As I am watching The Crown, only one burning, pressing query hammers against my conscience. In fact, it is the very same question that blazed through my mind as I watched the Minions animated film two years ago: What would Queen Elizabeth II have thought of herself in this portrayal?
I remember that watching the madcap cartoon, which followed the adventures of the Tic Tac-shaped Minions, had been some of the most hilarious 90 minutes of my life -- with the queen herself being the butt of countless jokes and gags. The storyline simply revolved around the Minions on a mission to steal her glittering crown for the new villain-boss they hope to please, so there is obviously an element of absurd fiction that can remain in its mindless, lighthearted domain.
However, as I watch The Crown, it poses a more serious note, as the Netflix biographical dramatic series tries to capture, and condense, Queen Elizabeth's life into 10 dazzling episodes in the first season. We start off with her marriage to Prince Philip Mountbatten in the pilot, before we zip through almost a decade and end on the cliffhanger, where she has just made the hard decision to let her sister down for the sake of the crown. And in just a few weeks' time, the second season will be globally premiering on Dec 8.
Many of the characters portrayed in the series are long gone, so they are at the mercy of the storyteller's choosing of how to portray them. What is it like for those still alive and able to watch the British stars acting out their lives? Has there been any misleading or inaccurate portrayals? Does it drive them mad? And what would they do about it? Or does Queen Elizabeth II even care about this series, as dozens of movies, series, documentaries and shows are already out there, all scrutinising all facets of her life?
Be it rumours or actual truth, according to The Telegraph, the Queen has reportedly watched the show on the recommendation of her son and daughter-in-law, the Earl and Countess of Wessex. A royal source has told the paper: "Happily, she really liked it, although there were some depictions of events that she found too heavily dramatised."
While I am very well aware of the fact that I am watching a drama and not a documentary, dramatisation and historical inaccuracy that were necessary to pique viewing interest does make me wonder: how far can one stretch the truth? Not that it poses any problems for the creators of the show, unlike how it would have here. In fact, I completely understand the need to throw in some spice, because I definitely would have fallen asleep sitting through more than two episodes at a time, despite its lavish cinematography and top-notch production.
Though it moves at a quiet and unexciting pace, the series manages to strike my fancy for the main reason that it unflinchingly explores the innermost lives of its subjects and how that has shaped events in the 20th century. We obviously cannot do that here, so I am fascinated to witness all the affairs, the wild-child sister and prince consort that is anything but a daydream.
They are hardly things that make for a spotless royal family, yet seeing what you get to see gives an enriching understanding of the person behind all that regalia. It is a PR triumph for the royal family despite all their scandals and downfalls depicted because sugar-coating everything would be like watching a chaste fairy-tale -- it's all praise and glamour, but would give us none of the reflection or understanding of why things have turned out the way they have.
For me, moving plots and scenes that have been difficult to stomach turned out to be the most interesting to watch and still stick to my mind like an intractable barnacle. This includes the moment when Winston Churchill finally accepts the cruelty of old age and resigns from office. Another is when the queen struggles to bind religion with her increasingly modern kingdom, only to get the set-in-stone reminder that the only entity she has to answer to is God. Then there is the chilling closing scene with the seemingly gold-digging Duke of Windsor secretly playing bagpipes on a freezing cold French morning -- in tears -- because he still yearns for his homeland and throne.
Looking back closer to home, I wish I could be watching a world-class series about my own people -- something along the lines of a remarkably down-to-earth king that had a knack for jazz, who spent most of his days on the dusty road working on development projects, perhaps?
Parisa Pichitmarn is the editor of Muse for The Bangkok Post.