S06.E04: Aftermath

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

After the news breaks of Diana and Dodi’s fatal car accident, Charles and Fayed fly separately to Paris to supervise arrangements. The tragedy generates a vast outpouring of public grief, which catches the Queen off-guard. While she remains at Balmoral, popular anger builds about her absence from London and the perceived callousness of the Royal Family. Charles, recognising the precariousness of their position, urges the Queen to depart from rigid protocol and make herself visible to the public. At the same time as Diana’s death sends shockwaves through the Palace, Fayed processes the loss of his cherished son. Hoping that the news will bring him and the Royal Family together in shared grief, he instead finds himself increasingly shunned.

Dropping Thursday, November 16, 2023.

[Mrsmaul2021]

I watched this ep first. I didn't expect to cry as hard as I did. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

44 minutes ago, Mrsmaul2021 said:

I watched this ep first. I didn't expect to cry as hard as I did. 

I'll have to make sure I've removed all my make-up when I sit down to watch; plus have my box of Kleenex. 

 

[Helena Dax]

I didn't remember that they were releasing only some episodes. Now I understand better why the show dealt with Diana's death so soon. 

It was interesting to see this episode as a big fan of "The Queen". Here, Blair had little to do with the Queen's change of mind and I wonder which version is closer to the truth. 

Philip telling William how to walk and how to deal with the situation broke my heart a little. The scene where he has to walk behind his family's coffins, surrounded by Nazi parafernalia, is one of the most powerful of the show visually speaking.

There's an expression in Spanish, "montarse una película".  It's very difficult to translate, but it is used when you misinterpret a situation because you let your imagination run wild and believe that something is happening when it's not. That's what I thought when Mou-Mou started to say that the tragedy would make him and BRF closer.  Even if Diana had said yes to Dodi's proposal, she was divorced! William and Harry barely knew Dodi and at least in the show, they barely liked him. In what world would that making him closer to the Queen? Anyway, his grief for his son was real and I felt sorry for him. If it's true that he "forced" that trip to France, he might have felt guilty too.

All in all, I liked these four episodes and I can't wait for the ending!

[Mrsmaul2021]

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I'll have to make sure I've removed all my make-up when I sit down to watch; plus have my box of Kleenex. 

 

 

 

What I love is that it's not overdone or melodramatic. Nice balance or loss and sorrow. 

[Ellaria]

Powerful episode! I was hesitant to watch because I wasn’t sure how it could bring anything different to this moment. While I don’t think that it offered a new perspective, it was well-done.

I’m not a huge Dominic West fan but, wow, he was incredible in this episode. He may be an odd choice to play Charles - to me, anyway - but he seized an opportunity here.

A sad episode but I will certainly watch it again. I particularly loved the scene of the lights turning on at Balmoral as the word spread.

[greycoupon]

So I'm not sure of the age range on this forum but younger viewers may not understand what a big story Diana's death was.  Hell, I'm American and it was wall to wall coverage for a week.  An estimated 1 BILLION people watched her funeral on tv.  She died on my 16th birthday.  Suffice to say there was no celebrating that year.

Recreating the Queen's entire speech was an interesting choice.  Not sure about if being the right one.  Did Peter Morgan do that in the movie, as well?  I've seen it but it has been a few decades.

Why is Charles the only one with any sense besides Morgan obviously being enamored with him.

I really hope Phillip objecting to a royal plane being used to get Diana's body was made up.  I know we have a time jump after this so I wonder if this is the last we see of Mou Mou.  Over the top to the end but his pain was real even if his expectations and assumptions were not.,

[TakomaSnark]

10 minutes ago, greycoupon said:

Recreating the Queen's entire speech was an interesting choice.  Not sure about if being the right one.  Did Peter Morgan do that in the movie, as well?  I've seen it but it has been a few decades.

I've seen it more recently and I definitely recall it being recreated in there.

Honestly, I would have preferred this episode as the premiere - paired with the E1 cold open - and had the show move forward chronologically from there. They could have dipped into flashbacks to keep Diana/Debecki around but it would have given the show a chance to return what it has always done best, if not most accurately - dramatize the BRF within the context of other specific UK/world events.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Does The Crown go out of its way to pin the blame on Mohamed Al-Fayed over what happened to Diana? 🤔

Then there’s the narrative that he wrongly believes the couple were engaged to be married.

The Queen has come across as cold and bitter, even to Ghost Diana. Philip just being Philip.

Quote

“Why are they crying for someone they never knew?”

“They’re not crying for her. They’re crying for you.”

Errr, nope. They’re crying for HER.

The “William goes missing” subplot, is it really necessary?

Can proper send-off for Diana be executed without converting Charles into Team Diana and turning him into some kind of hero etc?

Quote

“And I’d rather not to be lectured on how or when to grieve or show emotion.”

“Particularly by the person who caused her the most pain.”

OUCH. 😬

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[Conotocarious]

I cried through this whole episode.

I’ve seen enough documentaries to know this portrayal of Charles after her death is probably fairly close to accurate. Dominic West was sensational.

 

 

[dubbel zout]

I like how they showed the secretary (or whoever that guy was) take a moment to compose himself before he went in and told the Queen, Prince Philip, and Prince Charles that Diana was dead.

36 minutes ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

The “William goes missing” subplot, is it really necessary?

No. It was silly, I thought.

How did Elizabeth expect William react to the violent death of his mother? I know she and Philip were all stiff-upper-lip, but Diana didn't raise the boys that way, and the Queen knew that.

Ugh, seeing the envelope with Harry's handwritten "Mummy" on it got to me all over again. So heart-wrenching.

[formerlyfreedom]

Please note - this is the discussion topic for this episode of The Crown. Posts that are all about other media (e.g., other movies or tv shows) belong in the Season Six History topic. Please read the Notes From the Forum Mods and follow the forum rules for posting to avoid warnings or other sanctions. Thank you.

[BlackberryJam]

I agree this could have been the season premiere. The three prior episodes veered between heavy handed and dull af. This wasn’t balanced, and fell into silly, but it’s the only episode that held my interest.

As someone at that time engaged to a Brit and on the phone with him talking through that night and the weeks that followed, I can truly say that the outpouring of grief made many Brits uncomfortable. Those people, the ones who appreciated the stiff upper lip and found the public crying to be humiliating for the nation, they never get air time. It was an awkward time for many people, but this portrayal, like so many others, extrapolates those tv images to encompass the nation.

Just once I’d like a scene of a couple dudes in a pub saying it was a damn shame the pretty princess died like that, a waitress reminding one guy that’s why they don’t let him drive drunk, and the other guy saying his sister travelled to London with some decoupage for Diana, which they all find ridiculous, then the switch to discussing the cricket. 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by BlackberryJam

[txhorns79]

2 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

Can proper send-off for Diana be executed without converting Charles into Team Diana and turning him into some kind of hero etc?

My understanding is that Charles really was pushing the idea of the Queen making a public statement and having the kind of funeral we saw.  Even though the idea of Ghost Diana and her black sleeveless turtleneck of fashionable sadness and mourning was a little cheesey, I did like she and Charles' conversation on the plane.

[Roseanna]

13 hours ago, Helena Dax said:

Even if Diana had said yes to Dodi's proposal, she was divorced! William and Harry barely knew Dodi and at least in the show, they barely liked him. In what world would that making him closer to the Queen? 

In this show Dodi's father lives wholly under the illusion. Far from making him closer to the BRF, the  marriage would have ruined Diana's reputation among the conservative Brits with strong prejudices. 

Dodi as a step-dad for a future king? No chance!

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 11/17/2023 at 1:59 AM, Roseanna said:

In this show Dodi's father lives wholly under the illusion. Far from making him closer to the BRF, the  marriage would have ruined Diana's reputation among the conservative Brits with strong prejudices. 

Dodi as a step-dad for a future king? No chance!

I realize this is heavily fictionalized, but in what world would a person believe that his son marrying someone's ex-wife would make him a close friend of her former in-laws? Even if she were an average person?

It also seemed strange that when Diana "appeared" to Charles after her death, she said that everyone would be better off with her dead, and he didn't reply that the boys certainly wouldn't be. (I also thought it strange that Charles would have imagined her saying that at all, knowing how much she meant to the boys.  Did he think that she thought they would be better off without her?  He was shown craving motherly attention himself.)

Edited November 20, 2023 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Brn2bwild]

They nailed the casting of Teen William.  Overly tall, brooding expressions.  I realize that Charles and Diana have been more the focus these past four episodes (and last season), but it would have been nice to spend a little more time with William and Harry early in the season, before having to see them in such an emotional position in this episode. 

I think Queen Elizabeth II's portrayal has suffered too as a result of the focus on Charles and Diana.  Until this episode, she was relegated to the background except for the brief dinner scene where she discussed Camilla's birthday party, so it was almost startling to see so much focus on her in this episode.  I don't know if it's the backgrounding of her character, or Imelda Staunton's performance, but I'm not feeling a connection to this Queen Elizabeth II the way I did to her in Seasons 1 through 4. 

 

[TimWil]

I think the Ghost Diana scenes are justifiably being ridiculed in some reviews. They’re awful. Not once in either “conversation” are “the boys” ever mentioned. I can only assume this was intentional on Peter Morgan’s part to avoid wallowing in sentimentality but still. I thought the Ghost Dodi scene was absolutely unnecessary, too.

Edited November 17, 2023 by TimWil

[iMonrey]

14 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

Can proper send-off for Diana be executed without converting Charles into Team Diana and turning him into some kind of hero etc?

Quote

Good question. I find it hard to believe that Charles broke down and cried, not once but twice, the second time within earshot of bystanders when he was at the morgue. He's the epitome of the stiff upper lip. 

I too found Ghost Diana and Ghost Dodi cringe-worthy gimmicks, I thought better of a show like this. 

I suppose it was hard to put a new spin on this episode since it is essentially the plot of The Queen.

[dubbel zout]

28 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I find it hard to believe that Charles broke down and cried, not once but twice, the second time within earshot of bystanders when he was at the morgue.

I can believe he broke down twice, but I can't believe he was loud enough at the hospital for everyone to hear.

Diana's death had to have raised a lot of strong emotions in Charles. Regret, sorrow, anger, bitterness, etc. Crying, especially by himself in the Scottish Highlands, would have been a good way to get them out. And I think you'd have to be a robot not to be moved to see the mother of your children lying dead on a slab in the morgue. Charles had emotional issues, definitely, but he wasn't a robot. And he was by himself there. Still, I doubt he sobbed loudly enough for everyone else to hear.

[Spartan Girl]

12 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Diana's death had to have raised a lot of strong emotions in Charles. Regret, sorrow, anger, bitterness, etc. Crying, especially by himself in the Scottish Highlands, would have been a good way to get them out. And I think you'd have to be a robot not to be moved to see the mother of your children lying dead on a slab in the morgue. Charles had emotional issues, definitely, but he wasn't a robot. And he was by himself there. Still, I doubt he sobbed loudly enough for everyone else to hear.

I think it would have been more effective if, instead of the whole Ghost Diana stuff, we'd see Charles reminiscence about everything that happened**, including all the "good times" we never got to see, all culminating with him finally owning up to how badly he treated her and breaking down at the sight of her body in the morgue. That would have been far more emotional and believable.

But after three seasons of watching him treat her like crap and only one lukewarm nice moment between them two episodes ago, this was my reaction:

 

**If they can get Claire Foy back for flashbacks, why not Josh and Emma?

Edited November 17, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[MMEButterfly]

12 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

My understanding is that Charles really was pushing the idea of the Queen making a public statement and having the kind of funeral we saw.  Even though the idea of Ghost Diana and her black sleeveless turtleneck of fashionable sadness and mourning was a little cheesey, I did like she and Charles' conversation on the plane.

I quite liked the cheesiness of Ghost Diana. 

[Conotocarious]

Mental Figment Diana and Charles broke me. I wasn’t as moved by Mental Figment Diana and Queen Elizabeth.

I saw no point to Mental figment Dodi. 

[peridot]

I was tearing up throughout the episode.  I was so angry when Mou Mou tried to continue the narrative that Dodi and Diana were in love, and even tried to say he was "brothers in sorrow" with the Royal Family! What the hell is wrong with that guy?  I really hope that he didn't try to put any kind of items inside Diana's casket in real life.  I was shaking my head at the shrine at the end.

What's wrong with Philip too? He didn't want Diana to be flown home on the Royal plane.  I thought he liked her. 

I didn't understand the Queen's reluctance to addressing the public.  Even if they were divorced, she's still the mother of the future king.

It was interesting to see the funeral process for Dodi.  I saw they removed his body from the coffin, what did they do with it?

[Straycat80]

2 hours ago, TimWil said:

I think the Ghost Diana scenes are justifiably being ridiculed in some reviews. They’re awful. Not once in either “conversation” are “the boys” ever mentioned. I can only assume this was intentional on Peter Morgan’s part to avoid wallowing in sentimentality but still. I thought the Ghost Dodi scene was absolutely unnecessary, too.

Those are the parts about this episode I did not like. The ghost scenes were drawn out and cheesey. Also did not like the part of William disappearing in the cold and rain for 14 hours. Not believable. 

[Straycat80]

5 minutes ago, peridot said:

 

It was interesting to see the funeral process for Dodi.  I saw they removed his body from the coffin, what did they do with it?

I wondered about that too. At first I thought they did that to cremate him. I don’t know. I Googled it and there is a burial plot on the Al-Fayed property ground, he’s buried next to his Dad now. 

[AZChristian]

Hated pretty much everything about this episode.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I had fun contemplating what Tommy Lascelles would have done to the Balmoral staff for "losing" William.  It was a big miss that we saw no reprisals nor heard any recriminations from the BRF.

Showing Diana's awareness/awakening to the realities of the media feigning commiseration and understanding was pure calculation by jackals was well done and significant.  

In all such scenes, I thought it was a brilliant touch that the staff who were present in moments of expressed grief by the BRF were steadfast in not crying nor whimpering/moaning.  This was the best of British tradition manifested. 

Way too much of Dodi and his father.  I can accept that Dodi put forward a super tolerant front.  But, the show went much too far in portraying him as a near-perfect guy.  I thought his step mother was fascinating.  

Give Debicki all the things.  Sensational.  I also thought Imelda crushed it.  The very soul of "The Crown" was being tested and examined.  My take is she knew Philip was correct, but her love for the boys, and her being sick to death of being necessarily cold for decades, overcame her best judgment.  YMMV.

 

    

[iMonrey]

5 hours ago, peridot said:

What's wrong with Philip too? He didn't want Diana to be flown home on the Royal plane.  I thought he liked her. 

I didn't understand the Queen's reluctance to addressing the public.  Even if they were divorced, she's still the mother of the future king.

I think both speak to how out of touch they are with ordinary people and how they regard themselves. Phillip didn't want to send the royal jet because Diana was no longer part of the family. To be fair, it seemed to me that Diana's brother should have been the one to go to Paris to retrieve her body, not her ex-husband. I get that she's the mother of his children but she's also his ex, and she's buried on the Spencer property, not with the royal family.

[Spartan Girl]

23 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

 

“And I’d rather not to be lectured on how or when to grieve or show emotion.”

“Particularly by the person who caused her the most pain.”

Me:

 

That line needed to be said. It almost made up for the ghost crap. Almost.

[tennisgurl]

Despite all the great acting and some interesting discussions I thought that all three ghost scenes were really random and didn't hit as hard as they were trying to. On the other hand, Philip encouraging his grandsons on the funeral match, calling back to him walking in his sister's funeral parade, really got me. It took my breath away. Overall a really interesting emotional episode, I'm glad they we're getting a break.

[Paloma]

On 11/16/2023 at 12:51 PM, Helena Dax said:

Philip telling William how to walk and how to deal with the situation broke my heart a little. The scene where he has to walk behind his family's coffins, surrounded by Nazi parafernalia, is one of the most powerful of the show visually speaking.

What Nazi paraphernalia was on or around the coffins? My husband and I missed that.
Wait, maybe I misunderstood--I thought you meant that it was William surrounded by Nazi paraphernalia, but I'm realizing you probably meant an episode in an earlier season when Philip was walking in a funeral for someone in his family. 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Paloma
Misunderstood a post.

[Madtown]

On 11/16/2023 at 7:44 PM, greycoupon said:

So I'm not sure of the age range on this forum but younger viewers may not understand what a big story Diana's death was.  Hell, I'm American and it was wall to wall coverage for a week.  An estimated 1 BILLION people watched her funeral on tv.  She died on my 16th birthday.  Suffice to say there was no celebrating that year.

I knew this episode would hit me hard. I loved Diana and I've always been fascinated with the Royal family.  I was 28 when she died and married for one month. I remember seeing the breaking news on TV, like it was yesterday. Just like my mom remembers Kennedy getting shot. I cried my face off. I watched every second of the funeral and cried even harder.

 

 

[Roseanna]

21 hours ago, iMonrey said:

He's the epitome of the stiff upper lip. 

Not at all. Irl Charles is known for his sensitivity.

13 hours ago, iMonrey said:

To be fair, it seemed to me that Diana's brother should have been the one to go to Paris to retrieve her body, not her ex-husband. I get that she's the mother of his children but she's also his ex, and she's buried on the Spencer property, not with the royal family.

If Diana's body was brought home in the royal plane, her bother couldn't be one who did it.

However, Charles travelled to Paris with Diana's sisters. They were seen in the episode.

19 hours ago, peridot said:

I didn't understand the Queen's reluctance to addressing the public. 

The Queen was over 70 years of age. So far, she had made TV speeches only on Christmas Day. It's well known that tension about the speech destroyed her Christmas until the speech was recorded. 

She didn't make a radio speech after her father died, either. PM did as we saw in the first season. 

So making a TV live speech in the emotial moment was really new to her. 

[Helena Dax]

7 hours ago, Paloma said:

What Nazi paraphernalia was on or around the coffins? My husband and I missed that.
Wait, maybe I misunderstood--I thought you meant that it was William surrounded by Nazi paraphernalia, but I'm realizing you probably meant an episode in an earlier season when Philip was walking in a funeral for someone in his family. 

Yes, sorry, I meant the episode when we saw Philip as a boy.

[Brn2bwild]

23 hours ago, TimWil said:

I think the Ghost Diana scenes are justifiably being ridiculed in some reviews. They’re awful. Not once in either “conversation” are “the boys” ever mentioned. I can only assume this was intentional on Peter Morgan’s part to avoid wallowing in sentimentality but still. I thought the Ghost Dodi scene was absolutely unnecessary, too.

I'm guessing "ghost" Diana is just Charles's and QE II's mental projection, which was why there was no mention of William and Harry.  

[SnapHappy]

It was an absolute gut-punch of an episode.  Even watching live news from my house back in 1997, it still seems unreal to this day. 

I'm only 2 years younger, so understanding a lot of the relationship insanity she was in really hit home. 

Though, I had to laugh a little at the line about sending Diana's body home in a Harrod's van.  That bit of levity was appreciated. 

21 hours ago, peridot said:

 I was so angry when Mou Mou tried to continue the narrative that Dodi and Diana were in love, and even tried to say he was "brothers in sorrow" with the Royal Family! What the hell is wrong with that guy?  

 OMG, what a delusional old creeper.  So inappropriate, so often. I think the writing team made it crystal clear how much Fayed Sr. disgusted them overall.  

Only 2 Kleenex, but they were definitely needed. 

[Fool to cry]

I'm glad for this board because there is an embarrassingly large number of people on Twitter who are media illiterate and don't understand basic storytelling who think Diana was an actual spiritual entity and not Charles's imagination. So many idiots irate that Diana was so complimentary to him. The fact that Charles doesn't freak out screaming when she appears should have given them a clue this wasn't the real Diana speaking from the spirit world!

[MadyGirl1987]

44 minutes ago, Fool to cry said:

I'm glad for this board because there is an embarrassingly large number of people on Twitter who are media illiterate and don't understand basic storytelling who think Diana was an actual spiritual entity and not Charles's imagination. So many idiots irate that Diana was so complimentary to him. The fact that Charles doesn't freak out screaming when she appears should have given them a clue this wasn't the real Diana speaking from the spirit world!

Wait, some people think the show is depicting it as Diana's actual spirit visiting Charles and Elizabeth like Jacob Marley visiting Scrooge? Wow... I mean, I thought it was pretty evident it was Charles and Elizabeth imagining what they would say to her if they could talk to her.

[Spartan Girl]

Oh I KNOW that “Ghost” Diana was a figment of Charles/Elizabeth’s imagination. But I still thought it was cheesy and I still thought that whole sequence would’ve been better served by flashbacks instead.

[Zanzibar]

21 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I think both speak to how out of touch they are with ordinary people and how they regard themselves. Phillip didn't want to send the royal jet because Diana was no longer part of the family. To be fair, it seemed to me that Diana's brother should have been the one to go to Paris to retrieve her body, not her ex-husband. I get that she's the mother of his children but she's also his ex, and she's buried on the Spencer property, not with the royal family.

At the time of Diana's death, her brother was in Cape Town, South Africa, which means he would have had nearly a 12 hour flight just to get to Paris. As others mentioned, her two sisters did go with Charles.  As she was the mother of a future king, I think the combination of her sisters and Charles flying to Paris to retrieve her body was the right decision.  Her brother wouldn't have been able to get there in a reasonable amount of time.

[Artsda]

That was pretty amazing, the acting and real included with the fictional show.  

I thought Charles seemed overly sensitive with the boys that didn't seem very Charles.  

The mummy card and scenes of them walking behind her brought all that back. 

 

[txhorns79]

2 hours ago, Artsda said:

I thought Charles seemed overly sensitive with the boys that didn't seem very Charles.  

I may be wrong, but my impression was that while he was not a great husband, Charles was a fairly decent parent to his kids.  

 

On 11/17/2023 at 1:45 PM, peridot said:

 

I didn't understand the Queen's reluctance to addressing the public.  Even if they were divorced, she's still the mother of the future king.

I just viewed it as she being very set in her ways, and not really considering that things had changed.  In her view, Diana was no longer a HRH, and therefore not entitled to anything that may be due to a senior member of the family, full stop.  There is also something to be said about not wanting to give in to the spectacle of it all.  However, she was obviously very wrong about that and was smart to do a course correction.     

[MJ Frog]

I may not believe in ghosts, but I love them as a dramatic device, and I love them here. We are all haunted by the dead, metaphorically if not literally. Haunted by memories, and by the bit of them that lingers within us. Having imagined conversations with people who are no longer around to have them, to say the things you couldn't say, or never got to, is an essential part of the way we process things.

I understand this move was not popular in the press. Too bad. I thought it worked quite well in a vehicle that is, first and foremost, a drama. But then again, one must consider the source. I am one of the few people who enjoyed that movie several years back called King Charles III, an imagining of Charles' accession to the throne where the dialogue was in the style of Shakespeare. Diana's ghost featured prominently there as well, though not as benign.

[Roseanna]

5 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

Diana was no longer a HRH

I noticed in earlier episodes that she was called HRH by Mou Mou and in Ritz that was owned by him. 

Cf. the duchess of Windsor wasn't HRH, but she was called that and curtsied by duke's friends and servants.

[MrsR]

I loved the projections.

Yeah,  Dominic was terrific. That sob, that was the only sound in the scene where the courtier tells them she's dead, was awesome.

Yes, Charles had to shame them into allowing the plane. 

Elizabeth Debecki was off the hook.

[Roseanna]

On 11/18/2023 at 8:50 PM, txhorns79 said:

I just viewed it as she being very set in her ways, and not really considering that things had changed.  In her view, Diana was no longer a HRH, and therefore not entitled to anything that may be due to a senior member of the family, full stop.  There is also something to be said about not wanting to give in to the spectacle of it all.  However, she was obviously very wrong about that and was smart to do a course correction.     

All that, but also the shock of Diana's unexpected death so young. 

Even many ordinary people are at loss when they have to make funeral arrangements and they often feel that the tradition, whatever it is to them, helps as following it they have to decide only about a few things. 

On 11/19/2023 at 12:02 AM, MJ Frog said:

I may not believe in ghosts, but I love them as a dramatic device, and I love them here. We are all haunted by the dead, metaphorically if not literally. Haunted by memories, and by the bit of them that lingers within us. Having imagined conversations with people who are no longer around to have them, to say the things you couldn't say, or never got to, is an essential part of the way we process things.

Well, the ghost wasn't a bad idea itself, but I would have wished the discussiobn be more balanced. Diana said that she loved Charles deeply and while it's no doubt true, it excludes the crux of matter: that love isn't only about one's own feelings, it's also about actions towards the other. Sadly, both Diana and Charles longed for constant adoration and suppport but couldn't give it to each other and thus they needed a partner of different kind who could.  

I wish Charles would have said that "I did wrong to propose to you" and Diana would have answered: "Looking back, I undestand that I did wrong to accept to I was then too young to undestand it".  But then Charles would have said: "I detested and envied you many times but i never wished anything ill happen to you" and Diana had answered: "I know it now, I was paranoid". Finally, they had agreed that, despite all disagreements and fights and hurts they caused to each other, they couldn't actually repent their marriage because it had produced their sons who they loved.

Well, I know this is too tame, but in the show Diana's ghost didn't have any wider understanding that one supposedly gets in afterlife. 

[Spartan Girl]

2 hours ago, Roseanna said:

Well, the ghost wasn't a bad idea itself, but I would have wished the discussiobn be more balanced. Diana said that she loved Charles deeply and while it's no doubt true, it excludes the crux of matter: that love isn't only about one's own feelings, it's also about actions towards the other. Sadly, both Diana and Charles longed for constant adoration and suppport but couldn't give it to each other and thus they needed a partner of different kind who could.  

I wish Charles would have said that "I did wrong to propose to you" and Diana would have answered: "Looking back, I undestand that I did wrong to accept to I was then too young to undestand it".  But then Charles would have said: "I detested and envied you many times but i never wished anything ill happen to you" and Diana had answered: "I know it now, I was paranoid". Finally, they had agreed that, despite all disagreements and fights and hurts they caused to each other, they couldn't actually repent their marriage because it had produced their sons who they loved.

That kind of conversation would have been better last season with Charles and the real Diana in the divorce episode.

Don’t get me wrong, some stuff in the episode got me. The shaken hospital staff waiting to hear an update and crying when she was pronounced dead. Charles breaking the news to William and Harry. Harry getting Diana’s present and writing the “Mummy” card. Philip coaching William while walking beside the coffin. The actual funeral footage. Dodi’s funeral ceremony. All of that packed the emotional punch that was needed.

It doesn’t need to be said, but my heart broke for William and Harry all over again.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[SnapHappy]

10 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I may be wrong, but my impression was that while he was not a great husband, Charles was a fairly decent parent to his kids.  

I just viewed it as she being very set in her ways, and not really considering that things had changed.  In her view, Diana was no longer a HRH, and therefore not entitled to anything that may be due to a senior member of the family, full stop.  

And it didn't help that Prince Philip also kept spouting that party line.  He acted as if Diana wronged him so grievously and completely by divorcing Charles.  Basically walking behind Elizabeth, tapping her on the shoulder & instructing HER on protocol, to deny Diana anything, even in death.  Nasty old goat.

[Roseanna]

3 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

And it didn't help that Prince Philip also kept spouting that party line. 

The drama can't be made so that characters agree but they must be different opinions. Poor Philip had now the task of being the grumpy old man.

Instead, in order to support Charles Margaret had been given lines like "people wish monarchs be happy", although people hardly wanted Charles to be happy with Camilla but love Diana (as if anybody could be forced to do it) and make her happy.