Netflix The Crown series 4 starts tonight...who will be watching it?

I would say that it was probably worse for those two young boys because their lives and sorrows were subject to intense world media attention.
The walk they had to endure following their mother’s coffin was excruciating and to my mind wrong.

Would add that world media did not hold back on lurid details and events which our media had always done.
We have learned a lot from continental cousins over the years who thought we knew these details too, but it was always news to us.

Iam64

harris27 and Whitewave2 both have it right imo. All families are dysfunctional but some more dysfunctional than others. How can anyone live a 'normal' life (whatever that is, as Prince Charles may say) living the life of privilege, public service and absence of privacy. So many people give themselves permission to make the most unkind comments about them. I know we fund the family but given the increased reduction in the funds for the wider family its not a bad repayment. The Queen has given all her adult life to 'duty'.

Jaberwok - can you explain why you believe that losing their mother as adolescents was in any way 'easier than the children of ordinary families'.

Re your last question. I think it may be because jaberwok is rather anti Harry and Diana......

And I might add that was one of the most insensitive comments I’ve seen on GN that having a wealthy family means the untimely death of a parent is somehow easy.

Lucca, thanks for that.
Maybe Jaberwok won't come back to help us understand why she reaches the conclusion it's easier to be bereaved a a teenager if you're from a wealthy family.
I find that suggestion insensitive, unkind and in no way supported by any research into the impact of losing a parent at that stage of life. When I was working, research was clear in finding that the death of a parent during adolescence was a particularly difficult thing to deal with. Depression and anxiety in adult life was more likely.
Silverlining's comment that the walk behind their mother's coffin was excruciating to watch, never mind be part of is correct. Prince Harry has talked about how awful it was and wishes they had never been expected to do that.
Duty, tradition and spectacular displays are part of life in the RF. Emotional intelligence doesn't seem to have been part of the decision on involving the children in that walk. I suppose the entire family was in shock and dealing with their own grief and the complex feelings that must have followed Diana's death. It's still hard to imagine why anyone much less a family group who were supported and advised by others could decide this was in any way ok.

Having read the latest book on the two princes it seems that nobody could decide whether or not the boys should attend or not. Apparently, Prince Philip took the initiative and suggested that the boys should walk with him, their father and uncle. It was an awful thing to do although I gather Philip was trying to be kind. Poor wee boys.

I agree that the scene showing a clueless Diana not knowing the correct order of deference was ridiculous. She grew up on the Sandringham estate, the daughter of an aristocratic family and her grandmother was a lady in waiting to the Queen Mother.

I'm up to episode three and although I'm enjoying it I don't find it as addictive as the previous three series.

And the Queen is Godmother to Earl Spencer

Isn't it amazing that the forum police are alive and well on here demanding explanations and acceptable puctuation!! I have absolutely no intentions of doing either! Whether I approved or disapproved of Diana or her son is actually none of the business of any other poster on here!. Annie and Jane10 are right about Diana's connection with be RF, so not too much of a shock for her when marrying PC as she was familiar with all that it would entail. Unlike Katherine! Recovery from trauma is never easy, a point I made perfectly clear, but inevitably having access to the best medical help, education, recreation facilities army position (without the necessary qualifications) must be easier than relying on social services and a moderate income.

Not forgetting Diana’s brother in law was private secretary to the Queen and her father had been equerry to the Queen

Exactly! The Spencers are a branch of the (Spencer) Churchill family. This goes back to the death of the first Duke of Malborough dying without a male heir. Though I'm sure most people on here know that! Like they clearly do about Prince John.

The most significant contributor to recovery from childhood trauma and bereavement is the presence of a loving, stable parent and extended family. Children who "rely on social services and a moderate income" can do very well. The RF is lots of things but warm, consistent, calm, emotionally intelligent and available -maybe not.

I can forgive your punctuation but not your insensitivity towards bereaved children. Difficult to tell if you are saying this for effect or if you truly think that there is a difference in grieving in different income families.

I'm sure their father, judging from information at the time did his level best to provide the best care for both Princes, the Queen certainly did, (the reason she didn't return to London immediately) which is mirrored in the affection her grandsons held for her, admittedly now perhaps only one of them, which of course is very sad. They certainly had a stable home and extended family on both sides. And yes their grandfather Prince Phillip was trying to be kind as was Earl Spencer. It was reminiscent of JFK's funeral when his children followed their fathers funeral. That then very little boy saluting his father's coffin was a real tear jerker!

Jaberwok- oh yes. That was awful. The poor wee thing.

I watched it all and was enthralled. The Thatcher character seemed like she was both having a stroke and was being strangled at the same time. A tad overacted methinks.

But yes, loved it!

Anyone who questions what someone else has written is not “forum police” just as on political threads anyone who doesn’t praise the current government is not a “loony leftie”.

Anyway what do people think of the acting? Cinematography ? Directing ? screenplay ?

As a drama I'm watching it but feeling pretty annoyed at the inaccuracies. Speculate on the conversations we will never know took place maybe, but get actual historical events spot on.I've just watched the episode about Michael Fagans Palace intrusion. At the end it gives a summary of what happened to him.Yet earlier it shows him going to talk to his MP. Totally inaccurate as he wasn't a Conservative but a Labour MP who switched to Social Democrat.It is things like that that are really annoying me.

I'm appreciating this thread -- as an American- And plan on watching the series again, keeping in mind the facts/corrections that many of you mentioned-

I think from a creative license standpoint, this recent season is darker/colder to represent the shadow of Diana's death-

Can anyone explain the Diana/deer connection? Because there was also a Diana/deer connection in the movie The Queen-

The young deer is a beautiful vulnerable creature caught in the headlights.

In the movie the Queen shooed the deer away in an effort to prevent it from being killed and in the series the Queen seems to support the killing of it-

The Queen was brought up in a family where she was expected to love animals, especially dogs and horses, and at the same time take pleasure in killing animals such as deer.

No wonder she was so conflicted.

I thought Diana moved into Clarence House to live with the Queen mother before here marriage and not Buck House as shown.
Also the Queen's pearls continue to annoy me. Even on the rare occasions when Olivia C wears three strings they're nasty stiff ones that are too short.

Many children who ride ponies used to also join the hunt. Its popularity declined prior to the ban on hunting with dogs, alongside growing awareness and sensitivity to animal welfare.

Hunting deer was part of the need not to allow the deer population to get too big. The alternative would be to re-introduce wolves so nature could maintain a sustainable deer population

I dislike blood sports and favour natural methods but I can see that wolves wouldn't only cull deer, they'd be after easy pickings like sheep and cattle.

I understand your feelings varian and share them but, I don't see loving dogs and horses, ensuring their welfare is always as good as it can be, is inconsistent with blood sports. Well,not for the Queen and people who move in her circles. It would be for me (and I expect for varian)

Jane10 I thought Diana moved into Clarence House to live with the Queen mother before her marriage and not Buck House as shown.

I'm pretty sure you're right! There are loads of mistakes in the episodes I've watched.