The Crown (2016) s04e10 Episode Script

of his party.
Mr. Heseltine says Britain should
reach for the levers of power
if only to prevent others
pulling them first.
One dead in an Ulster gun battle
between soldiers and terrorists.
Police make arrests over ballot
rigging in the transport union.
- Confusion over plastic clingfilm
- Thank you, dear.
government's cancer warning.
And animals to the slaughter.
How the RSPCA hopes to
stop live animal exports.
Michael Heseltine was speaking
to a conference in Hamburg.
Mr. Heseltine is now on
his way back to London
to be in the Commons this afternoon.
There, Sir Geoffrey Howe is
expected to spell out in detail
the reasons for his resignation.
Is there anything Sir
Geoffrey is likely to say
that could influence Mr. Heseltine
on whether to throw his hat in the ring?
Well, Sir Geoffrey is an
extremely cautious man.
I suspect that his speech
will be carefully written,
and I just wonder whether
it will be sufficiently in code
not really to damage the prime minister.
Sir Geoffrey has very deep personal
and ideological differences
with the prime minister.
I think he will spell them out,
but whether he will spell
them out in clear, set terms
that amount to an assault
on her leadership,
I think we have to
wait and see for that.
I remind the House that
a resignation statement
is heard in silence and
without interruption.
Sir Geoffrey Howe.
Hear, hear.
Mr. Speaker, sir,
"I find, to my astonishment, that
a quarter of a century has passed
since I last spoke from one
of these backbenches."
"Mr. Speaker, I believe that both
the chancellor and the governor
are cricketing enthusiasts."
"So I hope that there is no monopoly
of cricketing metaphors."
"Increasingly, those of us
close to the prime minister
feel like opening batsmen
being sent to the crease,
only to find the moment the
first balls are bowled
that our bats have been broken before
the game by the team captain."
Order!
Order.
"The point The point, Mr. Speaker,
was perhaps more sharply put
by a British businessman,
trading in Brussels and elsewhere,
who wrote to me last week."
'People throughout Europe,' he said,
'see our prime minister's finger-wagging
and hear her passionate 'No, no, no'
much more clearly
than the content of the carefully
worded formal texts.'"
"'It is too easy,' he went on,
'for them to believe that
we all share her attitudes.'"
"'For why else,' he asked,
'has she been our prime
minister for so long?'"
"'This is,' my correspondent concluded,
'a desperately serious
situation for our country.'"
And sadly, Mr. Speaker, I have to agree.
"The conflict of loyalty,
of loyalty to my right honorable
friend the prime minister,
and, after all, in two decades together,
that instinct of loyalty
is still very real
and of loyalty to what I perceive to be
the true interests of the nation,
that conflict of loyalty
has become all too great."
"I no longer believe it possible
to resolve that conflict from
within this government."
"That is why I have resigned."
"In doing so, I have done
what I believe to be right
for my party and my country."
"The time has come for others
to consider their own response
to the tragic conflict of loyalties
with which I have myself wrestled
for perhaps too long."
Hear, hear.
Lilibet?
Uh, the Queen?
In the drawing room,
Your Royal Highness.
Right.
She has resumed her
affair with Major Hewitt
with flagrant disregard
for the agreement we made
in our meeting with you.
A meeting in which it is now clear
she brazenly lied to your face.
So I hope you agree
it leaves me no option but to
start a formal separation.
Oh, Charles!
I'm wretchedly unhappy, yet
there is someone else out there
who would make me perfectly happy.
- Quick, switch on the television.
- Why?
It's the Ides of March.
It's Julius Caesar, or
should I say Julia Caesar?
We're in the middle of an
important conversation.
- Shh.
- her style of government.
He says her nightmare image of Europe
risks the future of the nation.
Can Sir Geoffrey's peroration,
where he said the time
has come for others
to consider their response,
be read in any other way than a
clear invitation to open a contest
for the leadership?
That is one of the implications.
Some people would go further than that.
They would say he is urging people
to vote against Mrs. Thatcher
Thatcher is facing
the most serious threat
to her 11 years in power
first time in 15 years
Geoffrey Howe, Mrs. Thatcher's
longest-serving colleague
throughout her years in power,
turned on her in the Commons today
and accused her of risking
the nation's future.
He was explaining for the first time
why he resigned as deputy
prime minister 12 days ago.
refusal to keep in step
with the European community.
a coded diplomatic speech.
Instead, years of
resentment and frustration
were compressed into a bitter
attack on Mrs. Thatcher
and her attitude to Europe.
He called on Conservative MPs
to consider what he described
as their conflict of loyalties
Howe delivered a stinging indictment
There is great bitterness on
the prime minister's side,
and they hope there will be
some reaction in her favor.
It's down to Conservative
Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher faces a challenge
that could cost her her job.
MPs, ministers, and peers
are still trying to assess
what one described as
an incitement to mutiny
and another said was
an act of treachery.
William!
Run!
Oh, Ivo's got it! Ivo's got it!
Go, Ivo! Go, Ivo!
- Ivo!
- Move it!
Yes, well done!
Yes, well done!
Well done, Ivo!
Oh, he's brilliant, isn't he? Yes!
Did you see that? Yes!
Well done, boys!
Bye, my darling. Not
long until the holidays.
Hmm?
Love you.
- Well done today.
- Thank you.
And we'll see you at Christmas.
Goodbye.
Take care.
Is that it?
We're not going to talk again, ever?
Since every time we do talk,
it ends in an argument,
I'd say silence was preferable.
What's this I hear about
a trip to New York?
Oh, don't look so surprised.
The government requested it.
Everyone knows I'm going.
No one knew you were going on your own.
What an ugly, avaricious piece
of self-advancement that is.
I'd sooner be doing it with
my husband by my side.
Doing what?
The past few months,
you've barely been in a
fit state psychologically
to go to the hairdresser,
much less represent the Crown.
Although I gather you
still found time to see
certain other people.
I think this conversation's
gone as far as it can.
You were the one who
insisted on talking.
I always said silence was preferable.
- Mrs. Thatcher?
- Prime Minister?
One crisis rising above
all the others today,
- Your Majesty.
- Yes.
An inconvenience one would
dearly like to avoid,
given the significant challenges
this country already faces.
The crisis in the Gulf.
Oh, that crisis?
Well, that is the predominant
challenge facing us.
I thought you might be referring
to matters closer to home.
There are one or two
minor domestic matters,
some changes to the fishing
license conditions,
but nothing I would want to
waste your valuable time with.
You don't think we should
briefly discuss that speech?
Which speech?
The resignation speech
made by Sir Geoffrey Howe
that's caused such a stir.
Why would we want to discuss that?
Because a great deal of
fuss is being made of it.
Oh, poor Geoffrey.
I'd offered him the position
of deputy prime minister,
and he seems to have taken
it rather the wrong way.
In the newspapers, his speech
is seen as a direct challenge
to your authority.
I think that all depends on which
newspapers you're reading.
Not just newspapers. Television too.
Or watching.
And as sovereign, I must ask you
do you expect a leadership challenge?
The prime minister came to see me today.
Ah, yes.
To discuss the crisis in the Gulf.
What?
Not the fact that she'd just
been knifed in the back
by one of her longest-standing allies?
No, I asked her about that.
- Did you really?
- Yes.
You're brave.
What did she say?
She said the situation
was unfortunate
but it amounts to little
more than petty rivalries
and resentments
played out at the
level of the schoolyard.
I shall see them off in no time.
And, really, we should not
dignify an insignificant
internal party squabble
with any more of our precious time.
Well
Sir Geoffrey's attack makes this,
the criticism of Mrs. Thatcher,
much more lethal.
I think she's in deep trouble,
not that she will be beaten in the
first ballot by Michael Heseltine,
but more probably that there
will be enough votes against her
and enough abstentions
to damage her seriously.
One person said to me that
he thought it possible,
if she were badly enough damaged,
that members of the Cabinet
would go to the chief whip
and say that she ought
to consider her future.
It's premature to say that yet,
but undoubtedly there's
a rather stronger tide
running against Mrs. Thatcher tonight
than there has ever been before.
Powell.
Yes.
Yeah.
I see.
Thank you.
How many?
- We're four short.
- Oh.
Not enough to stop it
going to a second ballot.
Oh, it's betrayal of
the very worst kind.
They owe their political lives to me.
- It's despicable.
- Oh, those little men!
And you want me to get
on my knees to them?
Never.
Have them brought in to me.
One by one.
First item on the agenda is Her
Royal Highness's forthcoming
solo visit to New York.
Looking at the itinerary,
our concern would be that
it seems to be challenging.
Several appointments each day.
- It's just four days, Edward.
- In multiple locations.
We all know the toll a schedule
of engagements can take,
and I'm sure no one here
would wish to see the Princess
of Wales overstretched.
Certainly not at a risk
to her own health.
The Princess of Wales's
health is exemplary.
Mental health.
Not to mention the amount of time
she'd be separated from her children
and the distress that might cause her.
The Princess of Wales is well
aware of what's required of her
and is very much looking
forward to the trip.
I have only one question.
Will you support me?
Of course.
You will always have my
unconditional support.
I am with you.
You can always count on me.
The problem is
the numbers are against you
and your inability to unite
the party behind you
over Europe
- over the economy
- over taxation
Perhaps if your methods
were less confrontational
and if you'd consulted with Cabinet
rather than ruling by decree
your rejection of core
Conservative values,
of moderation
compassion
and your total disregard
for the center ground
leaves you vulnerable.
Exposed. Isolated.
I shall always defend you, Margaret.
Always.
But
as your friend
as an ally
I think I speak for the
majority when I say
the time might have
come for some new blood.
and that it would be in
everyone's best interests
if you were to stand down.
Bastards.
The bloody lot of them.
Murderers.
So
is that it?
Is that the end?
No.
I still have one card to play.
Britain will send more
troops to the Gulf.
The defence secretary Tom
King has said Britain
President Bush called to tell
me he thought it barbaric.
Chancellor Kohl said it was inhumane.
Mikhail Gorbachev reminded
me that ten years ago,
it was Britain holding
democratic elections
whilst Russia staged cabinet coups.
Now it's the other way round.
What they all agree on
is that getting rid of me is
an act of national self-harm,
which is why I've come to you, ma'am,
that together we may act in
the national self-interest.
How might I help?
By dissolving Parliament.
What?
We are on the brink of war.
What kind of signal does
that give to our enemies,
to Saddam,
if we were to change leadership now?
It would make us look
hopelessly weak and divided.
I agree it's not ideal.
Have you consulted
Cabinet on this matter?
I have not, ma'am.
Surely that would be the
normal course of action?
With all due respect,
the decision to dissolve Parliament
is in the gift of the
prime minister alone.
It is entirely within my power
to do this if I see fit.
You are correct.
Technically, it is within
your power to request this.
But we must all ask ourselves
when to exercise those things
that are within our power
and when not to.
Your first instinct as a person,
I think, is often to act.
To exercise power.
Well, that is what
people want in a leader.
To show conviction and strength.
To lead.
I'm merely asking the question.
Whether it is correct
to exercise a power
simply because it is yours to use.
Power is nothing without authority.
And at this moment,
your Cabinet is against you.
Your party is against you.
And if the polls are to be believed,
if you were to call a
general election today,
you would not win.
Which suggests the
country is against you.
Perhaps the time has come
for you to try doing nothing for once.
The difference is
you have power
in doing nothing.
I
will have nothing.
You will have your dignity.
There is no dignity in the wilderness.
Then might I suggest you
don't think of it as that.
Think of it as an opportunity
to pursue other passions.
I have other loves.
My husband, my children
But this job is my only true passion.
And to have it taken from me
stolen from me so cruelly
What hurts the most
is that we had come so far.
And now to have the
opportunity to finish the job
snatched away at the very last
I'm in hell!
And he just hates me.
And wants me to fail.
He tells everyone I'm mad.
They treat me like I'm mad.
And I'm starting to feel mad.
Why did I agree to this trip?
I'm going to fall flat on my face.
All right?
I think so.
Lovely to meet you. Hello.
Lovely to meet you.
Princess Diana, one quick
Over here, please, Lady Di!
I love you, Diana!
Diana! Diana!
Thank you so much.
That's so kind. Thank you.
- Your Royal Highness.
- Hello.
We're so thrilled to have you with us.
This is Linda Correa.
Lovely to meet you, miss.
They told us there was a waiting
list for public housing
A modest hospital on
the wrong side of Harlem
very few American politicians
have ever even thought to visit,
but today this is the final stop
on Princess Diana's whirlwind
tour of New York.
Your Royal Highness.
We established the pediatric
AIDS unit two years ago
to deal with the rising problem
of infants suffering with the disease.
Hello.
Many of the children had been abandoned
or have parents who are addicts
or sick with the virus.
They desperately need foster parents,
but people are too afraid to take them.
Why?
Because of the stigma.
The fear of the disease.
Chants of "We want the
princess" were heard
in New York's Harlem neighborhood today.
A triumphant end to a trip
which has seen the princess
fly solo for the first time,
hitting new heights without
her husband, Prince Charles.
We love her.
She's beautiful. She's warm.
She's perfect.
They don't want her there,
we would love to have her here.
The way she hugged
that boy in the hospital
nearly broke my heart.
Prince Charles is a lucky man.
Princess Di, thank you for
bringing love and vitality
to the Lower East Side!
She knows how to make people feel good,
and that is a God-given
talent. Am I right?
Yeah!
If you care about me as much
as you say you do, sir,
you will let go of these ideas
of breaking it off with Diana.
Why?
Don't you want us to be free, to
live our life in the open?
I do.
But I want to be humiliated
and attacked even less.
That's what'll happen
if you put me in a popularity
contest against her.
I will lose.
- Oh
- I'm an old woman.
I'm a married woman.
Nowhere near as pretty,
nowhere near as radiant.
Someone who looks like me has
no place in a fairy tale.
That's all people want, is a fairy tale.
If they knew the truth about
our feelings for one another,
they'd have their fairy tale.
No!
To be the protagonist of a fairy
tale, you must first be wronged.
A victim.
Which, if we were to become
public, we would make her.
In the narrative laws of fairy
tales versus reality
the fairy tale always prevails.
She will always defeat me
in the court of public opinion.
What is all this, my darling?
What's got into you today?
It's reality, sir.
She's the Princess of Wales.
She's a future queen,
the mother to a future king.
- And I'm just
- My one true love.
A mistress.
Mistress to the Prince of Wales,
just like my great-grandmother
Alice Keppel
was the mistress to the Prince of Wales,
your great-great-grandfather.
And he loved her till the end.
Leave this with me.
Number 10 is a house and
a home as well as an office,
and as Margaret Thatcher
left it after so long,
there was applause to be heard,
and, I'm told, a tear or two
shed among the unseen staff.
Mrs. Thatcher's own voice
had an emotional edge to it.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are leaving Downing
Street for the last time
after 11 and a half wonderful years.
It was the end of an era
dominated by this woman
whose name has become
a political byword.
Eleven years of Thatcherism.
She recovered quickly for one last wave.
But then the Iron Lady's
composure almost broke.
Watch her face as she reaches her car.
Friends say that she is deeply shocked
by the seeming injustice of it all.
Three election victories
and a clear, though insufficient,
majority in the first ballot
rewarded, as she sees it, with the sack.
Mrs. Thatcher, of course, has
a new home now in Dulwich
Martin? Could you ask the prime
Could you ask Mrs. Thatcher
to come and see me?
When I ascended the throne
I was just a girl.
Twenty-five years old.
And I was surrounded
by stuffy, rather patronizing
gray-haired men everywhere
telling me what to do.
And I wanted to say
the way you dealt with all your stuffy,
rather patronizing gray-haired men
throughout your time in office
and saw them all off
Well, they've had their revenge now.
I was shocked by the way in which
you were forced to leave office.
And I wanted to offer my sympathy.
Not just as Queen to prime minister
but woman to woman.
Throughout the time we worked together,
people tended to focus
on our many differences.
Which was lazy and misleading, I think.
And overlooked the many
things we do have in common.
Our generation.
Our Christianity.
Our work ethic.
Our sense of duty.
But above all
our devotion to this
country that we both love.
So with that in mind
The Order of Merit
is not awarded by some
faceless committee.
It comes at the personal
discretion of the sovereign
and is in recognition of
exceptionally meritorious service.
It is limited to just 24 recipients,
no matter their background.
You could be the daughter of a duke.
Or a greengrocer.
What matters is your accomplishments.
And nobody can deny
that this is a very
different country now
to the one inherited by our
first woman prime minister.
Now, it's normally
handed over in the box.
But if you would allow me
Congratulations.
It's kind of you to come.
Why would you say that?
I think even my sternest
critics would concede
that my first solo trip
has not been a disaster,
that I didn't fall
totally flat on my face.
So I can only imagine, hope, that
you've come here to apologize,
to eat your words,
and congratulate me.
Your capacity for self-delusion
never ceases to amaze me.
We're all glad you're
back where you belong
without too much damage done.
You have two sons that need you.
Our sons have easily survived
me being away four days.
I'm not sure one can say
the same for the rest of us.
The exquisite selfishness
of your motives
and the
the calculated vulgarity
of the antics
knowing full well the
headlines they would get.
"Antics"?
Grandstanding like that.
You think we couldn't do that too?
Theatrically hug the wretched
and the dispossessed
and cover ourselves in
glory on the front pages?
I doubt it.
You barely find it in
yourselves to hug your own.
I hug who I want to.
I hug who I love.
Particularly when they are affected
by the selfishness of others
and need cheering up.
- Who are you referring to?
- Camilla.
Why would I care about her?
Because I care about her!
Morning, noon, and
night, I care about her!
And you hurt her.
And if you hurt her
you hurt me.
Camilla is who I want.
That is where my loyalties lie.
- That is who my priority is.
- Not the mother of your children?
Don't bring the boys into this.
All right. Not the woman you married!
I refuse to be blamed any longer
for this grotesque misalliance!
I wash my hands of it!
If you have a complaint
about
not being loved
or appreciated in this marriage
I suggest you take it up with
the people who arranged it.
Sir
He is learning. He is.
He's doing much better.
She tells jokes,
but she starts with the punchline,
which sounds funnier than the joke.
There you are.
Mama.
Well, I'm sure no one told you,
but I made a request through my office
for us to find a moment to
speak together, in private.
I hope you're not wanting to talk here.
No, not here.
Or now. The dogs need feeding.
- The dogs.
- Yes, the dogs.
We'll have to find another time.
Who's hungry?
Are you all hungry?
Who'll tell me about their day?
Hello! Have you had a lovely
day? Have you had fun?
- What are you doing here?
- I hope you don't mind.
I thought we might find a moment alone.
Honestly, both of you!
Both of us?
You and your wife ambushing
me everywhere I go
with anxious looks, wanting to talk.
I do want to talk, Mummy.
We need to talk.
Fine. Let's talk.
Might I request we do it
like privy counsellors?
On our feet to keep it brief.
It's the marriage.
I had a horrible idea we were
going in this direction.
I have done my best.
My very best, and I am suffering!
No, you are not suffering.
We're suffering having
to put up with this!
Let me make something clear.
When people look at you and Diana,
they see two privileged young people
who, through good fortune,
ended up with everything
one could dream of in life.
No one, not a single breathing,
living soul anywhere,
sees cause for suffering.
- They would if they knew.
- Knew what?
They know that you betray your wife
and make no attempt to hide it.
They know that thanks to you,
she has psychological problems
and eats or doesn't eat or whatever
it is she does or doesn't do.
They know you're a
spoiled, immature man,
endlessly complaining unnecessarily,
married to a spoiled, immature woman,
endlessly complaining unnecessarily.
And we are all heartily sick of it.
All anyone wants is for the pair of
you to pull yourselves together,
stop making spectacles of yourselves,
and make this marriage
and your enormously privileged
positions in life work.
And if I want to separate?
You will not separate or divorce
or let the side down in any way.
- And if one day you expect to be king
- I do.
Then might I suggest you
start to behave like one.
- Rabbit, right in the head.
- No!
Have you seen Diana?
Come.
Hello?
Ah.
Oh, please, no.
I, uh, I came to see
if you're all right.
Do you know, I I don't think
I've ever seen inside this room.
We can be a rough bunch in this family.
And I'm sure, on occasion,
to a sensitive creature like you,
it must feel like
Well, let me ask.
What does it feel like?
A cold, frozen tundra.
Right.
Like that, then.
An icy, dark,
loveless cave
with no light
no hope anywhere.
Not even the faintest crack.
I see.
He will come around.
He will.
Eventually.
When he realizes that
he can never have the other one.
Would it help you to realize
we all think he's quite mad?
That might have reassured me once.
But I worry we're past that point now.
Sir.
And if he
If this family can't give me the love
and security that I feel I deserve,
then I believe I have no option
but to break away, officially
and find it myself.
- I wouldn't do that if I were you.
- Why not?
Let's just say I can't see
it ending well for you.
I hope that isn't a threat, sir.
No, not now. Out!
Although we are both
outsiders who married in,
you and I are quite different.
Yes.
I can see that now.
You're right to call me an outsider.
I was an outsider the
day that I met the
the 13-year-old princess who
would one day become my wife.
And after all these years
I still am.
We all are.
Everyone
in this system
is a lost
lonely
irrelevant outsider
apart from the one person,
the only person,
that matters.
She is the oxygen we all breathe.
The essence of all our duty.
Your problem, if I may say
is you seem to be confused
about who that person is.
Come!
Just to say, Your Royal Highnesses,
the photographer is ready.
Thank you.
Everyone, we're going
to do the photograph.
Don't you think the Queen would
be best suited in the middle?
Charles is pushing in.
You stay outside.
No squabbling, please.
Quiet. Quiet.
Ah, yes.
The merriest of Christmas smiles!
Yes.
Three, two, one
Done. Did anyone blink?