The Greatest Episode of "The Crown"

I recently re-watched my favorite episode, which was a Season 3 episode entitled "Margaretology". In this episode Margaret and her husband are touring the U.S., and the people are showering Margaret with adulation. When Queen Elizabeth hewars of this, she gets an unforgtettable look on her face, a look of surprise and wistful envy, as she herself is considered dull and uninspiring by comparison.

At the same time, Britain is facing a serious crisis with its currency. To prevent devaluation, Britain desperately needs financial help from the U.S., now led by LBJ after the death of JFK. The Queen tries everything to get Johnson's cooperation, but nothing works. She even offers to host Johnson at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, an honor never extended to Kennedy. Still Johnson resists, dismissing the offer with a caustic remark about why anyone would want to go hunting in the cold and windy Scotland weather.

Finally the QWueen calls Maragaret and asks her to visit the White House to try to win Johnson over. When Margaret resists, saying she has promised to be with her husband during his photography exhibit in New York at that time, the Queen makes it clear it is not a request, but a royal order.

Margaret does of course go to the White House, and is a huge hit with President Johnson. When she makes an anti-Kennedy remark during the banquet, the room goes silent, until Johnson relieves the tension with a supportive remark. The bond between the two is made clear here, in that they both know what it is like to live in the shadow of another.

After dinner they engage in a "dirty limerick" contest. This was so memorable that I wll quote Margaret's limericks. "There was a young lady from Dallas/ Who used a dynamite stick as a phallus/ They found her vagina/ In North Carolina/ And her asshole in Buckingham Palace." Also, "There was a young woman from Delaware/ Who liked to make love in her underwear/ A terrible prude/ She woud never go nude/ And her baer hips and tits she would never bare."

When Maragaret returns to London following her triumphant tour, she suggests to Elizabeth that she, Margaret, should take on more royal duties. Elizabeth talks this over with her husband, who counsels against it. When Elizabeth informs Margaret that she won't share her duties, the disappointed look on Margaret's face tells the whole story, with no words needed. These two actresses really shine in this episode, Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, and Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth.