How Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Explains Why Prince Harry Is Allowed To Marry Meghan Markle

The world is abuzz with the happy news that England’s Prince Harry is set to marry Suits star Meghan Markle. Of course, in between the tidings of joy and excited tweets, the backlash is already brewing. For many Brits, Meghan Markle is unsuitable for Prince Harry. No, it’s not because of that Hallmark movie she starred in. Meghan Markle is considered a poor match specifically because she is a bi-racial American divorcée.

Now, all of those words rankle a certain close-minded sect of British society, but it’s the divorcée part that presents the biggest legal challenge to the match. Royals aren’t supposed to be allowed to marry divorcées without special dispensation. Of course, you would know that if you binge-watched Netflix’s The Crown last year. A massive plot point in the first season circles around Princess Margaret’s ill-fated love affair with a divorced man and Queen Elizabeth II’s trying choice to block the marriage. And in Season Two, due to debut on Netflix on December 8, we see how this heartache continues to affect Margaret. But The Crown offers us much more than just  context about why Prince Harry’s engagement signals a shift for the Royal Family. The Crown offers the best explanation for why, after decades of hewing close to protocol and procedure, the Queen might finally give her grandson the blessing to wed a dreaded divorcée.

The Crown is a lavish drama, presented with all the pomp and flair of an expansive saga, only the saga unfolding is the making of Queen Elizabeth II, the person. Creator Peter Morgan wants us to examine the human side of Britain’s current monarch which is why he gives small, stressful, family moments as much weight as great historical events. The Crown is essentially a character study of Queen Elizabeth II. Television is a great medium for this type of meticulous portrait since it offers the audience a chance to really spend time and live with a character. And what we learn in Season One, and what continues to be a focus in Season Two, are which specific mistakes haunt the Queen most. 

The Queen has to battle her own insecurities and a beastly London fog in Season One, but the real wars Elizabeth has to wage are those of the heart. She has to figure out how to handle a jealous husband who is unprepared for his unconventional marriage and she has to break her own sister’s heart. One of the biggest threads in Season One is Princess Margaret’s romance with Peter Townsend. The older, married man is a trusted man in their father’s household and truly loves Margaret. In fact, his steady, protective manner is a perfect foil for her moods and fancies. But no matter how happy Elizabeth is for Margaret as a sister, as a sovereign she feels it is her duty to impede this match. It’s not just a matter of protocol — back then it was thought that an improper love match could ruin the crown. For context, The Crown retells the story of Elizabeth’s own uncle, King Edward VIII, who had to abdicate the throne on the eve of international conflict because he wanted to marry an American divorcée, Wallis Simpson. The scandal shook the stability of the nation, and Edward and Wallis haunt Elizabeth’s reign in the first season. Sometimes, they seem like vultures waiting to pounce on her failures, and other times, a warning for what happens when you neglect your duty. 

The whole debate about whether or not a member of the royal family should be allowed to marry a divorcée takes up a huge chunk of time on The Crown Season One, and it will likely take up a bit of Season Three. The next season, in early stages of production, is rumored to set up the Prince Charles/Camilla Parker Bowles/Diana Spencer triangle. You can crack open a history book, or a vintage tabloid, to see what came of that situation. (Okay, I’ll fill you in.) Charles fell in love with Camilla Parker Bowles, a married woman, and was forced to end the relationship to marry someone more suitable. That second, unhappy marriage to Princess Diana ended in adultery, scandal, and divorce. After Diana’s death, Charles finally wed a divorced Camilla Parker Bowles with the Queen’s blessing.

The point The Crown seems to be making? Well, that blocking love matches because one party is divorced looks bad, but what happens after is much worse. Spoiler alert for Season Two: Princess Margaret is not doing well. She’s drinking too much, consumed by depression, and ripe to make some very bad choices for herself. The scandals that follow her after splitting from Townsend are just as bad, if not worse, than a potential marriage would have been. Worse, her relationship with her sister is poisoned forever.
The Crown presents Queen Elizabeth II as a woman tortured by her inability to make her loved ones happy. This isn’t just with regard to Margaret’s love life, but with her strained relationships with all her family members. With that in mind, it makes tremendous sense that the Queen to has allowed Prince Harry to wed a divorced American actress. Times have changed, and the Royal Family has evolved to meet the changing social mores, but more importantly, Queen Elizabeth II is not repeating the mistakes of her past. Sure, The Crown is a fictional portrayal of these real-life people. It’s a soap opera. But it is also a nuanced, human portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. It’s focused on how her public choices affected the private lives of the people she loved. So from that angle, The Crown can almost be seen as an emotional saga leading up to this moment: when the formerly stodgy Royal Family chooses real love over antiquated notions of duty.

(But seriously, I vividly remember watching the first season and realizing that the queen was totally going to let Prince Harry marry Meghan Markle.)