#also hot take the depiction of charles in the crown is too sympathetic

[heir-less]

Charles and/or the Palace are such a fucking idiots for even acknowledging The Crown.

Like, the one time keeping a stiff upper lip would be beneficial and they're doing the opposite. There is no scenario where disavowing The Crown will make Charles look better, but Charles is a perpetual victim with a lack of self-confidence so, of course, he'll be breifing the media throughout The Crown's season 5 run.

Personally, I'm very happy that Charles will have to deal with this at the start of his reign and I'm happy Netflix didn't postpone season 5. The recent surge in support for the monarchy is disgraceful, so I'm happy that there will be some media to encourage some critical thinking skills on that island.

Since Charles is so worried about the damage The Crown will do to his reputation, I'm interested in how he'll try to prove that the depiction of him is inaccurate. The press is already implying that Charles's new role as king will allow him to present a countering narrative:

“You will see the King and the Queen Consort on state business in the UK and abroad and people will have more of an opportunity to compare the real people with the fiction they see in The Crown.

“In the past they didn’t get so much coverage, so in that sense it was harder for people to be able to compare and contrast the drama with the reality.” (x)

I'm not really sure how true the claim that Charles didn't get a lot of direct media coverage before Elizabeth's death is, like, the media war between him and Diana wasn't exactly one-sided and he did a lot of string pulling to help repair his image post-1997. He is one of the most prolific royal members of all time in terms of public work.

Furthermore, I don't think this will go over well because Spoiler Alert! if you think the fictitious Prince Charles depicted in The Crown was bad, wait until you find out about the real Prince/King Charles, who is worse in every single conceivable aspect. If you're comparing Charles from The Crown to Charles IRL, that is a negative comparison. I mean, shit, The Crown hasn't even touched the Black Spider memos or the cash-for-access scandals. I think Charles is just morally corrupt and you can't blame the media for conveying that reality.