The Crown: Queen Elizabeth's popularity at her death could lead to a favourable depiction of her least flattering moment

• In this controversial interview, Diana said:
  I don’t think many people will want me to be queen.
• Diana, now no longer in line to be Queen of England, resolved instead to be “queen of people’s hearts”.
• Nonetheless, the following year Ipsos recorded a temporary drop in satisfaction with the queen from 75% in 1992 to 66%.
• Supported by her popularity at her death, it will likely present the queen’s inaction in 1997 as a temporary misjudgement in a long life of public service.

A rebounding monarch

• This was partly due to a succession of milestones which encouraged public celebration of the royal family and its matriarch.
• These include the royal weddings of 2011 and 2018, the televised christening of Prince George (2013) (the so-called “republican slayer”), and the queen’s Diamond (2012) and Platinum Jubilees.
• These fond cultural memories will form a vital counterpart to The Crown’s treatment of the queen’s brief fall from grace.

A nation grieves

• The phenomenon of collective grief suggests that she may have stood, for some, for our own pandemic losses.
• While mourning Diana as “the people’s Princess”, the series will likely end with Queen Elizabeth as the ultimate queen of hearts.

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Bethany Layne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.