The Crown: Is there a curse of the House of Windsor? Prince Philip’s warning to The Queen
Royal Family drama The Crown has returned to Netflix for season three and viewers are gripped. The new season chronicles Queen Elizabeth II’s reign from 1964 to 1977 and episode two retells Princess Margaret’s trip to the USA in 1965. In the dramatisation, Princess Margaret is spurred on to ask the Queen for more responsibility following her successful tour. While the Queen considers it, Prince Philip issues her a stark warning about a Windsor curse.
The notion of a royal family “heir and spare” is no secret in the Crown.
As first-in-line to the throne after her father Queen Elizabeth II is the heir while her younger sister Margaret is the spare.
Princess Margaret is portrayed as naturally more confident, charismatic and rebellious than her older sister which was said to be the case in real life too.
While the Queen bemoans being less exciting than her little sister, Prince Philip reassures her, saying their different personalities serve a purpose.
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But the Duke also suggests another darker notion, issuing a stark warning.
In the episode Prince Philip recounts a myth royal aide Tommy Lascelles once told him.
Philip warns the Queen not to give Margaret more responsibility because an apparent Windsor curse.
The exchange takes place at Windsor Castle and goes as follows:
Prince Philip: “Do you remember I told you once I got drunk with that god-awful monster Tommy Lascelles?
“Well that night he shared with me his theory about the House of Windsor.
“I’ve never repeated it to anyone since.
Queen: “Go on.”
Philip: “He asked me to imagine a mythological creature. A Reichsadler. A polycephalus, a two-headed eagle.
“For the purposes of this conversation, I want you to think of it as representing us. This family. Your family.
“There have always been the dazzling Windsors and the dull ones.
“Your father…
Queen: “A saint”
Prince Philip: “But dull. Sorry. Your grandfather too”
Queen: “George V?”
Prince Philip: “Deadly dull. At the height of the Great War when the Tsar and the Kaiser and the Emperor of Austria were dazzling the world, where was he?
“He was sticking stamps in his album. His wife…
Queen: “Queen Mary, wonderful.
Prince Philip: “Ditchwater. And so it goes, through George V to Queen Victoria and back.
“An uninterrupted line of stolid, turgid dreariness.
Queen: “Culminating in me?
Prince Philip: “Well yes, but…alongside that dull, dutiful, reliable, heroic strain runs another.
“The dazzling, the brilliant, the invidualistic, and… the dangerous.
“And so, for every Victoria, you get an Edward VII.
“For every George V, you get a Prince Eddy. For every George VI, you get an Edward VIII.
“For every Lillibet … you get a Margaret.”
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Is there really a curse of Windsor?
While it is impossible to say whether the curse of Windsor is a true phenomenon historical patterns within the family ring true.
Queen Victoria vs Edward VII
Queen Victoria was famously austere albeit far from dull.
She was a stable head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in British history before the current Queen overtook her.
Queen Victoria’s son Edward VII was a famously popular ruler.
He was a keen sportsmen and enjoyed racing, yachting, and game-bird shooting.
However, his social activities involved him in several scandals.
He has retrospectively been dubbed a playboy prince and was reported to have a voracious sexual appetite which earned him the nicknames “Dirty Bertie” and “Edward the Caresser”.
His promiscuity was common knowledge at the time of his reign.
George V vs Prince Eddy
George V was the son of Edward VII and proved himself to be a popular and stable monarch.
He introduced royal traditions including the Christmas broadcast and was a renowned stamp collector.
He changed the royal family name to “Windsor” to remove any association with a German heritage which was very unpopular at the time.
Prince Albert Victor or “Eddy” was Queen Victoria’s grandson and heir to the British throne.
He was linked to a sexual scandal which disgraced the royal family and it has even since been suggested he was the notorious Jack the Ripper killer.
He died prematurely from pneumonia at just 28 years old.
George VI vs Edward VIII
George VI is Queen Elizabeth II’s father and was placed on the throne after his charismatic older brother abdicated.
Edward VIII’s abdication in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson is one of the greatest scandals to have shaken the Royal House of Windsor.
While George VI was a successful leader he became King by default and had not been raised to take the role.
Following his abdication, Edward VIII’s links to Nazi Germany caused further disgrace and he and Wallis spent most of their marriage in exile from the UK.
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