The Crown: Imbroglio
November 29, 2019 2:24 PM - Season 3, Episode 9 - Subscribe
While Princess Anne dates her elder brother's polo rival, Andrew Parker Bowles, Prince Charles falls deeply in love with Camilla Shand, causing the Queen Mother and Lord Mountbatten to interfere.
Something felt missing to me in the handling of the Charles/Camilla story. I think it's the lack of scenes between Camilla and Andrew. We get told that they're somehow obsessively in love with each other, but the one time I remember seeing them together was after they'd had a fight and she was ditching him before a party. I guess I feel like I'm not fully grasping the reasons she's such a wrong choice (other than Dickie Mountbatten and the Queen Mum being snooty about who Charles should be allowed to marry).
posted by dnash at 10:27 AM on December 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by dnash at 10:27 AM on December 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
They wanted, if not literally, a virgin. Someone who had an unsullied past. "With no implication that she was a loose woman," she had had boyfriends; apparently, too many. (Watching The Crown has me on a rabbithole of Windsor documentary viewing.) I agree though, the Camilla/Andrew relationship needed to be a little bit more developed so the viewer can understand the emotional stakes.
posted by emkelley at 9:59 AM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by emkelley at 9:59 AM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Shrek basically.
It is interesting to compare the personal life of Lord Mountbatten with that of Charles. He married a rich and well connected bride - and the pair stayed married until her death. But, in Mountbatten's own account "we spent our married lives getting into other people's beds". My guess is that this the sort of template he expected Charles to follow.
Some nice inter-cutting of the various themes in this episode. Really, all scenes of palace plotting should be candle-lit, I think.
posted by rongorongo at 9:48 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
It is interesting to compare the personal life of Lord Mountbatten with that of Charles. He married a rich and well connected bride - and the pair stayed married until her death. But, in Mountbatten's own account "we spent our married lives getting into other people's beds". My guess is that this the sort of template he expected Charles to follow.
Some nice inter-cutting of the various themes in this episode. Really, all scenes of palace plotting should be candle-lit, I think.
posted by rongorongo at 9:48 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
I guess I feel like I'm not fully grasping the reasons she's such a wrong choice
A lot of it was done subtly. While she’s on the phone with Charles at the Navy, there’s a half dressed Andrew in the shadows behind Camilla. So while she’s “Charles’ girlfriend” she still can’t stop being with Andrew.
I continue thinking this series is designed or influenced to make a case for Camilla’s queenship though - how she’s shot, how they have her lingering regrets, how they’re filming her in soft focus.
However I do love Anne as a character, though I’m not sure if she’s that cool in real life.
posted by corb at 9:03 AM on December 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
A lot of it was done subtly. While she’s on the phone with Charles at the Navy, there’s a half dressed Andrew in the shadows behind Camilla. So while she’s “Charles’ girlfriend” she still can’t stop being with Andrew.
I continue thinking this series is designed or influenced to make a case for Camilla’s queenship though - how she’s shot, how they have her lingering regrets, how they’re filming her in soft focus.
However I do love Anne as a character, though I’m not sure if she’s that cool in real life.
posted by corb at 9:03 AM on December 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
If your theory is true, corb, the problem I'm having with it is that its backfiring for me. I quit this episode ten minutes in because I've had enough of Charles mooning around over Camilla, bitching about his family, and being so poignantly compared to the family Nazi.
posted by nubs at 5:28 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by nubs at 5:28 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
And all along I thought it was Charles' waffling that drove Camilla to marry Parker Bowles. The QM and Mountbatten scheming? meeting with the parents? It's so strange to watch this, knowing how the writers completely rewrote history when it came to Margaret's broken engagement to Townsend; I don't know if any of this is remotely true. Yes Camilla was scrutinized as were all his girlfriends re their past sexual history and ex-boyfriends talking to the press was something the palace wanted to prevent (cue Diana with no history). Not mentioned here was Mountbatten playing matchmaker again, this time with his underage granddaughter. Also not mentioned: Anne had been married a year at this point.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:04 PM on December 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:04 PM on December 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
One finds it a lot more fun if one refers to Dickie Mountbatten as Lord Mountbatman.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:55 PM on December 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 2:55 PM on December 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Camilla and Andrew were one of those off and on drama couples from what I've heard. If they both boffed members of the royal family to make the other one jealous, that's huge deliberate drama.
But that said, yeah, never heard that Dickie and Queen Mum were breaking it all up. And oh yeah, we've decided on a date for Andrew and Camilla, guess we have to tell them...The story I heard was that Camilla put a wedding announcement in the paper to force Andrew into marrying her and he went along with it.
The Queen arguing FOR Camilla and true love just made me go WTF. This one really didn't seem realistic.
I find it funny to hear about all of the blackouts in England when I live in 2021 and we have people throwing fits about the occasional rolling blackout.
I also concur that I hope Anne is this awesome IRL, but I sort of doubt it.
Btw, I tried looking for a biography on Dickie because I figured if one existed it's juicy AF, but sadly one exists and it's enormous and looks like it's all about his military career. Bo-ring.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 AM on June 20, 2021
But that said, yeah, never heard that Dickie and Queen Mum were breaking it all up. And oh yeah, we've decided on a date for Andrew and Camilla, guess we have to tell them...The story I heard was that Camilla put a wedding announcement in the paper to force Andrew into marrying her and he went along with it.
The Queen arguing FOR Camilla and true love just made me go WTF. This one really didn't seem realistic.
I find it funny to hear about all of the blackouts in England when I live in 2021 and we have people throwing fits about the occasional rolling blackout.
I also concur that I hope Anne is this awesome IRL, but I sort of doubt it.
Btw, I tried looking for a biography on Dickie because I figured if one existed it's juicy AF, but sadly one exists and it's enormous and looks like it's all about his military career. Bo-ring.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 AM on June 20, 2021
I wanted more of Camilla’s back story. We’ve learned so much of what made Charles as he is but what is her personality and why does it fit so well with him? None of this is shown.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:13 AM on June 27, 2021
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:13 AM on June 27, 2021
Are they just messing with us? Wallis gives David a compass watch *in 1939*, and says "now there's no excuse for going in the wrong direction"?!
posted by mabelstreet at 8:06 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by mabelstreet at 8:06 AM on September 23, 2021
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posted by jeoc at 8:47 PM on November 29, 2019 [1 favorite]