As The Crown moves towards its end, laden not just with the burden of Peter Morgan’s ambitions but the weight of the countless storms it has stirred up in bone china tea cups, we see a Queen haunted. It is not, praise the Netflix gods, Diana’s ghost that’s plaguing her this time (that particular dramatic device has been left behind in Part One), instead, it’s the what-ifs and the paths not taken.
Who would she have become if she had lived as Elizabeth Windsor, rather than reigning as Elizabeth II, Imelda Staunton’s character ponders. If she had spent less time on formalities, more on family? And what if she decided to step down altogether, like Uncle David? Would a grinning Tony Blair (Bertie Carvel) fill the power vacuum, orchestrating his own coronation complete with a choirboy rendition of D:Ream’s “Things Can Only Get Better”? That particular scenario, brought to life in a fever dream-style sequence, is perhaps haunting in a different meaning of the word – the “can’t erase from your mind despite your most strenuous efforts” kind.
