played by Victoria Hamilton]], she is not as round as the Queen Mother turned out to be. This is partly out of spitefulness more than accuracy, however; the Windsors and the Queen Mother famously ''detested'' each other quite viciously, and things tended to get personal quite quickly.
** By Season 3 she has a more rotund appearance and when the family gathers to watch their documentary, while everyone pokes fun at their appearances and each other, she remarks about how many pounds the camera puts and Margaret jokes about the camera capturing her "good side": her backside.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Queen Mary]]
!!Her Majesty Queen Mary
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queenmary_7.png]]
->'''Played By''': Eileen Atkins
-> ''"The Crown must win. Must ''always'' win."''
Elizabeth and Margaret's grandmother, and George VI's mother. She is ailing by the time the season starts, but nevertheless possesses great reserves of strength and support.
----
* CoolOldLady: She suffers no fools, but also is quite charming. She expresses to Elizabeth the importance of her position as the Crown, and not as simply Elizabeth, explaining that God intended the monarchy's most important position is to present itself as stability and security to the country and act as an archetype and example of which their subjects can strive to live their lives. That said she isn't above sharing a sly joke with her young nurse, at the same time giving her a quick lesson on the succession of the Crown.
* FoodPorn: She inquires about [[FancyDinner the food]] her nephew Prince Ernst August of Hanover enjoyed at Lord Mountbatten's table, and positively salivates to hear him describe it.
-->'''Queen Mary''': The food is normally quite good at Broadlands.
-->'''Ernst August''': Outstanding!
-->'''Queen Mary''': Especially the duck, from memory, with oranges.
-->'''Ernst August''': Rum-soaked raisins...
-->'''Queen Mary''': Oh! A Prussian recipe.
-->'''Ernst August''': ''(in German)'' Spaetzle, too. Crispy, with cheese and breadcrumbs.
-->'''Queen Mary''': ''(in German)'' Delicious!
* GrandeDame: Multiple authors have not called her "the formidable Queen Mary" for nothing.
* GratuitousGerman: Engages in some of this with "meine liebe Ernst."
* HatesSmallTalk: Makes Elizabeth promise not to ask about her health, which at that point is quite fragile.
-->Forget death by lung disease. It's death by bad conversation.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Typically seen with a glass of amber liquid in stressful moments.
* MeaningfulLook: To Elizabeth, when bowing to her for the first time. It's as if she's channeling the determination Elizabeth needs directly into her with her eyes.
* MentorArchetype: In a way. Before dying, she gives Elizabeth valuable advice which is to shape her reign. She emphasises impartiality at all times, even advising against smiling, lest it reveal the monarch’s opinion and impresses upon her granddaughter, as the quote above indicates, that the Crown must trump all else.
* MustHaveNicotine: Does not have many scenes that ''don't'' include a cigarette.
* NeverMessWithGranny: Prince Ernst August looks genuinely terrified to admit to her that he drank champagne the day after her son's funeral.
* NeverSayThatAgain: Strongly advises son David not to speak his wife's name (the scandalous Wallis Simpson) in her presence.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: She outlived three sons before she died.
* ParentalFavoritism: For George VI, and she doesn't particularly care if [[DisappointedInYou his older brother]] knows it.
* StealthInsult: When Edward visits her before George VI's funeral, she calls George the perfect son, cementing Edward's status as TheUnfavorite ''right in front of him''.
* WidowsWeeds: Although she's mourning her son, not her husband, when she goes to bow to the new Queen for the first time in full widow regalia.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Duke of Windsor]]
!!His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dukeofwindsor_3.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Alex Jennings (Seasons 1&2), Creator/DerekJacobi (Season 3)
-> ''"I will always be half King, my tragedy is that I have no kingdom. You have it. And you must protect it."''
The former King Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in 1936 in order to marry his twice-divorced lover Wallis Simpson. This act caused a crisis which threatened the monarchy, forced his reluctant younger brother to take the throne and had effects which continue to ripple through British society. Reduced to glorified exiles as a result, he is bitter towards the Windsors for insults and mistreatment both real and perceived, an enmity which several in the family and British establishment alike are more than willing to return.
----
* AbdicateTheThrone: Edward was infamously driven to it to marry his twice-divorced lover. The memory of the crisis still haunts the House of Windsor.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The ending of "Vergangenheit" is played as if the Duke is banished from Britain forever and remains forever estranged from his family from that point on. In fact, he returned to Britain frequently and saw his extended family again even after the release of the Marburg Papers.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's all charm and obsequiousness to his niece and relatives in person, but shares bitchy gossip and snide nicknames about them with his wife in private. In a variation, said niece and relatives are well aware that he does this, which is one reason why they dislike him so much.
* BlackSheep: After the abdication crisis, where he puts his own person before the crown, he is effectively banished and becomes persona non grata for most of the family.
* CoattailRidingRelative: But his attempts to use his niece's position to his advantage never seem to work out.
* EvilUncle: Downplayed, but it's still clear that most of his family still blame him for the abdication and indirectly causing George VI's early death.
* GreenEyedMonster: He can be particularly vicious about Elizabeth behind her back, but it's implied to be because she now holds the position -- and the power -- that he gave up. In a particularly sad irony, Elizabeth is often shown to be one of the few members of his extended family who is willing to show kindness and forgiveness towards him (at least, until she learns the full extent of his connections with the Nazis).
* GuiltyPleasures
-->Having had a naval background, I don't much care for fussy things or smells. But I do like a good well-milled soap.
* HiddenDepths: Is shown crying while playing the bagpipes after Elizabeth's coronation, hinting at some regret at the abdication if not the circumstances it occurred under.
* {{Hypocrite}}: On several occasions, scenes of Edward's family members experiencing some kind of grief or loss, or offering Edward some hospitality (even if grudgingly), are contrasted with a voiceover of one of Edward's bitchy letters to Wallis in which he denounces them as awful, selfish, cold and unfeeling. In general, he's all charm (or smarm) and obsequiousness to their faces, but vicious, waspish and spiteful behind their backs.
* ImStandingRightHere: When Queen Mary calls Bertie the perfect son, his expression practically shouts this.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: A lifelong smoker, in his final months he suffers from hideous bloody coughing fits.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Or all about "me and Wallis" at least; he's incapable of letting go of his bitterness and resentment for how his extended family treat him over a decision that was entirely within his own power and which caused them no small amount of upheaval and grief as well.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He's not entirely wrong to feel resentment at his treatment at the hands of the Royal Family and the British establishment at times, nor that their treatment of him and his wife can be a bit unnecessarily cruel. However, [[ItsAllAboutMe it just never seems to register]] that they ''also'' have a point and it's largely due to [[NeverMyFault his own selfish actions that he gets treated the way he does]]. He also gives genuinely good advice to Elizabeth on a couple of occasions, although it's usually out of self-serving reasons that he'll benefit from in some way.
* JerkassRealization:
** An understated example: he seems genuinely regretful when he realizes Elizabeth doesn't hate him for the same reasons as her family and that she wanted nothing to do with her royal position. While still treating her and the family with disdain, he gives Elizabeth a genuine apology and is much more helpful in private conversation afterwards.
** He's also left visibly shaken when, after being confronted with the true depths he went to with regards to his fondness for the Nazis, Elizabeth coldly asks how he can possibly forgive himself.
* KickTheDog: He gets some real villain moments:
** He declares he wants his mother to die when she becomes very ill because, if she recovers, a second trip would be unbearable.
** He and Wallis laugh over Elizabeth's bad press.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: For all his snideness about his family and the institution, the weight of his decision to abdicate the throne clearly weighs on him. He's also left looking very shaken when Elizabeth confronts him about his connections to and dealings with the Nazis.
* NeverLiveItDown: The Abdication, full stop, whatever he tries. His Nazi affiliations are a close second.
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Does so, about King George VI, much to the anger of Tommy Lascelles.
* TheNicknamer: He has unflattering nicknames for his entire family, and flattering ones for Wallis.
* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: His family and Wallis call him "David" [[note]]last of his many given names[[/note]], not Edward.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: InUniverse, you can tell he's picked up some Americanisms from his wife over the last sixteen years. He pronounces “past” and “bath” with a flat a, for example.
* OpenMouthInsertFoot: When he gets riled up and his charm begins to slip, he has a tendency to [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech lash out at the people around him]] until he goes too far and completely undercuts himself:
** In "Coronation Day", he's infuriated when it's made clear that his wife won't be invited to the coronation in a transparent attempt to prevent him from attending as well. He makes some points about the hypocrisy and cruelty of the situation in a way that those he's attacking [[JerkassHasAPoint can't really argue with]]... until he makes the mistake of referring to the late King George VI as "weak." Tommy Lascelles immediately smacks that down, and even the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has tried to be a mediating and neutral figure throughout the meeting, makes it clear that that was a step too far.
--->'''Tommy Lascelles:''' [[TranquilFury Nothing weak about the late King,]] ''[[GentlemanSnarker sir]]''. I'm sure I speak for everyone present when I call him a hero.\\
'''Archbishop of Canterbury:''' ''[Firmly]'' Here here.
** In "Vergangenheit", he delivers a bitter retort when Elizabeth refuses his request for royal engagements, and implicitly refuses to allow him to rehabilitate his public image, and denounces the "inhumanity" of her and her family towards him and his wife. It quickly becomes apparent that this was a ''very'' bad choice of words on his part, coming as it does on the heels of Elizabeth learning ''precisely'' how chummy with the Nazis he and Wallis got, and she proceeds to give it back to him with both barrels, making it abundantly clear that forgiveness is not forthcoming and if he knows what's good for him he'll not be showing his face in her presence any time soon. [[JerkassRealization The look on his face]] [[OhCrap makes it clear he knows]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone just how deeply he's trodden in it this time]], and he quickly scurries away.
* PetTheDog: Actually gives Elizabeth good advice when she asks him for it. He also quickly gives her an apology for indirectly forcing her into her current role when she spells out why she's owed it. He also genuinely loves Wallis.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Would like to be one of these after growing bored with the TwentyFourHourPartyPeople at Villa Windsor. A MoralEventHorizon makes this impossible. Though it's played with, since he quails a bit at the thought of anything which might actually require him to do some proper work; he'd like something fairly glamourous, easy and showy, but which doesn't require him to actually do much. In essence, he'd like to be a Royal Who Actually Does Something As Long As It's Glamorous And Very Easy.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Complains of the "pusillanimity" of the Royal Family in denying an invitation to Elizabeth's coronation to his wife.
* SharpDressedMan
-->"No matter the fashion, a well-cut suit in a beautiful fabric will take you anywhere."[[note]] TruthInTelevision: the Duke of Windsor was very much a style icon in RealLife.[[/note]]
* SiblingYinYang: With George VI. Bertie gave his life for his country despite being awkward and unprepared, while charming David ran away from self-interest. Perhaps it's more accurate that their fear drove them in different directions.
* TheStarscream: He schemed a plot with the Nazis that would give the Germans a free reign in Europa in exchange for reinstating him as the King of England, usurping his brother.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Elizabeth was willing to forgive him even after she learns of some of his Nazi sympathies, but when the full extent of his collusion with Adolf Hitler -- tantamount to treason -- is revealed to her, she banishes Edward for good.
* TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Series two episode "Vergangenheit" tackles the Duke’s relationship with the Nazis, after the unearthing of the so-called Marburg Files. In its telling, the Duke is nothing short of a treacherous Nazi sympathizer, whose loathing for his former kingdom extended so far as to encourage the Germans to bomb it into suing for peace.
* TheUnfavourite: Compared to Bertie, after the abdication.
* UnreliableNarrator: In-Universe. Tends to exaggerate his family's more unsavoury traits in his letters to Wallis. On at least one occasion, his description of his arrival in England and being greeted by crowds of admirers is contrasted with the reality, in which everyone else carries on with their business not paying him the slightest bit of attention except for one person who shouts a greeting to him.
* VoiceoverLetter: Sends one or two of these to Wallis whenever he visits London.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Lord Snowdon]]
!!The Right Honourable Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lordsnowdon.png]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/MatthewGoode (Season 2), Ben Daniels (Seasons 3&4)
A British photographer and film-maker, who marries Princess Margaret. Their relationship proved to be turbulent for themselves, the Royal Family, and British society.
----
* BiTheWay: Has relations not just with multiple women, but with a few men as well, something that the real Earl of Snowdon never outright confirmed, nor did he ever deny.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Male version; his unconventional irreverence is Margaret's main draw to "Tony."
* MistakenForGay: Margaret believes he is "simply queer" after their first meeting. [[AnythingThatMoves It's not that simple]].
* MrFanservice: Played by the classically handsome Matthew Goode, and often shown to be in the nude.
* MustHaveNicotine: Is constantly smoking, something he and Margaret have in common.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: During the Aberfan disaster he goes to document the incident showing endless grief and horror for the tragedy. Margaret (and the viewer) have never seen him so shocked.
* RebelRelaxation: He's very laid back, even literally. At one point he's seen waiting resting on the floor of a large empty room of the Palace.
* ReallyGetsAround: Crossed with AnythingThatMoves: exotic-looking dancers? Check. Young British couples? Check. Actresses? Check. Princess Margaret? He's had them all.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Suffers from a terrible case of this towards his mother, who is shown to be very cold and uncaring to him and to favor his step-brother. Tony sees himself (rightfully so) as TheUnfavorite, the son born from an unsuccessful marriage with no title, and tries very hard to win his mother's favor. It's even implied that he married Margaret because he thought it would please his mother and help him to prove himself in her eyes. His mother actually ponders it, on their way to the wedding no less.
-->'''Tony:''' I suppose I always thought that eventually you'd find it in you to admit that you're proud of me. Perhaps even that you love me.\\
'''Anne Messel:''' Darling, I do hope you haven't done all this for me.\\
''(no answer)''
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Prince Charles]]
!!His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princecharles_6.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Billy Jenkins (Season 1&2), Julian Baring (Season 2), Josh O'Connor (Seasons 3&4)
The oldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and heir to the throne.
----
* AbusiveParents:
** Philip gives out what would now be considered emotional abuse, because of his disappointment at Charles's disposition.
** Elizabeth is also very distant with her son, implied to be because she can not see anything in Charles other than her own mortality as her heir and successor.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Gives a few (politely) to Edward Millward in their first meeting.
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: The harsh and disciplined Gordonstoun, Philip's own alma mater, is hell for the empathetic and sensitive Charles, who described it as "Colditz in Kilts."
* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling The Old Lady Out]]: Has a tragic one to give to Elizabeth in Season 3 after she upbraids him for a speech that found comparisons to his plight as heir to the plight of the Welsh people and sympathizes with Welsh national and cultural identity and tells her he is not just a symbol.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Almost tragically, it's not surprising that he bonds with his great uncle the Duke of Windsor stemming from the perceived coldness they receive from their family.
* GenerationXerox: Upon becoming Prince of Wales, he very much sees himself in the former title holder, his great-uncle Edward VIII, wanting to make drastic changes to the entire concept of the monarchy but stifled by the establishment, and especially vows that he also won't let himself be driven from his true love, which history tells us took some twists and turns but got there in the end.
* FriendToAllChildren: Like his uncle and father, he is fond of children, like Professor Millward's young son Andras.
* JockDadNerdSon: Philip is driven to frustration by Charles' sensitive nature and dislike of physical activity[[note]]ArtisticLicenseHistory as Charles is well-known as a competitive sportsman who enjoys hiking around the Scottish highlands in little more than a kilt and a tweed jacket. He also legitimately qualified as a military pilot and paratrooper, both extremely tough things to do[[/note]]. Philip's attempts at trying to connect with Charles are shown to fail as Philip can't help but start berating his son to become tougher.
* LoveDodecahedron: The path of his and Camilla's relationship was famously convoluted. Initially they start dating after Camilla broke up with Andrew Parker Bowles, at the same time Bowles hooks up with Charles' sister Anne, only for Camilla and Bowles to marry anyway a few years later.
* MilitarySalute: ''Adorably'' does this when presenting Philip with his new rank insignia.
* ModestRoyalty: He was the first-ever British royal heir to be sent to public school[[note]]fee-paying[[/note]] rather than be educated by a private tutor. Unfortunately, his classmates all being well aware of his status leads to horrible bullying.[[note]]While not shown in the series, it was reportedly popular among his classmates to be able to brag that they'd punched the future king in the bollocks.[[/note]]
* NiceToTheWaiter: Even after [[AbusiveParents a fight with his father has been distressing him]], he is still well-mannered, even cheerful with some members of the Royal staff. In Season 3, after returning to his investiture, he is greeted by a member of the staff and it's implied they have had a friendly chat.
* ParentalSubstitute: Due to a combination of emotionally distant parents and being sent away to boarding schools, Charles turns to others for emotional support including Lord Mountbatten[[note]]they affectionately called each other "Honorary Grandfather" and "Honorary Grandson" until the very end[[/note]] and Donald Green, the detective assigned to guard him at Gordonstoun.
** The end of "Paterfamilias" seems to imply he has a closer relationship to the children's governess than with either of his parents.
* RefugeInAudacity: Upon being made the Prince of Wales, he gives a speech in Welsh declaring his intention to respect the country's autonomy and identity in stark contrast to previous holders of the title, with the rest of the family clueless until later due to not speaking the language.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Charles and Philip.
* ShoppingMontage: Before Charles receives the news that he will be going to Gordonstoun, Lord Mountbatten takes him on a visit to "the finest house in Savile Row" to buy some very snappy clothes for Eton.
* ShrinkingViolet: He's very shy and has difficulty socializing, evidenced by how he's perpetually hunching over and turning his body away from others.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He gets on the receiving end of a vicious one given to him by Edward Millward - his Welsh tutor who's also a proud Welsh nationalist and republican - for not taking his time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, seriously.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: At age 8, Elizabeth is distressed to see how formal he is with his father, even away from the cameras.
* YouthfulFreckles: His close-up in "Tywysog Cymru" reveals him to be a young adult male example of this trope.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Anne]]
!!Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princess_anne_erin_doherty.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Amelia and Grace Gilmour (Seasons 1&2), Lyla Barrett-Rye (Season 2), Erin Doherty (Seasons 3&4)
The second child (and only daughter) of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
----
* BrutalHonesty: A prominent trait of hers in the series, as in real life, adding to her snarkiness and savvy.
* TheConfidant: Serves as this (mutually) to Charles in "Tywysog Cymru" discussing the pros and cons of being comfortable but ignored by their Mother (Anne) or the important Heir yet treated more harshly (Charles).
* DaddysGirl: The end of "Paterfamilias" shows her to be thoroughly excited at seeing her father home from a long tour abroad and he is much more affectionate with her than with Charles.
* DeadpanSnarker: It must be a Mountbatten thing because she can snark with the best of them.
-->'''The Queen Mother''': We'd like to ask you some questions. And it's important while answering those questions that you remain clearheaded, unemotional, rational and calm.
-->'''Princess Anne''': As opposed to what? The hysterical and neurotic way I normally behave?
* GenerationXerox: Much like her Aunt Margaret, she's much more media-savvy than some of her relatives, which leads to bitterness that her place in the family relegates her to the sidelines (even worse in her case as she's stuck behind two much younger brothers). And when her father, Prince Philip, upbraids her for her blunt, no-nonsense attitude, she snarks right back with this little gem:
-->'''Princess Anne''': Oh I wonder where I get ''that'' from?
* GenreSavvy: She's savvier than her family when it comes to the media at large, and expresses concern when they agree to go ahead with an "at home with the Royals" documentary. When this backfires, and her father coerces her into being interviewed by a hostile reporter from ''The Guardian'' (rather than a friendlier publication), she smartly shoves her nun grandmother, Princess Alice, in his path and her tragically amazing life-story turns out to be exactly the ''right'' sort of PR the family needs.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: She is the only girl and in the middle between Charles the Heir and two baby brothers.
* OutnumberedSibling: She is the only daughter of Elizabeth and Philip and one of their four children.
* ParentalFavoritism: Philip is shown to be more affectionate to her than with Charles.
* ShesGotLegs: Spends a lot of time in jodhpurs and miniskirts that show off her legs.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: She engages in verbal jousting matches with her father, who is seen enjoying them.
* SpareToTheThrone: She spends most of Seasons 1 and 2 as the spare to Charles. By the end of Season 2, and the births of her younger brothers Andrew and Edward, she's been bumped down to fourth in line. In Season 3, she feels emotionally neglected by her mother because of this, despite being free from Elizabeth's criticisms.
* SpeakTruthToPower: '''No one''' back-chats the formidable Duke of Edinburgh -- except his daughter.
* TomboyPrincess: Philip complains that "our daughter's a boy and our son is, God bless him, a girl."
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: She is more interested in riding horses than Royal protocols but also has a stylish bouffant hairdo and takes to wearing the body-con fashions and mini-skirts of the 1960s.
* ToughLove: Gives it to her brothers, either telling them to cheer up after snarking with him (Charles) or pushing them to say hi to the astronauts (Andrew or Edward).
* TrueBlueFemininity: Like her mother, she favors blue tones, though often in bright shades.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Prince Andrew]]
!!His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew
The third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and, due to being male, the second in line to the throne.
----
* CheerfulChild: In his few appearances in Season 3, he appears to be very playful and excitable, in contrast to the serious and dramatic issues going on amongst the elder members of his family.
* DeadGuyJunior: His parents briefly considered naming him "George", but he wasn't because there were too many Georges and nobody could live up to Elizabeth's Papa anyway. They end up naming him for Philip's father.
* SpannerInTheWorks: His very conception forces Margaret to delay her wedding announcement, as royal protocol is that no other family news can precede the birth.
* SpareToTheThrone: Due to British male primogeniture laws of the time (overturned to become absolute primogeniture in the [=21st=] century), he displaces Anne to become second in line to the throne at the moment of his birth.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Prince Edward]]
!!His Royal Highness The Prince Edward
The Queen and Prince Philip's youngest child, and third in line to the throne.
----
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: He is the youngest of Elizabeth's and Philip's four children. Only about four years younger than his brother Andrew, fourteen years younger than Anne, and finally sixteen years younger than Charles.
* CheerfulChild: Excitable, innocent, playful. This is in great contrast to the dramatic and serious issues facing his family.
* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: The Season 2 finale covers Elizabeth's especially troubled pregnancy with him.
* SpareToTheThrone: Like his brother Andrew before him, he displaces Anne to become third in line to the throne at the moment of his birth.
[[/folder]]
!!Relatives of the Royal Family
[[folder: The Duchess of Windsor]]
!!Her Grace Wallis, Duchess of Windsor
[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wallissimpson.PNG]]
->'''Played By''': Lia Williams (Seasons 1&2), Creator/GeraldineChaplin (Season 3&4)
The wife of the Duke of Windsor, formerly Mrs. Simpson, whose relationship with him led to the abdication crisis.
----
* TwentyFourHourPartyPeople: Loves to entertain and is happy to fill her home with friends night after night.
* AffectionateNickname: Edward addresses her as his "dear darling Peaches" in his letters.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The problems her marriage to Edward cause aren't a thousand miles away from the obstacles Margaret and Peter are to encounter to their engagement.
* HappilyMarried: Despite the chaos it brought to the British monarchy, she and Edward do seem to genuinely love each other.
* KickTheDog: She and Edward have no problem laughing over Elizabeth's bad press during the Townsend Affair, seeing it as a vindication for their own relationship.
* ManipulativeBitch: Persuades Edward to pump the Royal Family for a larger allowance during his visit for the King's funeral. [[spoiler:The Queen Mother sees this coming from a mile away and cuts them off completely.]]
* NeverLiveItDown: The Abdication. She's still equally well-known to history for being "Mrs. Simpson" as much as The Duchess of Windsor. It's shown as harder for her husband, the former King Edward VIII, though.
* TheNicknamer: She and Edward often refer to members of the Royal Family and British Establishment by various [[EmbarrassingNickname embarrassing nicknames]].
* ReallyGetsAround: Members of the Royal household believe she was sleeping with Von Ribbentrop while he was the German Ambassador to London, while carrying on her affair with Edward.
* TheResenter: Openly disdainful that despite her marriage to Edward, she has no true royal title.
* SlutShaming: The Queen Mother describes her as "that Jezebel divorcée."
* UnholyMatrimony: Virtually everyone else in the Royal Family views Wallis and Edward's marriage this way.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: British-born Lia Williams plays Wallis with a mix of English and mid-Atlantic accents. This is quite similar to how Wallis spoke in real life, though.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Lord Mountbatten]]
!!The Right Honourable Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lord_louis_mountbatten.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Greg Wise (Seasons 1&2), Creator/CharlesDance (Seasons 3&4)
->''"Having Mountbatten as the name of the Royal house, having your first-born son, Charles, as the first Mountbatten king... Well, that would be some achievement, wouldn't it?"''
The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and the uncle of Prince Philip. He is both a family friend and an advisor to Philip, but his advice frequently causes tension with both the Windsors and the British establishment.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Known as "Dickie" by his family and friends (even though "Richard" is not among his several given names[[labelnote:*]]It was going to be "Nicky" from Nicholas, but that was already taken by Nicholas II of Russia, so it became "Dickie"[[/labelnote]]).
* AgentPeacock: A highly decorated naval commander, he was Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia during the war, with such impeccable and refined tastes that the biggest room in his home is not his ball room, but his closet, which is solely for all his uniforms.
* AmbitionIsEvil:
** When he raises a toast to the Royal House now being called Mountbatten, warning bells go off for Queen Mary, the Queen Mother and Sir Tommy Lascelles, the House of Windsor's staunchest defenders.
** His boundless ambition becomes a liability to the government in Season 3. After being forced out as Chief of Defence Staff, he seriously considers participating in a coup against the government.
* CoolOldGuy: From the Edwardian generation, his lordship is still a quite jolly, personable, and unstuffy war hero.
* CoolUncle: To Philip, followed by Charles.
* ImmigrantPatriotism: His sister, Princess Alice, reminds him that the Battenberg family, whilst counting kings and queens amongst their numbers, don't have a home country, and are something of a German/Greek/Danish mix. Dickie won't hear of it, citing the United Kingdom as the only proper home he's ever known.
* MentorArchetype:
** After being bounced around various relatives, Lord Louis Mountbatten takes the young Philip into his home and under his wing. His wish for the Royal House to be known as Mountbatten make him more of an EvilMentor in the minds of Windsor loyalists.
** He does the same with Charles, to the point they refer to each other as Honorary Grandfather and Honorary Grandson respectively.
* {{Nephewism}}: Is very much a father figure to Philip. Whether this is out of affection or his own ambitions is never made clear. He later forms a close relationship with Charles and becomes a warmer alternative for the prince, in contrast to the harsh Philip.
* NeverLiveItDown: His enemies are fond of snidely pointing out how he "gave away India" (namely, that he was the Viceroy who oversaw the partitioning and transitioning of India from a British colony to the independent nations of India and Pakistan).
* ParentalSubstitute: He’s Philip’s father for all intents and purposes. He was also particularly close to Charles. This is something from real life that the show didn’t take any liberties with.
* SexlessMarriage: Of a sort; he and his wife have sex often, but rarely, perhaps never, with each other.
* SharpDressedMan: While many of the men in the show know how to rock a suit, Lord Mountbatten is particularly well-dressed, and even passes on some of his passion for Savile Row to his nephew Charles.
* SiblingYinYang: With the ascetic and detached, yet forgiving Princess Alice. Impatient, angry Dickie tried to carry out a coup and nearly embodies "worldly", while she turned her back on her old life to give her time and possessions to the poor.
* YourCheatingHeart: Both he and his wife, Edwina, while fond enough of each other, carried on in what could be called an open marriage[[labelnote:*]]Edwina's most famous affair was with Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India; Dickie's was with Yola Letellier, the wife of a French newspaper publisher[[/labelnote]].
-->'''Edwina''': I'm all in favour of [[DoubleEntendre foreign affairs]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Cecilie]]
!!Her Royal Highness Princess Cecilie, The Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cecilie.png]]
->'''Played By''': Leonie Benesch
Prince Philip's third of his four sisters, and a member of the Greek royal family. A German princess by marriage to her cousin.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Although her given name was Cecilie, she was known to her family as Cécile.
* AlasPoorVillain: To a modern audience's sensibilities, Nazis are beyond the pale, but from the way she is presented as a supportive, caring character, it's difficult not to feel sorry for her, as her death is nothing short of horrific in every way possible.
* CallBack: She and her sisters are referenced in the very first episode, when Churchill loudly mentions Prince Philip's "Nazi sisters" at the royal wedding, though Cecilie only appears right at the end of Series 2.
* CoolBigSis: For Prince Philip, who looks to her for emotional support and a touch of levity in place of his ice-cold father and mentally-ill mother. He reminds Charles that Cecilie was his favourite sister.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Utterly terrified of flying at the best of times, Cecilie dies along with her husband Georg Donatus, their two young sons and Georg's mother when the aircraft in which they were travelling crashes in flames after hitting a factory chimney near Ostend, Belgium, killing all on board. Cecilie was eight months pregnant with her fourth child at the time of the crash, and the remains of the baby were found in the wreckage; a Belgian official enquiry concluded that Cecilie had given birth mid-flight. The crash-site is hauntingly depicted in episode 9 of Series 2, as Philip imagines himself picking his way through the wreckage.
* ParentalFavoritism: Prince Philip's father, Prince Andrew, acknowledges her as his favourite child after her death, and appears to blame Philip's acting up at school as the cause.
* PosthumousCharacter: She appears throughout the episode "Paterfamilias", which features flashbacks of Prince Philip's time at Gordonstoun, and the events surrounding her death.
* SympatheticPOV: A rare example of a card-carrying Nazi depicted as a normal, seemingly nice young woman who dies in tragic circumstances.
* ThoseWackyNazis: Cecilie, her sisters, and her husband were prominent Nazis, which is acknowledged multiple times within the series, though she is presented as a perky, quite jolly young woman and displays none of the associated overtly villainous behaviour, apart from some over-zealous remarks about Hitler's mandate that his followers bear multiple children to bolster his available soldiers.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Absolutely ''hated'' planes and having to fly anywhere in them, which makes her death in a plane crash even more tragic.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Alice]]
!!Her Royal Highness Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princessalice.png]]
->'''Played By''': Rosalind Knight (Season 1), Sophie Leigh Stone (Season 2), Jane Lapotaire (Season 3)
Prince Philip's mother Alice, born Her Serene Highness Princess Alice of Battenberg, and eldest sister of Lord Mountbatten. Shortly after Philip and Elizabeth's wedding, she started a convent in Greece and increasingly fell on hard times. After the Colonels' Coup in 1967, she left Greece for the last time, to live in Buckingham Palace.
----
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: When she first comes to stay at Buckingham Palace, Philip spends a lot of time trying to avoid her as much as possible, especially as the Royal Family documentary is under production at the palace. The first time he speaks to her is after he realises exactly how much she has been through in her life.
* TheBeautifulElite: At the time of her birth in 1885, she was about as elite as it gets, even with MixedAncestry. As she herself says, she was born at Windsor Castle with her great-grandmother UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria present. She then grew up to be so good-looking that despite her deafness, Edward VII said "no throne is too good for her".
* CoolOldLady: She enthrals her teenage granddaughter, Princess Anne, with stories of her colourful past, as well as a very critical, anti-monarchist reporter from ''The Guardian'' during an interview.
* DeadpanSnarker: It runs through Philip's maternal family. Princess Alice's only response to a jeweller calling the police on her[[labelnote: context]]After trying to sell an old brooch of hers, he thought her nunnery was a front for a crime ring[[/labelnote]] is "Did you come up with a price yet, sweetie?"
* DisabilityImmunity: She was born deaf, and used her deafness during the Nazi occupation of Greece to obfuscate her way through their questioning when she sheltered a Jewish family. Subverted with her psychiatric issues as they made her life very hard.
* GoodShepherd: She is honest in her piety, and has almost beggared herself trying to support her convent.
* InspirationalMartyr: She lived a remarkable life of altruism and service, serving as a military nurse during World War I, sheltering Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, and founding an Orthodox order of nursing nuns in Athens -- all despite having had to escape her native Greece during a military coup, and having been forcibly institutionalised and cruelly treated for most of her life. It's this level of altruism that softens the heart of an anti-monarchist ''Guardian'' journalist, inspiring him to write a favourable article about Princess Alice's life, and giving the Royals a much-needed PR boost.
* LivingRelic: During her lifetime (1885 - 1969) the world changed ''unimaginably'' so, considering the rapid advances in technology and the breaking down of rigid social-class structures in the egalitarian 1960s. With a childhood spent in the antiquated Victorian era, and a death coinciding with the moon landings, her presence in the series is that of an emissary from a long-gone chapter in the history of Europe's monarchies.
* MissingMom: Confesses to having been this to Philip due to having first been institutionalized and then separated from him by World War II. [[note]]In real life, they had no communication for a total of ten years.[[/note]]
* MixedAncestry: In royal terms. The morganatic Battenberg side comes from her German princely grandfather [[note]]Alexander of Hesse, their father Louis of Battenberg's father[[/note]] making an unsuitable and totally unapproved marriage to a lady-in-waiting[[note]]Julia von Hauke, in the employ of Alexander's sister the Tsarina. The Tsar then banned them from Russia and they were both PersonaNonGrata in other places for quite a while[[/note]]; the royal equivalent of bastardy since the children couldn't inherit any of the father's titles.[[note]]Julia was finally created "Princess Battenberg".[[/note]] It's why she reminds Dickie that despite their mother Victoria's royal Hessian blood and their current high social status, they're "mongrels".
* ModestRoyalty: She's had some of the most famous and prestigious relatives in the world and is currently the Queen's mother-in-law, yet by 1967, she was living an incredibly rustic, selfless life as a nun in a run-down covent in Athens. The only remnant of her regal past is a priceless, perfect sapphire she has kept hidden away, but is willing to sell if it helps pay for repairs to her church's roof.
* MustHaveNicotine: A contender for the worst offender in the series so far, smoking in nearly every scene in which she appears.
* NunsAreFunny: When she first said she wanted to become a nun, her mother Princess Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven, scoffed, "What can you say of a nun that smokes and plays canasta?". In-series, her eccentricity, permanent smoking, and the fact she keeps turning up in places she's not supposed to be makes for an amusing scenario.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: After she married, her title for the remainder of her life was [[GenderBlenderName "Princess Andrew"]]. To undoubtedly make things easier for the audience, she's only referred to as "Princess Alice", her birth name.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Her third daughter Cecile died in a plane crash when Philip was a teenager. She outlived her grandchildren from Cecile as well.
* SiblingYinYang: With Lord Mountbatten. He tries to stage a coup after losing his previous position and is rather attached to luxury while she turned her back on her old life to give her time and her worldly possessions to the poor.
* TheStateless: Due to her turbulent life and MilitaryBrat childhood [[UpToEleven on top of her Battenberg family's colorful history]], she views herself this way. A proud Briton, her brother Dickie firmly disagrees but still calls her "Princess Alice of Nowhere-At-All".
* UselessBystanderParent: To Philip, given how her problems took her away from him and left her unable to counter his father's unhappiness.
* TheVoiceless: Up to Season 3. Her character made appearances on-screen in Season 1 and Season 2, but "Bubbikins" is the first time she gets to say anything.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Princess Marina]]
!!Her Royal Highness Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
[[quoteright:211:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marina_0.png]]
->'''Played By''': Clare Holman
The widow of the Queen's late uncle George, the Duke of Kent, and Prince Philip's first cousin. Like Philip, a member of the Greek royal family who married in.
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* CoattailRidingRelative: Absolutely viewed as such by Princess Margaret:
-->'''Margaret''': “Marina? She'd do well to remember her place. As a low-ranking member of your husband's refugee family, she's lucky to be here at all.”
** Consider that Marina is both also a princess in her native Greece and Margaret's ''aunt''.
* FeudingFamilies: The relatives are utterly furious with the constant noise coming from the renovations Princess Margaret organises for her apartments at Kensington Palace -- so much so that the slightly frazzled Marina is compelled to complain to the Queen herself about it.
* SpeakTruthToPower: She's Prince Philip's cousin and the Queen's aunt, and so has no compunction about animatedly complaining about Princess Margaret's unreasonably loud building work to the Queen herself, fearing no reproach, when most people would find it unthinkable to even bring the matter up. Though as the Queen herself acknowledges, she's got a pretty valid point in this case.
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