TV taunt at royal ‘insanity’

THE Queen is merely “a countryside woman of limited intelligence”, the writer of the hit royal drama The Crown has claimed.

In remarks sure to raise eyebrows among the TV show’s millions of fans, Peter Morgan insisted the monarch “would have much preferred looking after her dogs and breeding horses to being Queen”.

The screenwriter, known for his republican leanings, said he never would have predicted that he would end up working on a program about the royal family.

“If you had told me I would be doing this, I would have told you it was mad, hallucinogenic conjecture,” he told the Sunday Times magazine.

“I wouldn’t have guessed there would be anything more to say about this countryside woman of limited intelligence, who would have much preferred looking after her dogs and breeding horses to being Queen.”

He also likened the “insane system” of the monarchy to a virus.

“They’re survival organisms, like a mutating virus,” he said.

“It is clearly a deranged institution and a completely insane system, but perhaps it’s the insanity that makes it work.”

The Crown, which airs on Netflix, won a Golden Globe for best TV series, with further awards for Claire Foy, who played the Queen, and John Lithgow, who portrayed Winston Churchill.

The first series followed the Queen and Prince Philip before and after her coronation, charting their transition into life at Buckingham Palace. The second series will be set between 1957 and 1964.