How Netflix's 'The Crown' has kept royal watchers riveted

At the heart of "The Crown" is the woman who wore it for 70 years — the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Actors Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton respectively play the queen in this fictional dramatization of her evolution as head of the House of Windsor. After the real queen's death in September 2022, Netflix reported a surge in viewership, logging 17.6 million hours viewed.

The Prince of Wales, who was heir to the throne, was crowned King Charles on May 6, 2023 and gave his inaugural King's Speech at the British Parliament on November 7, 2023. On his way to Parliament the king and Camilla, the queen consort, passed anti-monarchy pressure group Republic, who held up placards with the words "Not my King" as they protested outside the Palace of Westminster in London.

Charles' uneasy journey to the throne is a recurring theme in the series. In the third season, he becomes the Prince of Wales, though many in Wales oppose being ruled by an English prince. To prepare for his investiture speech in Welsh, he gets language lessons from an anti-monarchist and, in Netflix's version, begins to understand their case for self-determination, as it echoes his own hardships.

Long before social media, Charles' marital problems with the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was regular tabloid fodder, both in the British and foreign press. His infamous response about being "in love" during a press Q&A after their engagement actually happened but he'd added that it's "open to interpretation." Diana would later reveal in an interview that Charles' response "traumatized" her.

The late Princess Diana eerily predicted in the now condemned BBC interview with journalist Martin Bashir: "I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being queen of this country. I don't think many people will want me to be queen." The finale of "The Crown," divided into two parts, will see the first four episodes covering Diana's final days.

Princess Diana famously said in the BBC interview that "there were three of us in the marriage," referring to Camilla Parker-Bowles, who eventually married Charles in 2005 and became Queen Camilla in 2023. From once being reviled as "the other woman," she has long since been accepted by the British public as a senior royal. Their marriage will also be dramatized in Netflix's final season.

Season 4 saw Gillian Anderson uncannily portraying Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister. One riveting episode was when Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth "clashed" on imposing economic sanctions on apartheid South Africa. But was this true? Thatcher herself wrote in her 1993 biography: "Of course, stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up."

In 2021, executive producer Suzanne Mackie said the royal biopic won't continue beyond Season 6 that will cover key events of the early 2000s. She explained that series creator Peter Morgan "can't write something" unless at least 10 years have passed between a real-life event and the show's later portrayal, as he "needs that time to allow perspective."

Thus, the latter part of "The Crown" finale will also feature the budding romance between current heir-to-the-throne Prince William (played by Ed McVey) and Kate Middleton (played by Meg Bellamy) in the early 2000s at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The pair, who were married in 2011, were declared Prince and Princess of Wales by King Charles in September 2022.

However, given series creator Peter Morgan's "10-year space" rule for writing, the romance, marriage and eventual breakaway from the royal family of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan won't be featured in "The Crown." However, King Charles' second son has shared his side of the story with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey in a Netflix documentary, as well as in his 2023 biography, "Spare."

"The Crown" creator Peter Morgan told "Variety" in October 2023 that Queen Elizabeth's death last year simply could not be left unaddressed in the series, even though the final season will end around 2005, nearly two decades before the monarch's actual passing. "I had to try and find a way in which the final episode dealt with the character's death, even though she hadn't died yet."

In 2020, Netflix revealed that 73 million households worldwide had watched the royal drama since it began in 2016. Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, said at the time that the series is "part of the global cultural zeitgeist." The Observer's Sarah Ditum wrote, "it's always been easy to see the privilege. But no documentary can match 'The Crown' in evoking the cost of that privilege."