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S02.E01: Misadventure


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Mike must have great security clearance if he's allowed to drive his car onto the tarmac with his wife and kids. I don't understand people like him though. If you're so opposed to the institution of marriage, why get married? Instead of being a shitty husband who resents having a wife, just don't get married in the first place!

Eden going on and on to the Eton students about how it's okay that they're all elitist snobs together had me rolling my eyes. You'd think that "shared language" he was so speaking of so highly might be, you know, English.

Poor Elizabeth. She just wanted to do something nice for Philip and instead found evidence of one of his affairs. I give her credit for showing up at the ballet though.

The nosy part of me wants to know who was sitting behind Elizabeth at Giselle. Who gets to share the queen's box at the ballet? Was it her private secretary?

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[Jumping in here before I've watched the show or read the recap]
"Hooray!!"
I'm so excited that the Fug Girls are back with the TWoP gang, recapping *at length!* It's all making me very happy. Praise be to Rae Dawn Chong!

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One thing I like about Elizabeth is that she seems to find her inner strength in her sense of duty. I mean, I have the feeling that if she had been a regular woman instead of the Queen of Englad, she would have happily let Philip take charge in a very traditional way. But here, she's willing to defend her rights as Queen in front of Philip not because she enjoys being in a higher position, but because it's her duty. Just as it was her duty to face her Prime Ministers or to forbid the marriage between Margaret and that guy. 

Eden is the worst.

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7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Mike must have great security clearance if he's allowed to drive his car onto the tarmac with his wife and kids. I don't understand people like him though. If you're so opposed to the institution of marriage, why get married? Instead of being a shitty husband who resents having a wife, just don't get married in the first Place!

This was a time when one "had" to marry but it was perfectly okay to a man to stray.  

But Mike has also other serious faults than frequent infedility: he is never at home and he is a lousy father. 

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The scene on the plane between the kids and Prince Philip made me want to cry - those hugs were so...awkward and you can tell that they, especially Charles, wanted a REAL hug.  I know it was a different time, but still, so sad. :( 

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4 hours ago, teddysmom said:

Anybody else catch the mention of Ferdinand de Lesseps, developer of the Suez Canal in the opening scenes? Countess Lu Ann's (RHONY) ex is a direct descendant.

All I could think of was Gwenyth Paltrow's character in Shakespeare in Love, Viola de Lesseps.

ETA: The ballerina looked Asian, I was surprised that she was Russian.  (And I know Russia is a very large country with many different ethnic groups.)

Edited by Quilt Fairy
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I did not like how Prince Philip's equerry was speaking to the Queen when she was trying to hide the letter.   He was very short with her, almost rude.   She's the QUEEN.   You speak politely.

Laughed my ass off when they were going to get busy in bed and the footmen started wandering in.   

Yes, Margaret was that self-centered.   Partying to 4 a.m. then complaining about her constrained life.   Did she really think the QUEEN would be all "oh go do whatever you want, it won't reflect badly on me at all.   Oh and the money will keep coming to live your life and you won't have to live up to your end of the bargain and do any Royal duties you don't want to do."

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6 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Because her 1956 tour of London was a sensation.

Thank you. 

But Ulanova was born in 1910, so would she really have interested Philip? And secondly, an affair with a Soviet woman would have interested M15 which would have certainly warned Philip that the Soviets could use it for their own benefit. 

Spoiler

Cf Profumo who had to resign because he had an affair with the same girl as a Soviet diplomat. 

 

On 12/8/2017 at 8:16 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Eden going on and on to the Eton students about how it's okay that they're all elitist snobs together had me rolling my eyes. You'd think that "shared language" he was so speaking of so highly might be, you know, English.

The scene of Eton showed one source of Eden's arrogance:  the "right" school made him fit to lead the country. Secondly, he assumed that because he had been right about Hitler, he was right about Nasser.

In addition he had a patronizing view about the Egyptians and an exaggerated view about British resources and place in the wordl after WW2, he wanted to do history and come from Churchill's shadow, he felt a personal antipathy towards Nasser (which Nasser made his best to rise in S1).

As a part of Establishment, he also didn't understand that the British general opinion had changed: secret agreements and military interventions were no longer accepted.  

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Oh so happy The Crown is back, even though I am dreading SO MUCH PHILIP. He really is the worst and I am annoyed that he’s apparently getting so much of the focus this season. (I wonder if the real life royal family will enjoy the show so much now that the patriarch is portrayed as a whiny cheater.)

I loved the brief scene with Margaret, and enjoyed the Dickie appearances too. Off to brush up on my history to see if his marriage was really like that, and to see if Eden was as big of a boob as he appears to be.

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38 minutes ago, hendersonrocks said:

Oh so happy The Crown is back, even though I am dreading SO MUCH PHILIP. He really is the worst and I am annoyed that he’s apparently getting so much of the focus this season. (I wonder if the real life royal family will enjoy the show so much now that the patriarch is portrayed as a whiny cheater.)

I loved the brief scene with Margaret, and enjoyed the Dickie appearances too. Off to brush up on my history to see if his marriage was really like that, and to see if Eden was as big of a boob as he appears to be.

 

That's true.  Philip seems so...cold.  I realize that's how he probably REALLY is - as I said above, Charles and Anne both looked like they wanted MORE love than they were getting. 

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I watched the 1st season of this show earlier this year and couldn't wait for the 2nd season to come on.

Mike and Phillip's bromance is so ridiculously overplayed, but my heart went out to Mike's wife who was so deeply unhappy. I was so pissed at him not calling for his daughter's birthday. Don't care much for Mountbatten and his loveless marriage either - everytime he comes on screen I roll my eyes.

Kudos to the Queen for putting her game face on for most of the episode, when insecurity kicks in, bury yourself in your work - I couldn't have let him leave without getting a straight answer though. Does anyone other than me think he wasn't having an affair?

Seeing Eden goad the Cabinet members into war just because he saw it as a way to improve his image, watching them beat their knuckles and raucous laughter was definitely an eye opener given the leadership of the present day *sigh* Some things really never change.

Edited by Eri
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2 hours ago, Eri said:

I watched the 1st season of this show earlier this year and couldn't wait for the 2nd season to come on.

Mike and Phillip's bromance is so ridiculously overplayed, but my heart went out to Mike's wife who was so deeply unhappy. I was so pissed at him not calling for his daughter's birthday. Don't care much for Mountbatten and his loveless marriage either - everytime he comes on screen I roll my eyes.

Kudos to the Queen for putting her game face on for most of the episode, when insecurity kicks in, bury yourself in your work - I couldn't have let him leave without getting a straight answer though. Does anyone other than me think he wasn't having an affair?

Seeing Eden goad the Cabinet members into war just because he saw it as a way to improve his image, watching them beat their knuckles and raucous laughter was definitely an eye opener given the leadership of the present day *sigh* Some things really never change.

Me. I think the suggestion of an affair is heavily implied, but we never really see Phillip in a situation that confirms it. I despise Mike. Elizabeth gets a lot of sympathy from me (more than I would have thought and I’m surprised). She really has the unenviable position of trying to be a “regular” wife and mother while maintaining the authority and dignity of the sovereign.  I really enjoyed the first episode and I’m looking forward to binging on the season.

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Yeah, Mike is a contemptible person and Philip shouldn't have gotten so close to him. Still a boy trapped in a marriage he thought he could handle. If you're not ready to be an adult, then don't commit to someone who is.

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4 hours ago, Eri said:

Does anyone other than me think he wasn't having an affair?

If he wasn't having an affair it would make NO sense to carry her photo with him on the trip.  The looks the ballerina was giving the queen also seemed to confirm it (though I did wonder if we were supposed to assume that some of those "looks" were Elizabeth's imagination.)

Well I'm delighted the show is back and I'm intrigued at the way they kicked it off (with that frank discussion between two unhappy people on the royal yacht.)  I look forward to find out how the press could figure out that the marriage is in bad shape when Phillip is traveling in an  official royal capacity during the intervening 5 months between the prologue and the start of this episode.  

Edited by WatchrTina
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22 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Claire Foy killed in that scene of her at the ballet. I love her scenes when Elizabeth lets the royal mask fall.

I loved that she wouldn't meet the ballerina. Somewhat petty, but I don't blame her at all.

19 hours ago, Constant Viewer said:

Interesting that the story of the ballet, Giselle, is about a woman betrayed by her lover.

Aren't they all? ;-)

4 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

Off to brush up on my history to see if [Mountbatten's] marriage was really like that

He and his wife both had affairs, but there also seemed to be genuine affection between them. Whatever their arrangement, it seemed to work for them. It was a very upper-class marriage in many ways: He gave her a title, access to the highest echelon of society, and an exciting life; she gave him money. (She was an heiress to a merchant-banking fortune.)

31 minutes ago, WatchrTina said:

(thought I did wonder if we were supposed to assume that some of those "looks" were Elizabeth's imagination.)

I wondered that, too.

One quibble I have with the stellar recap is Heather's interpretation of all the mansplaining to the queen about the Suez crisis.

. She's barely listening. This part of the show drives me crazy. We've had flashes and bursts of a competent and serious and informed Elizabeth. But too often, she has stuff mansplained to her, or is checked out. If this were more of a character point, it would be workable, but it comes across like she can't pull her shit together at work because she's obsessed with the whereabouts of Philip's penis.

I agree that with the last sentence, but I think those kinds of explanations are possibly more for the audience's sake than for Elizabeth's. Exposition dumps for historical events is always tricky. The audiences the queen has with her prime ministers is an obvious place to do that, but it also doesn't do the queen any favors as a character.

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The interesting thing is that there is no real evidence that Prince Philip had ever cheated on the Queen. Just rumors. Nor do I believe he was ever linked to a Russian ballerina who was eleven years his senior.

I don’t think many really understood what was going on with Philip at that time or what it meant to be a male consort to a reigning queen . . . especially during a time before the Women’s movement. Prince Albert went through a difficult period himself, during the early years of his marriage to Queen Victoria. And when one doesn’t have any real support or help from the government or the royal courtiers . . . life for a prince consort can be a bitch. Especially when one has an aggressive or strong-willed personality.

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Then he shouldn't have married Princess Elizabeth. It was very clear in 1947 that she would inherit the throne when King George died. Philip made the choice to marry her knowing that. If he couldn't handle it, then that's on him. What did he think was going to happen?

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43 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

Then he shouldn't have married Princess Elizabeth. It was very clear in 1947 that she would inherit the throne when King George died. Philip made the choice to marry her knowing that. If he couldn't handle it, then that's on him. What did he think was going to happen?

I can kinda see where he was coming from. Yes, he knew she would be Queen, but they thought they would have a good amount of time before that happened. Also, it’s not really something you can prepare for, is it? Until you are in a the thick of it how would you really know how you would feel about the situation and what it would do to the relationship?

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11 hours ago, Eri said:

I watched the 1st season of this show earlier this year and couldn't wait for the 2nd season to come on.

Mike and Phillip's bromance is so ridiculously overplayed, but my heart went out to Mike's wife who was so deeply unhappy. I was so pissed at him not calling for his daughter's birthday. Don't care much for Mountbatten and his loveless marriage either - everytime he comes on screen I roll my eyes.

Kudos to the Queen for putting her game face on for most of the episode, when insecurity kicks in, bury yourself in your work - I couldn't have let him leave without getting a straight answer though. Does anyone other than me think he wasn't having an affair?

Seeing Eden goad the Cabinet members into war just because he saw it as a way to improve his image, watching them beat their knuckles and raucous laughter was definitely an eye opener given the leadership of the present day *sigh* Some things really never change.

I found that bit about Mountbatten talking to Elizabeth about how he is hopelessly in love with his wife to be the highlight of the episode.  

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Omg I just opened Netflix and saw the notification that season two of the crown just dropped. My plans for the day have just been canceled. I’ll be back in an hr to comment and read waht you all have to say ‘bout S2:01

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Here’s my question which also applies to Downton Abbey:
If they wore a bracelet over their long gloves to dinner, how did they get the bracelet off to take their gloves off for dinner, then put it all back on after dinner? Did their lady's maid meet them in the hallway to take the bracelet during dinner?
Pressing questions I need answers to!

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27 minutes ago, PBSLover said:

Here’s my question which also applies to Downton Abbey:
If they wore a bracelet over their long gloves to dinner, how did they get the bracelet off to take their gloves off for dinner, then put it all back on after dinner? Did their lady's maid meet them in the hallway to take the bracelet during dinner?
Pressing questions I need answers to!

They didn't. Ladies wore mousquetaire gloves that had an buttoned opening at the wrist. They slipped their hands out through the opening and tucked the bottom portion of the gloves away into the sleeve part for dining. There is a dressing scene in one of the episodes that shows a lady in waiting buttoning the wrists of Elizabeth's gloves.

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On 12/10/2017 at 2:10 PM, orza said:

They didn't. Ladies wore mousquetaire gloves that had an buttoned opening at the wrist. They slipped their hands out through the opening and tucked the bottom portion of the gloves away into the sleeve part for dining. There is a dressing scene in one of the episodes that shows a lady in waiting buttoning the wrists of Elizabeth's gloves.

Thanks for your reply with information but when I read the name of the gloves 'mousquetaire' my mind mispronounced it Mouseketeer and I had a laugh. 

Edited by Mindthinkr
Flow
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On 12/8/2017 at 4:04 PM, Roseanna said:

This was a time when one "had" to marry but it was perfectly okay to a man to stray.  

But Mike has also other serious faults than frequent infedility: he is never at home and he is a lousy father. 

Yes, it was socially “required” to marry (hell, in 2017 people do look at you a little strangely if you are someone who reaches 40 and has never been partnered); yeah it was perfectly fine for a man to stray, so long as he was discrete. But that didn’t mean it was “ok” to neglect your duties to your family and your wife. 

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3 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Yes, it was socially “required” to marry (hell, in 2017 people do look at you a little strangely if you are someone who reaches 40 and has never been partnered); yeah it was perfectly fine for a man to stray, so long as he was discrete. But that didn’t mean it was “ok” to neglect your duties to your family and your wife. 

It's one thing to have never been partnered and NOT WANT TO BE PARTNERED.  But for some 40-somethings, they actually WANT TO, but can't find anyone.  As for people who stray - I have (male) family members from that generation who did.  It was an open secret, yet the wives never divorced for that very reason.  It just wasn't "done." 

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In the scene where Margaret and Elizabeth are having lunch, WHAT did Margaret say about Phillips sisters (coming back to haunt Elizabeth)? I heard the part about his “lunatic mother” and “womanizing bankrupt father” but I’ve rewound the scene a few times and didn’t catch it.

17 hours ago, LJones41 said:

The interesting thing is that there is no real evidence that Prince Philip had ever cheated on the Queen. Just rumors. Nor do I believe he was ever linked to a Russian ballerina who was eleven years his senior.

I don’t think there ever would be “real evidence”- Phillip came from a time where the embarassament would’ve been too great (especially since Elizabeth was the sovereign and he the consort) and if a man had respect or care of his wife he kept his dalliances out of the public eye. 

Of course only Phillip knows the truth but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had dalliances, maybe not deep emotional affairs (like Charles and Camilla) but sex with other women seems likely on a statistical level. 

Edited by Scarlett45
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Quote

In the scene where Margaret and Elizabeth are having lunch, WHAT did Margaret say about Phillips sisters (coming back to haunt Elizabeth)? I heard the part about his “lunatic mother” and “womanizing bankrupt father” but I’ve rewound the scene a few times and didn’t catch it. 

His Nazi sisters, I believe was the phrase.

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When Elizabeth found the picture, it looked like she walked back out with the camera. I think she had an original syeamiet note, but once she found the picture, she replaced it with the "gentle reminder".

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From the recap:

Quote

 

Turns out Elizabeth's theatre "obligation" was to go spy on the ballerina in the photo, who is a Bolshoi star called Galina Ulanova -- a real person, but not one who, as far as I can find, had any connection to Philip, so this implication that they might've dallied, or that he was obsessed, or even that Mike arranged Gentlemen's Weekends that could've involved her, is a bit tacky to her memory. (Intriguingly, there was a semi-scandalous cheating rumor around Philip...but back when the Queen was heavily pregnant with Charles. The show skipped over that one, though.) This scene is so insane, by the way, because as Galina dances, it's implied that she catches Elizabeth's eye with Great Foreboding multipletimes -- at least once with a snide half-grin -- despite being relatively far away from the Royal Box. 

It may shock you to learn I have no experience with dancing a big solo in a Bolshoi ballet, but I am boldly going to suggest that doing so and still taking the time to look up and repeatedly hold eye contact with the queen -- and for several beats too long each time -- is nigh on impossible to do without grievous bodily harm. 

 

This was another favorite moment of mine so I am glad that someone else did the work to describe it!  The recap even includes shots of what she's talking about. 

My take is that the eye-to-eye contact was what Elizabeth was perceiving at the time, as if she felt that Ulanova was saying to her, "I'm knocking boots with your husband".  

Edited by PeterPirate
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4 hours ago, PeterPirate said:

My take is that the eye-to-eye contact was what Elizabeth was perceiving at the time, as if she felt that Ulanova was saying to her, "I'm knocking boots with your husband".  

I agree.  It's doubtful that a ballerina could see anyone in the audience, what with the footlights in her eyes.  So I attributed all that meaningful-eye-contact to Elizabeth's over-active imagination in response to her shock at finding the photo.

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You are absolutely right about the ballerina. I used to be a dancer and dance teacher and it would be pretty much impossible to single out any one audience member, even in the royal box, unless the stage lights were down and there was a spotlight on Elizabeth. You can’t see much at all beyond the first row or two, If you can even see them with the footlights on. And Giselle is a technically demanding role that would have take all of her focus. I think the best she could have done in real life would be a few quick mocking glances in the general direction of the royal box.

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I want to start by saying I couldn’t be more happy that you are recapping this. I read all of the ER and Band of Brothers recaps back in the day (and still refer to Scott Grimes as Malarky because of it). The Crown is my favorite right now so I’m in heaven!

I watched Hotel Viceroy the other day, right before I started season 2 of The Crown and they totally glossed over any infidelity or even marital strife between the Mountbattens. I get that that wasn’t the story but it was jarring.

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According to Vanity Fair and their diligent research elves, it's unlikely that Philip had an affair with Galina Ulanova but he was rumored to have an affair with another dancer in real life:

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Pat Kirkwood, whom Philip met in 1948 when he was introduced to Kirkwood in her dressing room at the Hippodrome Theatre, where she was headlining the revue Starlight Roof. The two were said to have dined alone in public later that evening before dancing until dawn at a London nightclub, while the then-Princess Elizabeth was eight months pregnant with Prince Charles. Kirkwood is said to have met up with Philip six other times, and exchanged letters with the royal that have since reportedly been given to a writer with the instruction “to show them to no one except the Duke’s official biographer, when one is appointed after his death.” Over the years, Kirkwood consistently denied having an affair with Philip, even growing angry when the royal palace would not issue an official statement denying the relationship.

“A lady is not normally expected to defend her honor,” Kirkwood told a journalist. “It is the gentleman who should do that. I would have had a happier and easier life if Prince Philip, instead of coming uninvited to my dressing room, had gone home to his pregnant wife on the night in question.” In 2012, Michael Thornton wrote in The Telegraph that he had possession of Philip’s letters to Kirkwood, and that the correspondences were “written in terms of concerned friendship by two people caught up in a media maelstrom.”

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On 12/12/2017 at 10:33 AM, FriendAim said:

I watched Hotel Viceroy the other day, right before I started season 2 of The Crown and they totally glossed over any infidelity or even marital strife between the Mountbattens

Between the Mountbattens, the verdict seems to be that it was more infidelity, less marital strife. But I loved the insight that the show bestowed on the character Dickie, and what he was given to say to Elizabeth. 

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On 12/9/2017 at 1:56 PM, Eri said:

Seeing Eden goad the Cabinet members into war just because he saw it as a way to improve his image, watching them beat their knuckles and raucous laughter was definitely an eye opener given the leadership of the present day *sigh* Some things really never change.

This may have been a subconscious part of his motivation, but to say it was the prime mover seems a bit oversimplified.  I haven't checked out all the sources at wikipedia, and there may well be alternative interpretations, but they report:

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Eden was hosting a dinner for King Feisal II of Iraq and his Prime Minister, Nuri es-Said, when he learned the Canal had been nationalised. They both unequivocally advised Eden to "hit Nasser hard, hit him soon, and hit him by yourself" – a stance shared by the vast majority of the British people in subsequent weeks. "There is a lot of humbug about Suez," Guy Millard, one of Eden's private secretaries, later recorded. "People forget that the policy at the time was extremely popular." Opposition leader Hugh Gaitskell was also at the dinner. He immediately agreed that military action might be inevitable, but warned Eden would have to keep the Americans closely informed.[117] After a session of the House of Commons expressed anger against the Egyptian action on 27 July, Eden justifiably believed that Parliament would support him; Gaitskell spoke for his party when he called the nationalisation a "high-handed and totally unjustifiable step".[115]:8–9 When Eden made a ministerial broadcast on the nationalization, Labour declined its right to reply.[118]

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On 12/10/2017 at 1:26 AM, PeterPirate said:

I found that bit about Mountbatten talking to Elizabeth about how he is hopelessly in love with his wife to be the highlight of the episode.  

Me too. That actor is amazing. (Also loved his response in the shrewish wife scene.) I guess I'll have to figure out who he is.

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On 12/10/2017 at 1:58 PM, merylinkid said:

Good lord, I so would have dragged my glove into the soup, or whatever.   Sounds like a lot of work just to wear a bracelet.   But I'm not a bracelet person.

Bracelets are great for dress but for work?  Forget it.

On 12/16/2017 at 11:42 AM, dubbel zout said:

Mountbatten is played by Greg Wise, aka Mr. Emma Thompson.

He’s such a hottie.  

I find it interesting in this show that the actors that are portraying these characters are not as good looking as the real people themselves (except for Claire Foy). And of course, Greg Wise.

Edited by PBSLover
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On 12/16/2017 at 7:18 PM, PBSLover said:

I find it interesting in this show that the actors that are portraying these characters are not as good looking as the real people themselves (except for Claire Foy). And of course, Greg Wise.

That's an interesting (and possibly true) generalization, but personally I think the actress playing Margaret is more attractive than her model.

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