Thank you,The Crown!).
But I’m getting ahead of myself.)
Kids don’t seem to like him.
Credit: Robert Viglasky/Netflix
The queen is told that other boys that age can be cruel.
(Um,thatage?)
Charles is…different.
He’s shy and sensitive and delicate.
They just need his father to sign off.
Oh yeah, about that…
Charles writes to his uncle Dickie about how happy and relieved he is.
Dick writes backwith a really sweet tone we’ve not really seen beforeabout how lucky Charles is.
He takes Charles shopping and there’s aPretty Woman-like montage straight out ofKingsman.
The posh clothes make Charles stand just a little bit taller.
(If Elizabeth sniffed somewhere off camera, we did not hear it.)
The best sister ever.
Of course Dr. Hahn is a Jew so couldn’t stay in German for obvious reasons.
As usual, the rich have very interesting logic when it comes to right and wrong and individual choices.
Philip flies Charles to school himself, quietly carrying on a tradition he doesn’t verbalize.
Dr. Hahn is still there and is happy to see him.
He tells Hahn he doesn’t want his son “mollycoddled” in some luxury hotel.
(Mmmm, luxury hotel.)
The boys have given Charles his father’s old bed by the window.
We flash back to a morning when young Philip didn’t want to get out of that same bed.
However, Philip’s stubborn streak is an impressive thing to behold.
Charles may not have inherited this streak.
Seems like we know who the real mollycoddled namby-pamby was, no?
The other lads tease him, using some fun sharp barbs about his sisters being Nazis and the like.
Philip fights one of them and gets tossed out the window.
He arrives in Hahn’s office with a bloodied lip and a dark expression.
He tells Philip the world needs saviors.
She then has to go back because the Nazis are partying.
Uncle Dickie has come to visit!
She says that he’s the future king of the country and Philip just about loses it.
Hahn comes to visit Charles and to talk about this big upcoming tournament.
Hahn gently tells Charles that perhaps the young prince should not compete, it is a very tough competition.
But Charles, with a soul-weary sigh, says that he thinks his father wants him to do it.
Flash back to broody teenage Philip.
She tells him that she agrees with the school and will instead be flying to London for a wedding.
And man, this plane crash story is so brutal I really don’t want to recap it.
We get to see a really nicely done montage of the funeral in German set to Mozart’s requiem.
But anyway, poor Philip.
Philip returns to the school.
Dr. Hahn watches thoughtfully.
Finally Philip dramatically walks in and asks for help.
The boys all rush to help complete the gate.
Why he didn’t just talk to his wife about this, who knows?
What father and son haven’t struggled with this lesson?
It’s the day of the tournament and, yeah, this is going to go pretty terribly.
Philip arrives and is all pumped.
Crying behind a pillar.
Charles shrinks into the warm embrace of the stranger paid to look after him.
He gives his father a profound look of suffering.
Maybe Philip feels badly?
Charles is all: What?
Can’t hear you through my silent screams.
Elizabeth watches as they return.
She shuts the door.
He later described it as ‘a prison sentence’ and ‘absolute hell.’
When it came to his own time as a father…Charles sent his sons to Eton College.
