A pub sign depicting King Charles III has been spotted during location filming for The Crown season 6, but that does not mean the Netflix show will depict his 2023 coronation. Since her sad ing, there has been speculation over whether The Crown will acknowledge the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in its final season. Recent photos from location filming on The Crown season 6 that theory.
Location photos for The Crown season 6 (via Metro) show the Queen, played by Imelda Staunton, watching a sign depicting King Charles being affixed to the side of a London pub. This has led to speculation that The Crown's ending will incorporate a flashforward to Charles' 2023 Coronation, but there is another possibility. As The Crown season 6 will focus on Prime Minister Tony Blair's time in government and the aftermath of Princess Diana's death, it will likely also focus on Charles' ambitions to modernize the monarchy, suggesting The Crown's King Charles pub sign could mean something else entirely.
The Crown’s King Charles Sign Could Be A Dream Sequence
As the coronation of the King and Queen Consort is scheduled for May 6, 2023, it is entirely possible that footage from the event could be edited into the ending of The Crown. However, a mawkish scene of Queen Elizabeth's ghost observing her son's ascension to the throne does not fit tonally with the previous five seasons of The Crown. Creator Peter Morgan has also enforced a 20-year limit on the historical events that he can depict in The Crown, suggesting that the final episode will take place in 2003. It seems more likely, therefore, that the King Charles pub sign is part of a storyline about Charles' increasing impatience to ascend to the throne.
The arrival of prime minister Tony Blair signifies The Crown moving into the so-called "Cool Britannia" era. As depicted in 2006 Peter Morgan movie The Queen, the death of Princess Diana was a watershed moment for the Royal Family that emphasized how out of touch they were with the mood of the British public. This shift in perception, and the rapid changes the U.K. experienced as it approached the millennium, could lead the Queen to ponder abdicating to make way for her son. The pub sign photographed on location could be part of a dream sequence, as the Queen is conflicted over her promise to her country and her own advancing years.
The Crown Season 6 Will Be About Prince Charles’ Ambition
The Crown season 5, episode 5, "The Way Ahead" ended with Prince Charles breakdancing at an event for his charity, the Prince's Trust. The scene was inspired by a real-life moment from 1985, but it is telling that Peter Morgan included it in this particular episode. "The Way Ahead" is crucial to the story of Charles and Camilla in The Crown, and to Charles' conflict with his mother. It depicts the fallout from an intercepted and very intimate phone call between the two lovers, which comes after Charles has bemoaned his status as a monarch-in-waiting.
The fallout leads to the Queen finally agreeing to allow Charles and Princess Diana to separate. The Royal Family has been forced to modernize its approach to marriage, and by ending the episode with Charles breakdancing, Morgan implies that the Prince of Wales is more in touch with the people. This conflict between the optimistic post-war U.K. of the Queen's coronation, and the harsh realities of modern Britain at the turn of the century will be the core story of The Crown season 6, as it becomes the story of the future king of England.