History Characters / TheCrown2016TheBritishRoyalFamily

* BookDumb: Diana is woefully ill-read, poorly-educated, and at-times undiplomatically uninformed, but she compensates for it with things like excellent observational skills (stalking), spatial and kinesthetic skills (dancing), and ''extraordinary'' interpersonal skills (she dazzles most of the planet).

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* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: [[https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-12-15/the-crown-prince-harry-nazi-costume-party-spare-comparison According to himself in his own biography]] "Spare". He claims that he detested theme parties — especially “cringy” ones like “colonials and natives” — and that it was William who loved them. At William’s insistence, Harry agreed to attend the “colonials and natives” party, and Kate offered to help find a costume, and they all agreed he should go with the Nazi one. In-series, it’s presented fully as Harry’s idea, and Kate questions his taste-level.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: [[https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-12-15/the-crown-prince-harry-nazi-costume-party-spare-comparison According to himself in his own biography]] "Spare". He claims that he detested theme parties — especially “cringy” ones like “colonials and natives” — and that it was William who loved them. At William’s insistence, Harry agreed to attend the “colonials and natives” party, and Kate offered to help find a costume, and they all agreed he should go with the Nazi one.

** He also expresses an interest in life and socializing outside their bubble and GildedCage when he asks William if he has any university friends "''not'' from Eton".

* PunishmentDetail: Despite other members of the family having therapists (including both his parents) and his own father recommending therapy as helpful, while many people seem to worry about Harry and his troubling behaviour, it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that Harry might have benefited ''greatly'' from seeing one; instead his father forces him to visit an addiction treatment centre as a punishment for smoking marijuana, and later on, after the Nazi uniform fiasco, sets him to work mucking out the Highgrove ''pigs''.

* UpperclassTwit: Teenage Harry is presented as a louche, sex-obsessed prankster with a penchant for mischief, illegal drugs, swearing in front of his elderly relatives, and hedonistic poor judgment, culminating in him infamously sporting a Nazi uniform at a WildTeenParty.

* BornInTheWrongCentury: They're ultimately holdovers from a time when monarchies needed to be seen as dutiful and untouchable to the public, and much of the drama in the series revolves around them having to modernise (willingly or reluctantly) to keep up with their subjects and the changing world around them. It's made all the more obvious when Diana marries into the family and begins her ascent to her near-deification, and in the last episode, Philip outright lampshades it, declaring that the system no longer makes any sense or has any real place in the world anymore.

* ObsoleteOccupation: The show indulges in repeated subtle and not-so-subtle hints that since the late 1940s, most of the senior members of the Royal family have been living in near-constant fear that the Monarchy is about to be abolished. Consequently, many family conversations have the underlying theme of "this is our last chance to survive, but only if we are on our best behaviour." In reality, once the major wave of post-WWII decolonisation was over, the monarchical regime in the UK itself and in most of the other Commonwealth realms was never seriously questioned, with only a handful of smaller island nations becoming republics in the 1970s and 80s. Although episodes of anti-monarchical mood came and went in various segments of the society in many of the major Commonwealth realms during Elizabeth II's reign, there was never any serious republican movement in any of them until the late 1990. Similarly, although there certainly have been attempts by the Royal family and many British Prime Ministers to make the Monarchy more approachable and more in tune with the Zeitgeist, no core member of the Royal family is likely to have been seriously concerned that the system itself may come to an end.

** Does know some English history as he mentions that William will have a better future than [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William II]] who was killed by his younger brother Prince Harry. Doubles for also showing Harry's occasional flirtations with [[ConspiracyTheorist conspiracy theories]] as it's not ''certain'' that Henry I killed William II.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Absolutely no mention or depiction is made of Diana's paranoia that Charles was having an affair with William and Harry's nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, nor the rumor that ''Diana'' spread that she became pregnant and had a stillbirth, which Diana went to "console" Tiggy with later and left Tiggy in tears. The mention of a letter that Diana wrote of her paranoia that an "accident" was about to happen to her, leaves out the context of her conviction that it would be so that Charles would be free to marry Tiggy.

* 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 Commonwealth of Nations.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Double subverted. Despite other members of the family having them (including both his parents) and his own father recommending therapy as helpful, while many people seem to worry about Harry and his behaviour, it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that Harry might have benefited ''greatly'' from seeing one; instead he speaks with disdain about publicly having to visit an addiction treatment centre as a punishment.

** The series teases a moment during his ArcadianInterlude with Diana in Australia, but ultimately subverted -- it's temporary and doesn't last the episode.

The oldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and heir to the throne.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The majority of "Willsmania" has William struggling with his emotions and relationship with Charles after Diana's death, ranging from withdrawal to sullenness to overt hostility. It takes Philip — who remembers what it was it was like dealing with ParentalAbandonment as an angry teen, and likely in a ContinuityNod, also recalls Dickie Mountbatten's 'you hate your father, one day your son will hate you' lesson from Season 2 — to intervene enough to get him and Charles to finally come to a very rare and cathartic royal hug.

** He has the above one with Diana in Australia, but subverted -- it's temporary and doesn't last the episode.

** Averted with Harry, where Charles also comments on (and we see) the difficulties in their relationship, but without a positive resolution.

[[quoteright:250:[[labelnote:Click here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princeedward2.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see him in Seasons 5-6]]

->'''Played By''': Creator/AngusImrie (Season 4), Sam Woolf (Season 5)\\\

* Hypocrite: Gives a glare at the irony of the words spoken by Charles and Camilla during their wedding of acknowledging their sins and repenting, which is rich coming from his behavior.

* UsedToBeASweetKid: Margaret, Charles, Anne, Andrew, Edward...all used to be cheerful children before growing up to be disillusioned, dysfunctional adults.

* GreenEyedMonster: It is shown one of the reasons he acts out is to get attention from his family, as most of the attention is given to his dutiful, older brother, whom the entire world seems to be in love with.

** Does know some English history as he mentions that William will have a better future than [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William II]] who was killed by his younger brother Prince Harry. Doubles for also showing that Harry's occasional flirtations with [[ConspiracyTheorist conspiracy theories]] as it's not ''certain'' that Henry I killed William II.

* HiddenDepths: Does know some English History as he mentions that William will have a better future than William II who was killed by his brother Prince Harry. [[ConspiracyTheorist Doubles for also showing that Harry's occasional flirtations with conspiracy theories as it's not ''certain'' that Henry I killed William II.]]

* SirSwearsALot: William tells Harry to "fuck off" in Canada in 1998, the first time we hear either of the brothers swearing... but in line with their generational status, it turns out to be just the first of ''many'' instances of both him and Harry employing the word with a more casual frequency than anyone else in the family, including, amusingly, their grandpa Philip[[note]] who did use it in RealLife and in semi-public, but not on the show[[/note]].

* BaddieFlattery: Middle-aged Charles always has something positive to say to his interlocutor when he's trying to gain favor from antagonistic figures that hamper him and his agenda, usually evoking some [[CommonalityConnection mutual]] [[NotSoDifferentRemark grounds]] with the [=PMs=] or some happy family memories with fellow Royals and kins. It's borderline smarmy, but the soft-talking is not enterily ungenuine.

* DissensionRemorse: In Series 6 part 2 opener “Willsmania”, the froideur between William and his father is troublingly clear, with William even accusing Charles of being responsible for his mother’s death. It takes the intervention of the formidable Duke of Edinburgh to convince William to make up with his father, and the episode closes with William embracing Charles with a reconciliatory hug.

** Reaches a new level after Diana's death. William is so shattered by her loss that he directs all his anger toward his father, who he holds responsible for what happened to her, and for making her so miserable when she was alive.

* WildTeenParty: The brothers host one at Highgrove for William's 18th -- and the young prince gets utterly paralytic, as many an English boy traditionally does.

* WildTeenParty: He and William host one at Highgrove for William's 18th; Harry naturally parties harder.

* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Downplayed, but as he becomes older, William begins to notice his mother's fragile state, and is increasingly affected by his parents' constant CycleOfRevenge splashed across the gutter press.

* WildTeenParty: He and Harry are shown hosting one at Highgrove.

* WildTeenParty: He and William host one at Highgrove; Harry naturally parties harder.

* PrecisionFStrike: Subverted. William tells Harry to "fuck off" in Canada in 1998, the first time we hear either of the brothers swearing... but in line with their generational status, it turns out to be just the first of ''many'' instances of [[SirSwearsALot both him and Harry]] employing the word with a more casual frequency than anyone else in the family, including, amusingly, their SirSwearsALot grandpa Philip[[note]] who did use it in RealLife and in semi-public, but not on the show[[/note]].

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: On top of his status as a Prince and future heir to the throne of England, as time goes by it becomes glaringly obvious he's inherited Diana's beauty, which makes the public go even more wild, something the very shy William bemoans.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Like his immeasurably popular mother Princess Diana, William soon forms an enormous global following due to his blond, film star good looks and status as a real-life fairytale PrinceCharming. Camilla notes how handsome he is — and how similar he looks to his beautiful mother. Prince Philip also comments on his resemblance to his late mother, though takes care to assure William that he is not a GenerationXerox, as William is no limelight-hog, and a far more grounded individual than Diana.