We’ll pull in big ratings with death of Queen, says Crown star
Actor who plays Duke of Edinburgh claims show will help people deal with sadness over late monarch
THE death of Queen Elizabeth II will provide a ratings boost for The Crown, one of its stars has said.
Jonathan Pryce, who plays the Duke of Edinburgh in the latest series, said the drama would provide “comfort” to people saddened by the late monarch’s death.
The fifth series of the show launches on Netflix today, and is likely to be the most controversial yet. It suggests that relations between the Queen and the then Prince of Wales were once so bad that he plotted against her and accused her of being an unfit mother.
Asked if the late Queen’s death would affect how people react to the drama, Pryce said: “I think it’s bound to affect their perception of what we do.
“I’m confident that the numbers will grow even bigger. After the Queen died, the viewing figures went up 500 per cent for previous series of The Crown.
“I don’t want to sound too pompous about it, but I think people will gain a bit of comfort from seeing her embodied again.”
Imelda Staunton, who has replaced Olivia Colman in the role of the Queen, acknowledged the series portrays the Royal family in their most difficult times. She said: “It’s not dramatic being nice and being easy – it’s dramatic when things start to go wrong, and you see how those people deal with those difficulties.”
The new series features a flashback episode featuring the most brutal scenes ever seen in the show, when Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsarina Alexandra are executed by firing squad and their five children are bayoneted. The Romanov family in the UK has welcomed the depiction, saying it will remind viewers of the horrors that befell their family.
They also hope the episode will highlight their campaign for the release of the remains of the last two children, which are held by the Russian Orthodox Church, so that they can be laid to rest alongside their parents.
Princess Olga, the great-niece of Tsar Nicholas II, said of the violent scenes: “I’m pleased it’s like that. In today’s modern world, the majority of people have forgotten what happened to our family and how things can change in an instant.” The sixth episode of the penultimate series of the drama opens in 1917, as King George V receives a letter from the prime minister, David Lloyd George, offering a ship to rescue his cousins, the tsar and tsarina, and bring them to Britain. He requests the King’s support but Queen Mary advises against it, saying: “It’s possible one might come to regret it.”
After the family’s execution is shown, the episode returns to 1992, when Boris Yeltsin, the Russian president made a two-day visit to London and had lunch with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
She tells him she will make a state visit to Moscow only if the tsar and his family are given a “decent burial”.
The family’s remains are duly dug up and examined by Russian pathologists before the Duke of Edinburgh, the tsarina’s great nephew, agrees to submit his DNA to help identify them.
Princess Olga said she did not believe Queen Mary was behind the decision to desert her family, which was made for “many reasons”. She also does not believe the Queen gave Yeltsin an ultimatum over the exhumation.
The remains of Nicholas II, his wife and three of their five children were finally buried at Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg on July 17 1998, 80
‘It’s not dramatic being nice, it’s dramatic when things go wrong and you see how people deal with difficulties ’
years to the day since their execution. However, the bodies of Alexei and his sister Maria were buried away from the others and were not found until 2007 . They have been held in a repository.
Their burial was delayed because the Orthodox Church, which has since canonised the family, refused to accept the results of the DNA tests, insisting further testing was needed as the royal family were Orthodox saints.
“All we want is to give them a proper burial,” the princess said. “If any good comes out of The Crown, if it helps us to get the children buried with their family … that is a good thing.”
Dominic West, who portrays the then Prince of Wales in the 1990s, said that he physically resembles Charles apart from the sausage fingers. “I have quite short legs and quite a big head and I’ve got a bit of a stoop, like him. He’s got these big sausage fingers and he’s always fiddling with them,” he said.
Speaking at a red carpet event last night, he said calls for a disclaimer that the show is fictional were “quite flattering” as it confirmed the series “feels more authentic to people” than other shows and books about the Royal family.