The Crown Season Six: A review

By: Jenna Jenkerson

January 26, 2024

Netflix’s critically acclaimed original show The Crown concluded after six seasons. Telling the story of the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, each season shows a different era of the Queen’s life, from events in her early years of reign through the late 1970s-1990s. 

The final season focuses on the time period 1997-2005. The season was split into two parts. Part 1 consists of Diana, Princess of Wales’ emerging romance with Film Producer Dodi Fayed and their subsequent death and its aftermath and Part 2 shows the relationship between Prince William and Catherine Middleton, deaths, and a new marriage in the family.  

Part 1 is entirely focused on the last month of Princess Diana’s life. Episode 3, titled “Dis-Moi Oui” is named after a Jewelry Ad that Fayed saw while he hid from crowds in a jewelry store in Monte Carlo and illustrates the miserable conditions of press-stalking Diana endured every day. Diana grows increasingly desperate as she tries to escape the paparazzi. In Paris, Dodi proposes to Diana with the ring from the ad seen earlier and a shocked Diana rejects him. After the rejection, the two give advice to each other over dinner in their hotel room. In a devastating sequence, Dodi’s father calls, and then the couple leaves for Dodi’s apartment but never makes it.  

Episode 4, simply titled Aftermath, is the standout episode of the entire series. This tearjerker features chilling scenes. Every time a person is told that Diana has died, somber music replaces the dialogue, allowing the audience to home in on the actor’s spectacular physical reactions (especially Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Al-Fayed (Salim Daw). 

One of the unique inclusions of Season 6 is imaginary conversations with the ghosts of Diana and Fayed, Princess Margaret, and younger versions of Elizabeth. A unique idea to add to the show, it is also equally depressing, especially the conversation between Al Fayed and Dodi. Spoken in Arabic after Dodi’s powerful funeral scene, they discuss their complicated relationship, Al Fayed’s love for the West, and the media’s exclusion of news of his death. The ending scene is Al Fayed sobbing and asking his son to not leave him, which just rubs salt into the wound. 

Part 2 of Season 6 focuses on a new millennium for Britain and a new era for the Royal Family. The scary decline in health and the death of the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret following a series of strokes and the death of the Queen Mother a month later has profound effect on the Queen. For the first time, the Queen is emotional, defying the royal protocol of always being stoic and calm in public. It gains her much-needed sympathy after her decline in popularity and the cult-like popularity of Prime Minister Tony Blair shown in Episode 6. However, the season is not without some flaws, such as 23-year- old actor Luther Ford playing 12-year-old Prince Harry in Episode 5, which is extremely awkward and just strange. In the series finale, Elizabeth confronts her mortality and even contemplates abdicating the throne. She also grants Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles permission to marry. The show ends with a long shot of Elizabeth leaving St. George’s Chapel alone. 

The final season of The Crown met expectations. Though some episodes were more lackluster than others, Episodes 8 and 10 proved that the show was still at its best. Outstanding acting performances from West, Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Elizabeth Debicki made Season 6 episodes the series’ bests.