The Crown Recap: Season 3, episode 10

Carry On

Contentment is dull, and Tony and I are anything but dull.

Margaret to friend Anne

In the tenth episode and Season 3 finale, The Crown returns to one of its central relationships: the Queen and her sister, Princess Margaret. We haven’t touched down on Margaret since her fluke of foreign policy success in episode 2. Since then we’ve had appearances and classic quips, but with “Cri de Coeur” we see Margaret spinning out of control, reaching for anything and anyone to provide steady footing.

Elizabeth arrives at Kensington Palace at noon to find her sister just waking up. Bits of glass literally crunch beneath her shoes as the Queen makes her way over to the bed. Lighting a cigarette, Margaret explains the trashed room is a byproduct of an “exchange of views” between her and Tony. She tells Elizabeth that her husband has “moved on to the next one…he can’t help himself.” That line is worth noting because it’s really the only time we hear about Tony’s multiple affairs. Throughout the episode we see him with one girlfriend, and even with her he is conflicted over Margaret. From what I have read, Tony was repeatedly unfaithful. 

Next we see Tony driving Lucy Lindsay-Hogg to his country house in Sussex. The bathroom is wallpapered in newspaper headlines of the royal family’s various scandals through the year. Tony calls it “the rogue’s gallery,” telling Lindsay he likes to remind Margaret her family has as many “skeletons in the closet as anyone else’s.” (Remember this when he tells the Queen, “anything for my family.”) He continues talking about his wife to his girlfriend, saying that Margaret considers the house “as ugly, misshapen, and common as me.” Red flag Lucy!

With those words, we’re right back with the Tony from season 2, trying desperately to win the affection of his cold-hearted and social-climbing mother. Tony did indeed have polio as a child, and allegedly only his sister came to visit him in the hospital during his year-long stay. In my recap of season 2, I noted how Tony and Margaret’s identity struggles would be their undoing. We see Tony’s insecurities from that time still alive and well. 

When Lucy remarks that Margaret may divorce him if she fell in love with someone else, Tony is totally taken aback. “What makes you think that will happen?” His tone clearly implies that would hurt him, that he’s still emotionally invested in Margaret. But what are the motivations of this emotion? Is it out of true love for Margaret, or would it be too harmful to his vanity for her to be with another man? 

At a London party, Margaret visits with her friend and lady-in-waiting, Anne Tennant about Tony’s affair with “the thing.” Margaret tells her she won’t take the public humiliation lying down. When Anne suggests they live apart, Margaret gives her the rundown of how their relationship works:

Tony and I will never let go of one another. War is our love. A brutal fight to the death is our mating dance.

Well, this certainly tracks from what we’ve seen. 

“Contentment is dull, and Tony and I are anything but dull.” 

Remember, these are the dazzling ones. They will go to great lengths to avoid that death sentence: dullness. 

Meanwhile, a news bulletin on the television over breakfast gives an update on the political situation, and Philip’s response feels eerily apropos for today: 

What a mess. Can you remember a time when the country was in worse shape? When one had as little confidence in one’s leaders? One wakes up in the morning flinching. how could matters get any worse? What more could possibly go wrong? And then you come down to breakfast you see the newspapers, and you realize…they’ve done it again. 

At least you had that walk downstairs, Philip! We’re just a few clicks away. 

In the next scene at Margaret’s birthday party we get more of an explanation through Elizabeth. This is the second time we’ve seen the Queen discussing a conversation with the Prime Minister with extended family members- I wonder if there is any real life basis for this? It doesn’t seem in character for her, but it does give us some needed exposition: Heath has been forced to resign because he was unable to form a coalition with labor or the unionists, much to Elizabeth’s relief- more his company than his politics, she says. So now Wilson leads a minority government. I don’t understand any of that really, but thankfully we move on quickly with Margaret’s clinking of the glass. 

Elizabeth’s face says it all as we anticipate what is about to leave Margaret’s mouth. She points out that her husband isn’t there to celebrate with her, but the real disaster comes when both Philip and the Queen Mum go off on tangents talking positively about Tony. This understandably pushes Margaret over the edge and she storms out of the room angry that they “always take his side” instead of supporting her. Philip and Elizabeth respond true to form. “We’re sick to the death of you and have sympathy for him,” and “She’ll be all right in a minute,” respectively. 

She’s not all right, but she does forge ahead by taking her friend Anne up on her offer of joining them for a weekend house party. On the train there, Margaret finds a note from Tony in her book: “you look like a cheap pantomime dame.” It was rather shocking to read that Tony allegedly left multiple notes like these for Margaret to find. It’s a small but powerful glimpse into their marriage, and it reveals how lost and rejected Margaret feels in their relationship.

You may recall her telling Elizabeth in season 2 (when her sister was trying to caution her over Tony) that “Tony defines me- makes sense of me.” When she looks to Tony for her worth, she finds herself wanting. Add that to her feelings of betrayal from her family members, and you have a woman in a vulnerable position to bring someone like Roddy into her life. 

At the house party, Margaret lounges by the pool, and spots Roddy Llewelyn. Before long, she’s buying him swim trunks and having a cringeworthy exchange about his “gardening” skills. We see them talking, laughing, and entertaining the room throughout the weekend. When Anne is worried that “this could all come back to haunt us,” her husband Colin points out that Roddy is a carbon copy of Tony, only younger. 

Tony visits Elizabeth at Windsor Castle to show her some designs for memorabilia to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee (“anything for my family,” he says). When Elizabeth implores him to patch things up with Margaret, Tony replies that he had been giving the matter some serious thought, until he “heard the latest developments.” While we can raise our eyebrows at Margaret being with Roddy, it’s a bit rich coming from Tony. 

Margaret and Roddy travel to Mustique, and their arrival is both hilarious and awful, as we see Margaret reject greeting a group of local people “I don’t want any of that” and snap at Roddy for calling her “darling” in public, that he’s just a “boy who has to be taught everything.” Clearly she’s still missing Tony.

We’re treated to some gorgeous views on the Caribbean island as well as Margaret carefree and in love, or at least mostly carefree. There’s a moment where she looks over and “sees” Tony sitting in a chair on the front porch with a look of condescending disapproval on his face. 

On the beach, Margaret poetically describes happiness as a “fickle creature” who has been “elusive” to her…”but here she is, finally sitting among us.” Roddy of course doesn’t quite follow her train of thought. Soon the paparazzi are snapping pics and the incrementing photos end up on the front page for all the world to see. The Queen Mum reacts with quite a bit more fury over these photos than she did her daughter telling her that Tony was having an affair. One doesn’t have to wonder why Margaret was struggling a bit with feeling secure in herself. 

Lucy, Tony’s girlfriend, asks him if he’s happy with the news that will finally give him an acceptable reason for divorce. Ever complex, he says, “Do you expect me to jump up and down with joy? She’s my wife, the mother of my children… Was there anything else?” While showing his loyalty to Margaret (obviously something we’re all for), he also shows his cruelty to Lindsay.

The situation comes to a head when Margaret and Roddy arrive home to Kensington Palace to find Tony waiting for them in the living room. Margaret and Tony explode on each other, and Roddy looks as though he’s ready to get out of there. They each accuse the other of having issues from being “overlooked,” Margaret as the perpetual #2 without a clear purpose in her role and Tony as the unloved “lesser” son with a limp. When Roddy makes a run for it, Tony screams that if Margaret follows, he will divorce her. 

Following that we have a poignant scene between Wilson and Elizabeth bringing their arc of unlikely friendship to a close. When Wilson, who turned out to be a “sentimental old Royalist,” tells the Queen he has Alzheimers, she is crushed. She tells him she’d be delighted by a dinner at Downing Street, and Wilson, beside himself, humbly accepts the honor only ever previously bestowed on Winston Churchill. The motif of “pentimenti” is especially apparent this season in the relationship between the sovereign and prime minister where for both there was certainly more than meets the eye.

Martin Charteris brings news of Margaret overdosing on nitrazepam, and the Queen Mum responds by insisting it was more a “cri de coeur” or cry for help than a true suicide attempt. 

When asked about this directly by Elizabeth, Margaret says, “I don’t know, possibly.” Margaret has felt so lost: uncertain in her role as “princess,” rejected by her husband, and apparently uninterested in being a mother. When Elizabeth tells her, sincerely and with visible emotion, that she excels in her role as sister and that she is the most important person in her life, it gives Margaret the strength she needs to “carry on,” as she says.

And she tells Elizabeth she must carry on as well. Season 3 has explored the role of the monarchy over time and changing attitudes of the public, and on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee, 25 years on the throne, Elizabeth questions her role. Margaret tells her that the monarchy “papers over the cracks,” that Elizabeth “cannot flinch,” that she “must hold it all together” so that the cracks do not become “chasms.” And in the closing montage preparing for the jubilee, we see that Elizabeth must ultimately do that alone. There is only one queen, Margaret says. It is Elizabeth’s duty, her burden to bear. It is heavy, and as not only Elizabeth, but every member of the family well knows, it is costly.

Read the next post for overall thoughts on Season 3 as well as what to watch next!

Odds and Ends

Memorable Soundtrack Moment:

Lots of good soundtrack moments in this episode, but I’m going with “Squeeze Box” by The Who from the pool scene at the house party.

Memorable Line:

So many in a Margaret episode! A few not yet mentioned:

How can he be thrilled with me when he’s so thrilled with himself?

Margaret

Have we got to the end of the answer yet? I’m rather regretting asking.

Margaret

Colin and Anne Tennant

Colin and Anne Tennant, the couple who host the weekend house party, seem to have a very interesting story. I may try reading Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown.