The Crown’s final episode is now available on Netflix.
**Warning – contains full spoilers for the final episode of The Crown season 6**
It has long been confirmed, as The Crown has got ever closer to the present day, that it would never catch up with current events, and that it would instead end around 2005, and the wedding of Charles and Camilla.
However, earlier this year the show’s creator Peter Morgan confirmed that he had changed the script for the final ever episode in light of the Queen’s death last year.
He told Variety: “We’d all been through the experience of the funeral. So because of how deeply everybody will have felt that, I had to try and find a way in which the final episode dealt with the character’s death, even though she hadn’t died yet.”
So how does the final episode of The Crown address Queen Elizabeth II’s death? Read on for everything you need to know.
Does The Crown show Queen Elizabeth II’s death?
It doesn’t. Despite Peter Morgan having admitted that he changed the final episode’s script following the Queen’s death, he has not changed his plan to end the show’s timeline in 2005.
The final episode ends shortly after Charles and Camilla’s wedding, and it does not include any flash-forwards to 2022 or the present day.
In a Variety interview earlier this year, it was revealed by the co-chief executive officer of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, that when the series was first being developed there had been discussion about concluding it with the Queen’s death, but that she effectively outlived the show.
Meanwhile, Morgan said that ending the show in 2005 was “the cutoff to keep it historical, not journalistic”, adding that it’s “dignified” to stop “almost 20 years before the present day”.
How does The Crown address Queen Elizabeth’s death?
Despite The Crown not showing the Queen’s death, it does address it in a substantial way during the finale. This is achieved by having a central storyline be both Elizabeth and Philip preparing for their own funerals, with Elizabeth getting involved in the planning for Operation London Bridge.
While Philip is shown to be “stimulated” by planning for his funeral, Elizabeth is more skeptical and emotional about the prospect.
During a planning meeting, the Queen later says that her preference for a funeral would be a “quiet service in Scotland, out of sight and over in 20 minutes”. However, her advisors note that people will want to celebrate her reign, as the longest-serving monarch in history.
The Queen asks to speak with the Piper to the Sovereign, who suggests the song Sleep, Dearie Sleep for her funeral – this also serving as the title of the episode, and indeed the song that was played during her funeral in real life.
Throughout the rest of the episode the Queen is seen reflecting on her life (including some insightful, imagined conversations with the younger versions of herself, played by Olivia Colman and Claire Foy).
During this time she considers making a speech, announcing she will abdicate and let Charles ascend the throne. However, she later changes her mind.
After Charles and Camilla’s wedding, Philip and Elizabeth talk in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, and he expresses his doubts that those who will come after her are “remotely ready” to take on the crown, saying Elizabeth was “born ready” and that she is one of a kind. He says they won’t have to worry about that, as once someone else takes over, they will be buried in that very chapel.
He says they are a “dying breed” and that while everyone will continue on “pretending all is well”, in truth the “party’s over” when it comes to the monarchy, expressing that “the system no longer makes sense”.
Philip leaves, and Sleep, Dearie Sleep plays as Elizabeth acknowledges the women she has previously been, before leaving the chapel on her own.
The Crown season 6 is available to stream in full on Netflix now. Seasons 1-5 are also available now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto see what’s on tonight.
Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.