The Crown Season 5 Review: The Not So Silent War Between Two Generations

The Crown season 5 showcases the Royal family's many tumultuous relationships and their dramatic dynamics. There are detailed discussions and arguments made about marriage and how the meaning has evolved over the ages. The fading away of the monarchy and Victorian beliefs becomes a threat to the internal system of the Royal family which deeply affects the Queen.

The Crown Season 5 seems a lot different compared to its previous seasons as the events are fresher, more controversial and fast-paced. Throughout Queen Elizabeth II's reign, there haven't been too many historical events that required her crucial decision-making or something that affected people living outside of England.

Queen Elizabeth's reign signified the transition from the modern age to post-modern times and the complete change of attitude, laws, politics and social settings. The English monarchy was never too flexible and the members took pride in its age-old beliefs and mannerisms. But the people in the new age were finding it too difficult to relate or even find relevancy in it.

The Crown Season 5 Review

This season talks about the irrelevancy of the monarchy system several times and the struggle that the Prince of Wales Charles faced with his mother. The show also presents the complexity of relationships throughout generations. Queen Elizabeth's marriage and the evolution of her relationship with Prince Philip were put through these modern challenges and self-realisations. Prince Philip and his friend Penny Knatchbull's relationship was brought under scrutiny, the show gave the idea that he was intellectually compatible with her and that brought them closer. It is established from the first season of the show that the royal couple are very different from each other and that Prince Philip had to sacrifice a lot for his wife. And now the duo realises that they have grown apart with almost polarising interests and a lack of intimacy.

One can question if this is counted as adultery if a spouse is not involved sexually with another person but seeks companionship outside of marriage for intellectual compatibility.

In the marriage of the Prince Of Wales and the Princess Of Wales, they drifted apart pretty early and it was widely known that there was a third person in the marriage. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles were close even before Charles got married to Diana. The show sympathised with Diana and her unfortunate marriage set up of first being denied enough respect and affection from her husband and then neglect from the Royal family in the name of not getting soft as a part of the 'system'. In the course of following the system, the members of the family were rarely frank and open to each other which resulted in them drifting apart and taking care of their emotional selves in other ways. Diana however never got anyone to fall back on throughout the 13 years of her marriage.

Diana did find someone after she was allowed to get separated from Charles, but that did not last either. The Queen's younger sister Margaret's love story with Peter Townsend was one of the biggest highlights from season one which had a tragic end as the Queen did not let them get married as it was against the rules of the crown. Margaret explains to the Queen this time that even after other relationships and marriage she could never forget Townsend as he was her first love and the only one. The difference between the two sister's personalities came out as their opinion about love. Time and again Margaret supported and empathised with Diana as she claimed that they both were suppressed by the same system.

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In the ">episode Annus Horribilis, the Queen expresses sadness towards all the broken relationships in her family which was a mirror to the era she left behind where problems in relationships weren't the same. But it also made her realise that she has to adapt to the new times and how the world works now. The dynamics of a husband and wife are not all about serving a duty but a more human feeling of love and affection. And the longevity of a marriage doesn't define if the people in it are happy.

The show has tried to show a rivalry between the mother-son duo who are manipulated by the crown but have their own beliefs to follow. The two generations and their idea of marriage and relationships.