There’s no question that a lot happened in the royal family in 2002. In addition to Princess Margaret’s death in February, the Queen Mother died in March, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Golden Jubilee, Kate Middleton participated in a racy fashion show, and last but not least, Kate and Prince William started dating and moved in together.
Now, I understand that “Hope Street” marks The Crown’s penultimate episode, so there’s a natural pressure to jam in as many stories as possible before the series ends. But what we ended up with was a giant, royal mess: Not only does “Hope Street” cover all of the aforementioned milestones, but it also anachronistically tosses in Operation Paget, a two-year-long British inquiry into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed instigated by Mohamed Al Fayed. In actuality, the inquiry was conducted between 2004 and 2006.
The reappearance of Salim Daw’s Mohamed Al Fayed just feels forced, and no matter which angle you approach it from, there are problems galore. Yes, Mohamed Al Fayed held many unfounded conspiracy theories about Diana and Dodi’s deaths, but at the same time, The Crown continues to portray him as a racist caricature.
“Hope Street” opens with Mohamed doing a TV interview, part of his crackpot-theory media blitz where he angrily dismisses a two-year French investigation that concluded the car crash that killed Diana and Dodi was an accident. He continues to insist that Diana and Dodi were murdered by the “Dracula British royal family” (the “Dracula” part is not a lie, apparently!) because Diana was pregnant with a Muslim child. As a result of Mohamed’s claims, a new British police inquiry into the crash is opened, called Operation Paget. It’s the last thing Prince William, who’s just trying to get on at university, needs.
The good news is he’s just learned his crush, Kate Middleton, is newly single and modeling in a university fashion show that evening. Plus, momager Carole Middleton has ensured her daughter will be showing off her legs. (“It’s our duty to make use of the assets God has given us,” she advises Kate. GROAN.)
Kate shows off not only her legs but pretty much everything else as The Crown re-creates every inch of her now-infamous sheer dress. The whole room goes nuts when Kate steps out onto the catwalk. William is captivated.
But whatever effect Kate’s look has had on the future king, he won’t have much time to indulge in it: The 101-year-old Queen Mother has just passed away, and as soon as William and Kate declare their deep like for each other post-fashion show — which they at least get to seal with a kiss — they’re interrupted by William’s protection officer. Operation Tay Bridge is in effect, and William has to leave.
So much for being a typical university student with a girlfriend: Not only does William have to mourn his great-grandmother, but now he also needs to provide a written statement for the Operation Paget inquiry. This while overhearing his father submit to a line of questioning that includes, “Did you ever contribute to any plans to assassinate the Princess of Wales?”
Just so we’re clear, a 20-year-old had to listen to an investigator ask his father if he planned to kill his mother. No, that wouldn’t screw you up for life at all. (Prince Charles was interviewed for the inquiry in 2005, with Princes William and Harry briefly interviewed as well.)
If that weren’t enough, during their weekly meeting, Prime Minister Tony Blair encourages the Queen to up the royal family’s charisma factor for the upcoming Golden Jubilee. In essence, put William out front because he’s “young, modern, sympathetic,” and, most importantly, he has “enormous star quality.”
The Queen then summons William to Buckingham Palace, initially intending to ask her grandson to take center stage at the Jubilee. But the more they talk, and the more William shares how he’s chafing under the pressure of being the future king, the more Elizabeth has a change of heart. Instead, she permits William to “stay away.” She appreciates that even she once had a few years of a “normal life,” and she wants the same for her grandson before duty overtakes every facet of his existence. It’s covered only briefly in the first season of The Crown, but during the first few years of her marriage, Elizabeth Mountbatten was just a young naval wife living in Malta. She went grocery shopping, got her hair done locally, and her home was called Villa Guardamangia.
Still, the Queen is excited to hear more about William’s brand-new girlfriend, Kate. Even if she clumsily insults the Middleton family by praising their home county of Berkshire as the place “where [they] keep most of [their] horses” and can’t understand why commoners prefer to eat their meals in the kitchen.
With William’s Golden Jubilee plans in place — he’s going to watch the festivities on television with the Middleton family — it’s now time for Commissioner John Stevens to reveal his findings from Operation Paget. Because in The Crown’s universe, a multi-year investigation can be completed in just a matter of weeks, and miraculously, two years before it even began!
In short, every one of Mohamed Al Fayed’s outlandish claims is debunked. For those in the back: Princess Diana was not engaged and had no intention of getting engaged to Dodi Fayed. Forensic tests carried out from the blood on the car confirmed that she was not pregnant. And, no, British security services didn’t tamper with the blood sample of the driver, Henri Paul.
Once again, most of the blame is placed at the feet of Henri Paul, who was indeed intoxicated and was driving at twice the legal speed limit. Stevens also mentions the regrettable, albeit undeniable, fact that no one was wearing a seatbelt. Although Commissioner Stevens is sympathetic to Mohamed Al Fayed’s deep personal heartbreak, he reiterates that his conspiracy theories have no basis in fact and that “the princess should finally be allowed to rest in peace.” Hear, hear.
Mohamed then reads a combative statement to waiting reporters, accusing the British people of a “witch hunt” (ooof) and announcing that he’s being forced to leave the United Kingdom after a “campaign of persecution.” In reality, Al Fayed went into exile in Switzerland in 2003, well before the British inquiry into Diana’s and Dodi’s deaths even began. Honestly, this scene, like many in this episode, feels like The Crown’s weak attempt to shoehorn in a single mention of how many minorities felt subjugated by the British royal family. In the days following her death in September 2022, Queen Elizabeth’s role as the face of white supremacy was out in full force. And since The Crown couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) cover the broad shadow of colonialism that will always haunt the royals in these final episodes, at least the series could have Mohamed Al Fayed be the voice of dissent. After all, he chased after British citizenship for years, only to be denied.
While the Queen prepares for the Golden Jubilee, Mohamed spews endless vitriol, rebuking the British people for not deposing the royal family and for barely holding a candle to the Egyptians: Five thousand years ago, while the Egyptians were building the pyramids, the English were “shitting in caves.” (Well, he’s not wrong…)
But who’s got time for solving centuries of royal family-sanctioned racism when Prince William and Kate Middleton are celebrating a big relationship milestone? William has arrived at the Middleton family’s Berkshire home to offer running commentary on the Golden Jubilee’s televised festivities. Bullet points: Stick to dogs and horses when chatting with the Queen, and the only way to know if she likes her prime ministers is if their meetings run long. (Big reveal: Tony Blair’s meetings are short.)
The more he talks about his “inscrutable” grandmother, however, the more William better understands the job awaiting him. One day, he will be responsible for “maintaining the mystery” while accepting that “a life in service is not a sacrifice, but an honor.” That and he’s feeling a sense of FOMO. He then hightails it out of Berkshire over to Buckingham Palace, where the Queen is pleasantly relieved to see her grandson joining her on the balcony. (Note how the cheers rise several decibels once William arrives.)
William may have ditched his girlfriend that day for the sake of duty, but the episode concludes with one of the most groundbreaking changes pertaining to a future monarch: He invites Kate to move into a flat on Hope Street with him and two other friends ahead of their next year at St. Andrews. Like young Elizabeth and Philip did in Malta, William and Kate can now live an everyday life together, complete with rainy-day grocery store runs.
As William and Kate settle into their new home, the Queen offers her approval in the form of a housewarming gift: A framed photo of her and Philip (in the form of Claire Foy and Matt Smith) from their Malta days, with a note expressing her hope that the picture will help make William’s new abode his own “Villa Guardamangia.” You can’t get more of a blessing for William and Kate’s eventual marriage than that.
Crown Jewels
• Heh, the Middletons are Thatcherites!
• What a Girl Wants fans may have noticed that Mohamed Al Fayed’s cold-open interviewer is played by Christina Cole, Amanda Bynes’s snooty almost-step-sister.
