Canadians prefer Netflix version of Royal Family
The British government recently tried and failed to have a “fiction” warning stamped on broadcasts of the popular TV series “The Crown.”
No such disclaimer has been demanded in Canada, for a couple of possible reasons.
First, Canada merits barely a mention in the series, despite its own rich history with the monarchy and the characters depicted in “The Crown.”
Second, the show isn’t doing much to endear Canadians to royalty, according to new polling by Abacus Data, shared with the Star.
Afull 45 per cent of the Canadians who have watched “The Crown” lean toward eliminating the monarchy in this country, Abacus found, compared to just 36 per cent in favour of keeping the Queen as Canada’s head of state after watching the TV series.
In short, “The Crown,” the fictional one, isn’t all that into Canada, and Canada isn’t all that into the Crown: the real institution.
Carolyn Harris, a royal historian in Toronto and a fan of the TV series, recently compiled a list of 10 ways in which “The Crown” missed a chance to put Canada into the drama.
The list includes a 1983 trip to Edmonton by Princess Diana and the 1976 visit by a large royal contingent to watch Princess Anne compete in the Montreal Olympics.
“That’s a particularly curious omission, in that it’s one of the rare examples of the Queen, Prince Phillip and all four of their children being on tour together,” Harris said in an interview.
She finds the silence on Canada disappointing. “The so- so coverage of Commonwealth history has been a bit patchy in the series, but Canada has been left out entirely.”
Sure, she says, there have been tiny cameo appearances: a Canadian flag in one scene, former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s signature on a document in another. But Harris believes that the show needs more Canada.
“The Crown,” for those who haven’t seen any of the four seasons taking viewers up to the 1980s, has included episodes featuring royal trips abroad, to Australia or Africa, but none to this country.
Harris believes that the antimonarchy protests that greeted the Queen in a 1964 trip to Quebec might have made for some gripping television, for instance. But she also guesses that explaining Quebec separatism to non- Canadian viewers might have been too complicated.
The tragic love life of the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, is a recurring theme in the show, but her famous 1958 dalliance with the dashing Canadian prime- minister- tobe, John Turner, didn’t make it into the story. Letters revealed after Margaret’s death include a mention of how she “nearly married” Turner, but that real- life romance slipped past writers of “The Crown.”
Harris believes that Australia figures larger in “The Crown” because the monarchy has historically been more controversial there and culminated in a1999 referendum. “There’s a story arc there,” she says.
But the Abacus data shows that Canada shares some of that ambivalence.
David Coletto, CEO of Abacus, is also a big fan of the TV series. But he sees these poll results as evidence that the monarchy could be a sleeper issue in this country for someone willing to take it on. The survey was conducted among 1,500 Canadians in late November and early December and its margin of error is calculated to be within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Anti- monarchy sentiment runs highest in Quebec, as has historically been the case, with more than 60 per cent saying it should be abolished in Canada, according to Abacus. But it stands at 42 per cent in Ontario and 41 per cent in British Columbia — the province that Prince Harry and Meghan made their temporary home last Christmas after stepping down from their royal duties.
It’s not personal. Canadians’ views of individual members of the Royal Family are generally positive or neutral, especially for the Queen ( 44 per cent positive;) less so for Prince Charles ( 23 per cent positive).
Nonetheless, the TV show is definitely more popular than the institution, Abacus found. Afull 41 per cent of respondents said they were either watching it, finished watching or planned to view the show. Those numbers may have swelled over the holiday season in which people had little to do but binge- watch on Netflix.
But among those viewers, it seems the more people see, the less attached they are to the idea of the Queen as Canada’s head of state. A full 52 per cent of those who had finished the series lean toward eliminating the monarchy compared to 38 per cent who had plans to watch it and the 40 per cent still in the midst of viewing it.
Coletto attached a “hypothetical referendum” vote on the poll, which showed that 56 per cent would vote right away to eliminate the monarchy and only 44 per cent would keep it.
Harris believes that these results might have something to do with the pandemic; a case of out of sight, out of mind, with no royal tours currently on the horizon.
“There haven’t been any royal visits to Canada this year because of the global situation,” she says. “One of the things that helps the popularity of the monarchy in Canada is when members of the royal family are closely associated with Canada.”
That could mean that the creators of “The Crown” have actually missed a chance — should they have wanted to seize it — to make Canadians feel a little more fondly about this country’s continuing ties to the monarchy. Had Canadians seen a bit more of themselves in “The Crown,” the TV series, maybe they would a little less ambivalent about the institution.
None of this takes away from the fact it’s a great show, worth watching whether it’s fact or fiction. And Canada doesn’t have to stay out of it forever: There’s always Season 5.