Review: The Crown Dissected

It seems like everyone and their grandmother has watched the Netflix hit The Crown. And if they hadn't before COVID-19 shut down the world, they've probably watched it now. I've been interested since the beginning and not long after finishing season three, I picked up Hugo Vickers' book The Crown Dissected. I was really interested to see what the showrunners got right and what they embellished on...or got just plain wrong.

Here's the book's description:

Hugo Vickers is an acknowledged authority on the British Royal Family. He has commented on royal matters on television and radio since 1973 and worked as historical adviser on a number of films. He is the author of books on the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Andrew of Greece (Prince Philip's mother) and Queen Mary all of whom are featured in the popular Netflix show, The Crown.

Since November 2016, Peter Morgan has presented millions of viewers with the first 3 seasons of The Crown, positioned as an accurate, dramatized portrayal of the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Now, in The Crown Dissected, Vickers separates fact from fiction in all 3 seasons of the series. Episode-by-episode analysis dissects the plots, characterization and historical detail in each storyline. Vickers tells us what really happened and what certainly did not happen.

It's a must-read for fans of the show, and proves that more than a little artistic license has gone into the making of The Crown.

I know some history of the royal family and England in general but not a ton. So, I wasn't always sure when the show started to veer away from the truth. Every once and awhile I'd look up what actually happened after finishing an episode but never found anything super wrong. And, I mean, I knew I was watching a fictionalized story. I expected it to be faithful to history but I knew the conversations between Elizabeth and Philip, for example, were always going to be made up. 

I can definitely understand that it would seem to Vickers, whose job it is to know the history of the royal family, the show took far too many risks and made errors that he could not overlook. I get it. When it comes to historical fiction in books or on screen, I want it to be truthful, not embellished like, say, Braveheart (it's top of mind for me...I was in Scotland in March and learned a lot about the true story of William Wallace). But Vickers sort of seemed to take it like a personal attack when the writers got things "wrong" and he constantly mentioned how the writers' storytelling when it came to the history of the royals was weak compared to telling stories of the politics of the time. It seemed a bit petty, to be honest.

This is also a very small book. Each episode is broken down in just a few pages. I'm not saying I need a massive amount of information but there were times when I wanted Vickers to go into more detail. I think too, I found the writing to be quite choppy which didn't help with the short chapters.

There are a lot of interesting tidbits to be learned in Vickers' book, however. I never really thought about the importance of certain seals or crests, nor would I have noticed if a sash was too red or wide or if someone was missing a medal. In Season 1, Episode 7, the Queen requests a tutor so she can become more educated. Turns out that's completely false. I remember wondering in Season 3 who an older gentleman was that seemed to dine with the immediate family quite often. Turns out that was the Duke of Gloucester who had been dead for some time and would not have been experiencing much of what his character did in that season. 

While I'm glad I gave The Crown Dissected a shot, I'm not sure I'd exactly recommend Hugo Vickers' book to others. I think he certainly has a case in presenting the truth and historical fact compared to a fictionalized version of events on the TV screen, but I wasn't a fan of how he went about it in his writing.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, Firefly Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*