Prince Philip vs ‘The Crown’: Fact and fiction
LOS ANGELES – In “The Crown,” a dishy naval officer captures the heart of a future queen. But he chafes at playing royal second fiddle and crosses the boundaries of decorum and, maybe, fidelity. He eventually finds his way as a trusted partner and family patriarch.
How does the Netflix drama’s portrayal of Prince Philip, who died at age 99 on April 9, compare with the man himself and the life he lived with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II?
Peter Morgan, creator of the series that’s in a lull before its fifth and penultimate season arrives in 2022, has said “The Crown” is the product of historical research and imagination, and includes scenes not to be taken as fact.
Barring a tell-all from the parties involved, for instance, we don’t know if Philip was as rigid in his approach to parenting son Charles as he was sensitive with daughter Anne, as “The Crown” has it. Or what to make of the drama’s dainty hints of marital infidel
ity by Philip.
The series has brought Philip to middle age, covering half of the real royal’s nearly 100 years. Also absent from “The Crown” is Philip’s unapologetic fondness for demeaning one-liners about women and people of color.
But there are aspects of the Greekborn prince’s life that warrant comparison to the fictional version, whom “The Crown” depicts in a mostly flattering light.
Domestic strife
“The Crown”: Reluctant to surrender traditional male privilege, Philip wants their children to carry his last name (Mountbatten), not hers (Windsor). The answer is no.
When the death of Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, brings her to the throne, Philip leaves military service for the role of consort. Quarrels follow, including over his reluctance to kneel to her during her coronation.
They find a balance, with Philip a worthy half of an affectionate marriage.
In reality: When Philip lost his bid to use Mountbatten, according to Gyles Brandreth’s “Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage,” he complained, “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba,” a man barred from giving his children his name.
Eight years later, it was decided the couple’s descendants would use a hyphenated surname – as in Archie Harrison Mountbatten-windsor, the son of Harry and Meghan.
Under protest or not, Philip knelt before the newly crowned queen in 1952 and pledged to become her “liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship.”
On their 50th wedding anniversary, Elizabeth called him “my strength and stay.”
Man of action
“The Crown”: In 1969, Philip is immersed in TV coverage of the first moon landing and faults his life in comparison. After prosaic royal engagements at dental and textile facilities, the trained flier has the opportunity to take the controls of a private jet.
He pushes the plane toward the edge of space and, as the pilot protests that the trembling aircraft is at its limit, Philip responds: “Perhaps. But look, we’ve also lived. Just for a minute.”
Meeting with the U.S. astronauts when they visit England as part of a victory lap, Philip tells them his position and marriage kept him from “the things I would’ve liked to, as a man, as an adventurer.”
In reality: During World War II, Philip saw action while serving on battleships and destroyers, was decorated and, at age 21, achieved the rank of first lieutenant in the Royal Navy.
While he carried out a full schedule of royal duties and headed hundreds of charities, he learned to fly in the 1950s and was an avid polo player and yachtsman, as well as painter and art collector. Still driving at 97, he flipped his Land Rover in a crash.