The Crown Season 4 Moments Fans Didn't Get To See
The tumultuous political climate in 1980s Britain provides The Crown season 4 with plenty of historical moments to mine for drama including the assassination of Lord Mountbatten, Margaret Thatcher's refusal to sign apartheid sanctions against South Africa, and Michael Fagan breaking into Buckingham Palace and making his way to Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom. Add in the introduction of Princess Diana and her troubled marriage to Prince Charles, and the series covers quite a lot of ground in just 10 episodes. Still, there are plenty of significant moments that fans didn't get to see on The Crown season 4.
In a Reddit thread started by reyloislove, fans of the royal drama are sharing the public and private events they wish had been dramatized in season 4. And while everyone has their own ideas about which moments should have made the cut, the biggest takeaway from the comments is that there simply wasn't enough of Erin Doherty's wonderfully prickly Princess Anne.
Everything from her marriage troubles to her decision not to accept royal titles for her children was left out of the series. Still, the Princess Anne moment that viewers wanted to see the most — her kidnapping attempt — actually should have happened last season, but hey, The Crown has never shied away from flashbacks in the past. Read on to discover why that Princess Anne moment, and other significant royal events, may have been left out of season 4.
The Crown viewers wanted to see Princess Anne's unforgettable response to almost being kidnapped
On March 20, 1974, a man named Ian Ball attempted to kidnap Princess Anne, but she politely declined. The harrowing event took place shortly after a charity movie screening, when Ball blocked her chauffeur's car and then attempted to kidnap the princess. In an interview with Michael Parkinson in the 1980s, Anne recounted how she managed to keep her head in such a dangerous situation, according to The Evening Standard.
"We had a discussion about where — or where not — we were going to go... I said I didn't think I wanted to go," she said. "I was scrupulously polite because I thought it would be silly to be too rude at that stage. So I mean, [it was] a fairly low key discussion about the fact that I wasn't going to go anywhere and wouldn't it be much better if he just went away and we all would forget about it?"
The incident really should have been included in season 3, but since Anne did give an extensive interview about her ordeal in the '80s, viewers are right to decry such a pivotal moment in the princess' life being left out of the series entirely.
The 1981 attempted assassination of Queen Elizabeth II didn't make it into The Crown season 4
Being a member of the British royal family can often be a dangerous business, and it's easy to imagine The Crown writers having intense debates about which dramatic moments to include each season. In season 4, both the IRA's murder of Lord Mountbatten and Fagan's Buckingham Palace break-in were moments that fed into the larger storyline of Thatcher and the Queen's relationship. Still, it's easy to imagine an alternate version of the fourth season kicking off with the 1981 assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth's life.
On Oct. 14, 1981, teenager Christopher John Lewis attempted to assassinate the Queen during a visit to New Zealand, but the event was largely covered up with the full details not coming to light until 2018. The story doesn't really fit with the overall narrative of season 4, but if it doesn't come back around in season 5 it will be a total missed opportunity. After all, in 1995, New Zealand officials paid for Lewis to go on a 10-day vacation so he would be out of the country during the Queen's tour. Come on, who doesn't want to see Imelda Staunton's Queen Elizabeth reacting to that weird, but true story?
Princess Diana's heartbreaking attempt at self harm was left out of The Crown season 4
Deciding which parts of Diana's story to include and which to leave out can't be an easy task for series creator Peter Morgan. Season 4 does chronicle the Princess of Wales' struggle with bulimia, and since her candid interviews on the subject helped destigmatize the discussion surrounding mental health, as reported by Time, it would have been disingenuous not to include her eating disorder in the series. But Diana also attempted other means of self harm, including allegedly throwing herself down the staircase at Sandringham when she was three months pregnant with Prince William, according to Andrew Morton's 1992 biography Diana: Her True Story.
While more than one viewer wondered why the moment wasn't included in season 4, it's ultimately for the best that Morgan focused instead on Diana's bulimia — an area where her candidacy is well-documented. In addition to being triggering, the alleged staircase incident could easily have felt salacious. In this case, the show didn't need that particular moment to make viewers feel the pain Diana was going through during her marriage to Charles.
Even without these three moments, The Crown season 4 covered an impressive amount of history, and there's sure to be more to come as the show heads into the '90s with season 5.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, or call the National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please contact the National Eating Disorder Association's Helpline at 1-800-931-2237, or chat with one of their helpline volunteers on NEDA's website.