The Crown (2016) s04e01 Episode Script

1
Shh, shh
[crowd clamouring in the distance]
[man] Why are the English still with us?
Why, after everything
we've thrown at them,
does the British presence in Ireland
still endure?
So many sacrifices have been made.
So many of our brothers and sisters
have given their lives
in resistance to that occupation,
but we are still ignored.
[soldier shouts]
We are still denied
our basic right to self-determination,
and our sons and brothers,
husbands and fathers
are still held in British jails.
Well, if nothing has changed, then,
my friends, it is time for a new approach.
[soldier] Eyes right!
[man] That is why our leadership
has issued a new directive.
This is from the very top.
Today, the Irish Republican struggle
for freedom enters a new phase.
The time has come to escalate our efforts,
redouble our militancy, spill more blood,
so that the Crown retreats
and leaves Ireland forever.
[crowd cheering]
[inaudible dialogue]
[Elizabeth]
No Charles? He didn't stay for lunch?
Couldn't wait to get away.
I heard he doesn't eat lunch anymore.
- Whyever not? How queer.
- Perhaps he wants to keep his figure.
How is he, Dickie?
He talks more to you than to anyone.
Well, I'm afraid it's now clear
the navy is not for him.
- I wasn't talking about his career.
- She means matters of the heart.
[Elizabeth]
He comes to you with all of that.
We get to read about it
in the newspapers like everyone else.
This Westmorland girl
I've been reading about, in or out?
- Oh, she's out.
- [Elizabeth] Oh.
- There was a Guinness.
- [Anne] She's gone too.
[Elizabeth] And one in a bathing costume.
- [Margaret] Caroline Longman.
- [Elizabeth] The one with the whip?
[Anne] Not a whip. Whiplash.
- [Mountbatten] No, that was Anna Wallace.
- Heck of a horsewoman.
[Mountbatten]
No, she broke it off with him.
And am I right? At one point,
was there even a Borgia?
[Mountbatten] Yes. Christabel.
[Elizabeth] Was she even
a serious contender, with that name?
[Mountbatten chuckles]
From what I gather, the latest is
[Anne] Sarah Spencer.
Johnny's girl?
- His eldest, yes.
- Oh, I rather like that idea.
We all do. She's fun, she's clever
And unlike a certain Mrs. Parker Bowles,
she's not married.
[Elizabeth]
Oh, he's not still seeing her, surely?
[Queen Mother]
After all the lengths we went to.
Well, we can't be surprised.
He was following the advice he was given,
wasn't he, Dickie?
You were the one who encouraged it.
Telling him to sow his oats,
play the field?
No thought for his duty?
[Queen Mother] Well, all the more reason
to cheer for Sarah.
Hmm.
[Sarah] Your Royal Highness.
I thought we'd ride out.
There's a lovely lodge the other side
of High Wood we can go to
where we can be alone.
Your Royal Highness.
Ma'am, telephone for you. Mr. O'Keefe.
That's the estate office
with the key to the lodge.
- Can I leave you here for a minute, sir?
- Yes.
[footsteps receding]
[Diana] Sorry. I'm not here.
I was given strict instructions
to remain out of sight,
but I have to get to that room over there,
and this is the only way.
Your Royal Highness.
Well, I haven't seen a thing.
Thank you, sir.
It's quite a costume.
[Diana] Is it a complete disaster?
We're doing
A Midsummer Night's Dream at school.
I love Midsummer Night's Dream.
So do I.
All the characters
have such wonderful names.
Flute, Snout, Goodfellow.
Snug, Quince.
- Bottom!
- [both chuckle]
[Diana] Yes, Bottom.
They gave that part
to a girl called Francesca Lamont,
who also happens to have
the most enormous backside.
She took it personally.
She's had a bit of a nervous breakdown.
I'm Sarah's younger sister, by the way.
Please don't tell her you saw me.
I'll get into terrible trouble.
She wanted everything to be just perfect.
She wouldn't want me to scare you off.
- How would you do that?
- Well, you know
By being a mad tree.
- I won't say a thing.
- Thank you, sir.
Keys. Got them. Right. Ready?
- Ready.
- Is everything all right?
Yes. I just met your younger sister.
Did you? That's sneaky of her.
- I told her to leave us alone.
- She was just passing through.
Well, she could have gone on the outside,
but she was obsessed
with the idea of meeting you.
- [Charles] Was she?
- Mm. Obsessed.
[theme music playing]
[reporter 1] The last opinion poll,
published just over an hour ago,
gives the Tories a 16% lead
[reporter 2] It is a wonderful day.
First of all for Britain
[reporter 3] TUC concordat was now a
dead document, though that didn't mean
[reporter 4] It's her grit and remarkable
stamina that has kept her centre stage
- throughout this election.
- [reporter 5] Mrs. Thatcher believes
We are very We are very confident.
[reporter 6]is a woman with a mission.
We are very
She believes the ordinary people of
Britain will help to
We are very confident.
or 21 percent
- Mrs. Thatcher, are you feeling confident?
- Are you gonna win today, Mrs. Thatcher?
I will not be drawn on any subject
save the weather.
It's a lovely day.
[reporter] It's looking like
a comfortable victory
for the Conservative Party
and the prospect
of our first-ever woman prime minister.
- What do we know about Margaret Thatcher?
- That's the last thing this country needs.
- What?
- Two women running the shop.
Perhaps that's precisely
what this country needs.
I rather like what I've seen of her
so far.
What, the shopkeeper's daughter?
An alderman shopkeeper's daughter,
who worked hard
and gained a scholarship to Oxford.
Yes, to study chemistry.
Yes, but later changed direction
and qualified as a barrister
while raising twin children.
You try doing that.
What about her character?
It says here,
"As a young woman, she applied
for a job as a food research chemist
and was rejected after
the personnel department assessed her
as being headstrong, obstinate,
and dangerously self-opinionated."
Really?
Who else around here does that sound like?
[reporter on TV] You must be hopeful.
The polls show you comfortably ahead.
We never count our chickens
before they're hatched,
and we don't count number
10 Downing Street before it's Thatched.
[reporters laughing]
Thank you very much. Thank you.
[news anchor] What we're seeing now
is history in the making.
Britain's first woman prime minister,
a conviction politician
who's made no secret of the fact
she believes the country has to change
from top to bottom,
going to the palace,
presumably to tell her queen exactly that.
[upbeat music playing]
Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher, follow me, please.
[bell ringing]
[footman] The leader of the opposition,
Your Majesty.
Mrs. Thatcher.
Your Majesty.
Your party has won the election.
It is my very great pleasure to invite you
to form a government in my name.
- Congratulations, prime minister.
- Thank you, ma'am.
Please.
Your family must be very proud.
You have two children?
Yes, but grown-up now
and out of the house.
And your husband is retired.
Is that right?
Yes, but he won't get in the way,
if that's what you're asking.
Denis is very good
at taking care of himself.
His golf clubs will be in the hallway.
He will come and go as he pleases.
He knows how busy I will be,
and how hard I intend to work.
To business then.
- Have you decided on your first cabinet?
- I have.
It may surprise you that I enjoy
predicting ministerial comings and goings.
It is like the races.
I like to study form and odds.
Who's in. Who's out.
I also like to predict cabinets.
My best so far
was Mr. Wilson's second reshuffle.
I got 90%.
Would you like to hear
my predictions for yours?
I'm assuming no women.
- Women?
- In cabinet.
Oh, certainly not.
Well, not just because
there aren't any suitable candidates,
but I have found women in general
tend not to be suited to high office.
Oh? Why's that?
Well, they become too emotional.
I doubt you'll have that trouble with me.
Hmm. Now, Willie Whitelaw. Home office?
- Yes.
- Tick.
- Geoffrey Howe. Treasury?
- Yes.
Tick.
- Hailsham. Lord chancellor?
- Yes.
Walker, Heseltine, Biffen, Prior
She got most of them right.
She didn't guess St. John-Stevas
as minister for the arts,
but that's only because
she'd already correctly picked him
- for the leader of the House.
- Smart cookie!
Yes. Quite different to how I imagined.
More interested and informed.
With a commendable appetite for work,
which I'm told she keeps up
throughout the summer holidays.
I left thinking
we might work very well together.
Two menopausal women.
That'll be a smooth ride.
- I heard that.
- Oh.
- I don't mean to put extra stress on you.
- To be that tacky It's disgusting.
[snoring]
It's certainly lovely to be back.
Thank you.
[pensive music playing]
Are you going stalking with the boss?
- She insisted.
- Good.
[clearing throat]
Obviously, your life is your own business,
and your career as a show jumper
is your own business too,
but I heard you're thinking
of withdrawing from competition.
Is that true?
Yes. I've had such a bad run recently.
With Badminton coming up
and a chance for Olympic competition?
I know, but Mark has decided
to compete himself this year
and that would mean us training together,
being on the circuit together.
I see.
Is that such a bad thing?
- He is your husband.
- Just about.
We were
We were all so proud
having an actual Olympian in the family.
An Olympian who's spent
much of the past year on her backside.
Oh, come on. This isn't like you.
Mm.
Remind me. What is "like me"?
I seem not to just have forgotten
how to ride, but who I am.
Well, then let me remind you.
You are the most
brilliant,
resilient,
most determined young woman that I know.
With a nasty dose of the horrors
when she sits on a horse.
They will go again
with work, with determination,
and a Battenberg refusal to give in.
Mm?
Thank you.
You ready?
- Good luck.
- Yes.
[Anne] Won't be too hard to find
with the weather so still.
Yes, you're right. Good morning.
- Dry as well.
- Come on, girl.
Ready? Thank you.
[men speaking indistinctly]
[Michael] Sir?
Telephone for you.
- [Charles] Hello?
- Dear boy!
My office rang Buckingham Palace
what must be an hour ago,
and I've been put through
to about nine different extensions.
Where have we finally reached you?
Northeast Iceland,
in a lodge on the River Hofsá.
- What are you doing there?
- Salmon fishing with friends.
Are you at Classiebawn
with the whole gang?
The whole tribe,
and everyone's asking after you.
Are you gonna be in London next week?
I'd like to see you.
I won't. I have a rendezvous with Camilla.
We've found a couple of days
where we could catch up.
Oh, Charles, you're not still seeing her?
You know what the family thinks.
Yes, I'm perfectly aware
of what the family thinks.
And what I think too?
Yes, and the richness of that
is not lost on me either.
The idea that you, of all people, should
lecture me about the sanctity of marriage,
and affairs of the heart
needing to be conventional,
because you and Edwina
hardly blazed a trail in that department.
At least when Camilla
and I commit adultery,
there aren't national security
implications involved.
That was uncalled for.
So is your unwelcome intervention
in this matter.
Honestly, you make a great show
of being my ally in this family,
watching my back, but when the chips
are down, you're just a quisling.
A fifth columnist
playing for the other side.
The fact is, I haven't met anyone
I like as much as Camilla,
who is herself trapped in a marriage
of your engineering
with a husband
who's bedding half of Gloucestershire.
Invite us both to Broadlands soon.
And you'll see how happy we actually
make one another.
That is, if my happiness
is even remotely important to you.
Now I must go.
Come on, Daddy! Look at the time!
Nicholas! Timothy!
[pen scribbling]
All right. Get this to the prince of Wales
as soon as possible.
Sir.
Right.
- [engine starting]
- Time to catch some lobster.
Let's go.
Where did you see him?
Just up there, on the brow. Can you see?
[Mountbatten] Okay.
In case you're feeling a little chilled.
Here you are, Paul.
[gunshots]
[dog barking]
[gunshots]
[Mountbatten] Ahead!
[both] Ahead!
[all laughing]
That's the one.
No. No, not like that.
You'll fall overboard.
Use the hook.
- Thank you, Grandpapa.
- There you go.
[gunshots]
- Come on.
- There we are.
Need a bit more muscle.
Hold her behind the claws,
so they can't nip you.
This is what we call a berried hen.
[ominous music playing]
[gunshots]
We're gonna throw this one back,
then she can have her babies in peace.
And one, two, and
Damn!
[siren wailing]
Stay on the radio! Garda!
[people shouting]
Oh, dear.
It's never good
when they come in packs like this.
[Martin] Your Majesty.
Um, we've received a copy of a telegram
sent to the Foreign Office
from the British embassy in Dublin.
It reads,
"At 13:05,
the British ambassador was informed
that there had been an explosion on
Lord Mountbatten's boat in County Sligo."
Lord Mountbatten is dead.
As are the boat boy, Paul Maxwell,
and Lord Mountbatten's grandson Nicholas.
Lord and Lady Brabourne,
Doreen Lady Brabourne,
and Timothy Knatchbull
are in hospital in Sligo.
The IRA has, I'm afraid,
already claimed responsibility.
[screaming]
[Michael] It's looking like the 5th, sir.
For the funeral.
At Westminster Abbey.
I was asked to give you this.
Thank you.
[Mountbatten] My dear Charles,
there exists no greater compliment
than to be called a "prince among men."
Such a person earns his title
with his ability to lead and inspire,
elusive virtues
to which you must reach and rise.
And it grieves me to say that
you are not working hard enough
to reach and to rise.
The choice of a woman
was the issue around which
the last prince of Wales came to grief.
And it's astonishing to me that,
40 years after the abdication,
you are making so little attempt
to conceal your infatuation
for another man's wife.
How could you contemplate
such ruin and disappointment to yourself,
to your family, to me?
Must I remind you again of the importance
of building your destiny
with some sweet and innocent
well-tempered girl
with no past who knows the rules
and will follow the rules?
Someone with whom you can make
a fresh start and build a new life.
One that people will love as a princess
and, in due course, as queen.
This is your duty now,
your most important task.
You are more than a man,
more than a prince,
and one day, dear boy, you shall be king.
But now, to the sea.
I miss you enormously.
There is no one
whose company I enjoy more.
But I think you know that.
Your ever-loving honorary grandpa
Dickie.
[phone ringing]
- Yes?
- [man] Buckingham Palace, Prime Minister.
Putting you through
to Her Majesty the Queen.
- Your Majesty.
- [Elizabeth] Prime Minister.
This is a very great tragedy.
Lord Mountbatten's death
leaves a gap that can never be filled.
Our heartfelt condolences
go out to you and your family,
and of course of those of the servicemen
killed at Warrenpoint today.
I am sick and tired of those
who would seek to rationalise
and make excuses for the atrocities
committed by the IRA.
There's no such thing as political murder,
or political bombing,
or political violence.
There's only criminal murder,
criminal bombing, and criminal violence.
And I give you my word,
I will wage a war
against the Irish Republican Army
with relentless determination
and without mercy
until that war is won.
[door opens]
Oh, it's you.
Yes.
It's a terrible thing.
But he would have had no fear of death.
- None.
- No.
And he would have hated
any mawkish outpourings of grief.
Or sentimentality.
He left 500 pages of instructions.
For the funeral.
And chose you to do the reading.
You.
Architecturally, there is little
that is normal about this family.
Dickie's position within it twisted it
even further out of shape.
I barely knew my own father.
Dickie understood that
and stepped in as a surrogate.
Which meant the world to me.
Then years later,
maybe when he saw
the struggles between the two of us,
he switched horses
and started caring for you.
I was no longer the priority.
He replaced me as father to you.
And you
You replaced me as son to him.
I don't mind admitting
there were times where that
transference of Dickie's affection,
of his care, of his love
it might have given rise in me
to a resentment.
Of me?
Not your fault, of course.
And
When one was
as deprived of a father as I was,
one can't help feeling
I don't know,
territorial of the next best thing,
which Dickie was.
To us both.
What are you talking about?
You have a father.
You have a father.
I'd be happy to stand aside, Papa, really.
Then you can do the reading.
It's irrelevant
what I want or think.
It's what matters to Dickie.
And he chose you.
["Carillon-Sortie" playing on organ]
[choir boys singing]
[man]
This morning, the Irish Republican Army
released a statement
taking full responsibility
for the execution of Lord Mountbatten
and for the deaths
of the 18 British servicemen
killed in our attacks at Warrenpoint.
"Thirteen gone and not forgotten.
We got 18 and Mountbatten."
To Irish Republicans,
Lord Mountbatten was the ultimate symbol
of imperialist oppression.
Each year, he came to sit in his castle
on land stolen by the English.
He knew the risks in coming here.
And his death represents a legitimate
blow against an enemy target.
Over the coming weeks and months,
you will all bear witness
to the cloying tributes
paid to this so-called hero.
But where are the tears
of the British government
for those men, women, and children
of Ireland who've lost their lives?
Where is their grand funeral
or solemn state occasion?
Who will eulogize their deaths
or pay tribute to the lives
of the many Irish citizens
so cruelly cut short,
like the 13 innocent civilians
murdered by the British on Bloody Sunday?
"Thirteen gone, not forgotten.
We got 18 and Mountbatten."
"They that go down to the sea in ships"
[man]
This is war and there will be casualties.
But while
the British Crown remains in Ireland,
whatever blood is shed
will be on their hands.
[Charles] "He maketh the storm to cease
so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad
because they are at rest.
And so he bringeth them unto the haven,
where they would be."
[knocking on door]
[man] Five minutes, Your Royal Highness.
[commentator]this last stage
of the three-day event here at Badminton.
Lucinda Prior-Palmer, well,
she'll be looking
- to break some records today
- [knocking on door]
with a fourth win here
on yet another horse,
Killaire,
on whom she finished third two years ago.
She'll be jumping last.
But next into the arena is Her Royal
Highness Princess Anne riding Goodwill.
- Timekeeper ready?
- Ready.
[commentator] After an average
dressage test and run out,
the princess will need to jump clear
- [Elizabeth] Here she comes.
- [Philip] Yes.
inside time in order to qualify.
- Good luck.
- Ready?
I am.
[commentator]
Her Royal Highness coming back
from some career difficulties last year.
Just looking a little sticky
coming up to this first fence here.
These fences,
a maximum height of 3-foot-11.
Go! Go on! Lovely.
- Well done, keep it together.
- Steady.
That's it. Yes.
[commentator] Clears that one,
then a tight turn
- Well done.
- coming into the next fence.
Coming up nicely.
- Come on!
- Don't shout.
Takes it well. Clear.
Fifteen seconds gone.
- Oof. Wow.
- Clear.
- Almost four faults there.
- Lovely.
The princess so nearly coming unstuck,
but it holds up, as she heads towards
the final combination.
This is a big double,
and she seems to be coming in short.
- No, she's done it!
- Yes! Come on.
- How are we doing?
- She needs to pick it up.
Nearly there. Come on, Anne.
[commentator]
As she heads towards the final fence
- Yes!
- Oh!
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] She's done it,
Princess Anne. Those four inside time.
That is a fantastic effort
from Her Royal Highness,
who finishes overall in sixth place,
and that should be enough.
- Wonderful.
- We must congratulate her.
You go.
- You missed it.
- No, I saw the last bit.
- Mummy.
- What are you doing here?
I thought an extra pair of lungs
to cheer Anne on couldn't hurt.
Except I doubt she'd have heard.
- Your father was making such a noise.
- Was he?
[Elizabeth] Beside himself.
I'm so happy Anne can give him that.
It's really the best possible tonic
for him.
- We could all do with cheering up.
- Yes.
All one can think of is Dickie.
[man] That's it. Follow the road round.
Here on the left, sir.
Thanks very much, sir.
Your Royal Highness.
I just wanted to offer my condolences.
It must have been
completely devastating for you.
And your reading at the Abbey,
how you held it all together
under the circs,
I don't know how you did that.
- It was utterly brilliant.
- Thank you.
- I'm sorry. We haven't met.
- We have.
I was in costume at the time.
Sarah Spencer's younger sister.
- The mad tree!
- Diana.
Yes. Yes.
Sarah told me how close you were
to Lord Mountbatten,
that he was like a father to you.
- Yes.
- It must all be unimaginably awful.
Thank you. It has been.
[car horns honking]
[man] Come on!
I just wanted to say
you're very much in my thoughts.
All our thoughts. Sir.
[car horn honking]
[man] Oh, come on!
[phone ringing]
[people chattering in distance]
- [Sarah] Hello?
- Sarah.
Your Royal Highness!
That's a nice surprise.
First things first. I'm afraid
I won't be able to come to your wedding.
But congratulations to you and Neil.
- Thank you, sir.
- Now
- your sister, Diana.
- Yes?
- Tell me about her.
- What would you like to know?
- [Charles] Everything.
- I'm not sure you want to know everything.
Maybe I do.
All right.
She works part-time at a kindergarten.
- She's a teacher?
- No.
For that, you'd need actual
qualifications. More of a helper-out.
She's only just turned 18, you know.
- She also cleans for me. Part-time.
- As in?
Like a cleaning lady.
You want more?
A little more.
- Is she fun?
- She can be great fun.
And I'm sure all the kids love her.
I'm sure all the kids' dads love her too.
Really? What about her character?
[Sarah] Everyone in the family
calls her "Duch,"
because ever since childhood,
she's behaved as if
she were destined for greater things.
- Oh, dear. Have I just put you off?
- No.
You've rather intrigued me now.
Would you mind if I asked her out?
- "Out" out?
- Yes.
Gosh.
- Would you mind?
- No.
Should I warn her?
No. Let it be a surprise.
I might need her telephone number first.
Of course. It's
01373
- [phone ringing]
- ["Call Me" playing over speakers]
- [woman 1] Di?
- [woman 2] Di?
[woman 1] Diana?
[music stops]
It's the prince of Wales.
Hello?
Your Royal Highness.