History YMMV / TheCrown2016

** In a meta-example of the way that John Major was depicted in Morgan's play ''The Audience'' compared to how he is depicted in ''The Crown''. In both depictions many of the issues that Major faces are dramatised in both, but in ''The Audience'' Major is demonstrably embodying the PeterPrinciple as he is out of his depth, completely socially awkward and insecure with the Queen all but being his cheerleader. In contrast, ''The Crown'' depicts Major as having an almost Zen-like calm through crises and is more often BoringButPractical.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:

** Season 3 skips from 1972 to '77 in its final episode, bypassing a ton of juicy stuff like Margaret's highly publicized dinner with Creator/PeterSellers after he'd lied about being sick to ditch the film he was making, the attempted kidnapping of Anne, and Anne's participation as an equestrian in the Olympics.

** ''Macmillan'' takes it to a whole new level of both jerkass and woobie. He's relentlessly ambitious and manipulates Eden nonstop and arrogantly for his position, only to be extremely unsuccessful. However, he's also largely reviled, far outside of his actual sins; for example, he genuinely adores his wife, but has to watch her cheating on him and laughing mockingly at a comedy show that regards him as a useless goofball - as everyone else him laughs, too.
** Margaret Thatcher displays the negative side of her personality in spades and earned her place as one of the most hated politicians of all time. Still, it's hard not to feel bad for her when she's invited to Balmoral and is judged the entire time by the royal family for not enjoying their incredibly rustic pastimes or knowing their inscrutable rules of etiquette she was never taught. Margaret even takes the time to insult her for her middle-class manners and upbraid her for daring to sit in Queen Victoria's chair, even though ''no one told her it was Queen Victoria's chair.''

* SeasonalRot: The closer the show has got to the present day, the more criticism it has drawn for its use of ArtisticLicenceHistory. One advantage the show had when it started was that few viewers knew much about the post-war events being dramatised, and most of the people involved were dead. By the time it got to the 1980s it was dealing with events and people (particularly Diana, and to a lesser extent Margaret Thatcher) who many viewers not only remembered well, but still harboured strong views about. With the public events being so familiar, the drama came to rely more on the private conversations which had always been highly speculative, making the show feel less like the historical drama is started out as, and more like a soap opera in which most of the characters happen to be real people.

* WTHCastingAgency:
** To be expected with the recasting of the entire main cast. It can be more than a little jarring to see Creator/OliviaColman bemoaning the ravages of age, when Queen Elizabeth herself would've only been in her late thirties.
** The decision to keep Creator/JohnLithgow as UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill significantly aged up, while recasting other fan favorite characters like Alex Jennings's Edward, has been controversial. Lithgow’s reprisal can be excused though given Churchill's role amounts to a single quick scene, so bringing in a new actor for what amounts to a cameo could be seen as doing them a disservice, especially since Lithgow’s portrayal would definitely be a ToughActToFollow.
** Creator/MichaelCHall as UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy seemed like a good idea on paper, but his performance, combined with the "rougher" characterization of JFK, has been met with some criticism.
** While this is downplayed by their [[AbilityOverAppearance actual performances]], some viewers found it distracting how Princess Margaret went from being played by the 5'7 Creator/VanessaKirby to the 5'2 Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter. Interestingly, Despite Kirby playing her first, Bonham Carter is much closer to her actual height. Similarly, Princess Diana goes from being played by the 5'8 Creator/EmmaCorrin to the 6'3 Creator/ElizabethDebicki (both being taller than the actual Diana, though much more so in Debicki's case).
** While his performance as Mountbatten in the middle seasons was well received, a few fans think that Creator/CharlesDance should've been cast as Philip in the show's final years, as he bears a noticeable resemblance to the real life prince around that time.

* SeasonalRot: The closer the show has got to the present day, the more criticism it has drawn for its use of ArtisticLicenceHistory. One advantage the show had when it started was that few viewers knew much about the post-war events being dramatised, and most of the people involved were dead. By the time it got to the 1980s it was dealing with events and people (particularly Diana, and to a lesser extent Margaret Thatcher) who many viewers not only remembered well, but still harboured strong views about. With the public events being so familiar, the drama came to rely more on the private conversations which had always been highly speculative, making the show feel less like the historical drama is started out as, and more like a soap in which most of the characters happen to be real people.

* ToughActToFollow: The first part of Season 6 struggles in the shadow of ''Film/TheQueen'' also written by Peter Morgan, which covers the same period of history [[spoiler: specifically the fallout following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales]].

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Series 3 underwent a recast of the Queen, Phillip, Princess Margaret and many of the other main cast members (though strangely not Winston Churchill, who is simply aged-up). Whilst the casting and performances of the undoubtedly skilled new actors (like Creator/OliviaColman and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter) have generally been met with praise in the press, some fans thought that the recast has lent series three the feeling of a completely different show, as opposed to a continuation. Not helping matters was the fact that most of the actors being much more famous than their predecessors in their roles led to the recast being accused of StuntCasting, to the point some fans decried a SeasonalRot (though in fairness to the actors, the season was accompanied with a succession of heavy-going plot-lines and some oddly missed-out historical events). That being said, the news of another recast for Series 5 were much less divisive in comparison, implying that the novelty of the Series 3 recast itself in the first place might've been a factor in its reception.

** Anne. While she has a supporting role in Season 3, as detailed in TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot, they skipped over everything to do with her marriage, her attempted kidnapping, and her Olympic participation. This has particularly been...''controversial'' given that some people regarded Philip's DayInTheLimelight episode as being pretty boring, dealing with Philip's less-than-thrilling realisation that the astronauts who went to the Moon were just...boring average joes. It's especially telling that her husband Mark and children Peter and Zara are barely even mentioned in Season 4, with even the brief glimpses of Sarah Ferguson being more substantial.

** In part one of season six, [[spoiler:Diana appears as a ghost... or a shared hallucination... [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or whatever]] to both Charles and Queen Elizabeth, following her death.]]

** Season 4 has a very mixed reception from viewers and historians alike. One camp enjoys due to introducing Margeret Thatcher and Princess Diana into the story and the actors' performances particularly Josh O'Connor's and Emma Corrin's. The other camp dislikes it for being too much of a soap opera with some accusing the show of being historically inaccurate and anti-monarchist, particularly for the portrayal of Charles and Camilla.

** In part one of season six, [[spoiler:Diana appears as a ghost... or a figment of Charles' imagination... [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or whatever]] to Charles, following her death.]]

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "Fairytale" includes a scene where a mouse scurries across the floor of the Queen Mother's sitting room in such a pointless detail that many fans suspect it just happened during filming and somehow no one noticed.

** Charles. Both of his parents meant well but [[AbusiveParents abused him in their own way]], with his father being ashamed of his son's sensitive and non-masculine nature and his mother remaining distant due to him representing her death. Originally not interested in the crown, his status as the next in line caused his family to frequently control and change him. When Charles tries to resist and claim that he has his own voice that he wants to share, his mother frankly tells him nobody wants to hear it. Eventually he falls madly in love with Camilla Shand, who breaks his heart when she winds up marrying Andrew Parker Bowles (after the machinations of his grandmother and his Uncle Dickie). Charles' relationship with several members of his family is also damaged due to this as they actively worked to keep him separate from Camilla, which causes him to become a much colder, crueler individual. After a previously warm relationship, his last words to his grand uncle are highly confrontational, [[PartingWordsRegret something he greatly regrets]] when he's killed later that day. He later marries his girlfriend Diana Spencer 13 dates into their relationship due to his family's pressure, even though he's still not over his FirstLove. [[AwfulWeddedLife Their marriage proves to be deeply unhappy]], with Charles being deeply jealous of her greater popularity and infidelity rife on both sides, which just makes it even worse. Even when the two seem to have a breakthrough and he embraces Diana as his love, their multual massive insecurities prove that they're simply incompatible, making their disastrous, doomed romance even worse than it was before.

** The miners' strikes during Thatcher's tenure were equally long and infamous as those under her predecessors, and Arthur Scargill was already introduced in Season 3; the difference is that Thatcher wound up with a CurbStompBattle on her favor against him and the NUM. Not so much as a mention of it is made in Season 4.

** The trailer music for Seasons 3 to 5 shows the epicness on the time periods set per season.

* ValuesDissonance: One of the plots in Season 2 involves Mike Parker's wife requiring proof of his adultery in order to sue him for divorce, something that seems extremely unreasonable for people living in places with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-fault_divorce no-fault divorce]], where neither party has to prove any wrongdoing on the part of their spouse in order to successfully get a divorce. Many countries enacted this reform in the second half of the 20th century, though the UK notably has not. It must be noted that even 30 years after the Parkers' divorce that Diana was urged to turn a blind eye to Charles's indiscretions.

* FriendlyFandoms: Fans of this show get along well with fans of ''Film/MissionImpossible'', due to Creator/VanessaKirby having a role in [[Film/MissionImpossibleFallout the sixth film]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: Since leaving his role as Sir Martin Charteris, Charles Edwards gained a lot of attention from the large public for playing lord Celebrimbor from ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower''.

** Philip's near-constant sullen, petulant and unsupportive attitude towards his wife and his royal duties (not to mention subjecting Prince Charles to emotional abuse) didn't earn him many fans in the first two seasons, though others appreciate his wry humour (as per real-life) as well as the moments when he makes it clear that he truly does love Elizabeth.

** Philip's near-constant sullen, petulant and unsupportive attitude towards his wife and his royal duties didn't earn him many fans in the first two seasons, though others appreciate his wry humour (as per real-life) as well as the moments when he makes it clear that he truly does love Elizabeth.

* AmericansHateTingle: While British critics were broadly positive in their reviews of the first three seasons, Season 4 was met with a much more mixed reception, and Season 5 was met with an ''extremely'' negative reaction. This was largely the result of a combination of these seasons being more openly critical of the monarchy, combined with them being the point where they started depicting Princess Diana (who is still considered a SacredCow by some Britons [[note]] hence why she still features regularly in [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers some newspapers]] over two decades after her death[[/note]]) and UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher (still a controversial figure for many). In the case of Season 5, the death of Queen Elizabeth a few months prior to it being broadcast had the effect of making critics and the press overwhelmingly hostile to anything that might even remotely be seen as criticism of the monarchy in general, and the much-loved (or at least, much-respected) late monarch in particular.

** The murder of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, shown in its entirety as they are all shot and stabbed to death with bayonets. All while the children scream and cross themselves, knowing that there really is no escape.

* UnconventionalLearningExperience: Given that the show is [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely based on true events]] surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's reign, many viewers, particularly those who are not from the UK, became interested in the country's history and began researching events depicted. For example, a lot of non-British viewers were unaware of the Aberfan disaster until they watched the titular episode, and there are probably many Generation Z viewers who were unaware of the extent of the popularity of [[UsefulNotes/DianaPrincessOfWales]]. However, the show raised many issues over its historical accuracy, which even led the UK Secretary of Culture to demand that Netflix to put a fiction warning at the beginning as a disclaimer, which Netflix opted not to do, not helping establish the lines between history and dramatization much.

* UnconventionalLearningExperience: Given that the show is [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely based on true events]] surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's reign, many viewers, particularly those who are not from the UK, became interested in the country's history and began researching events depicted. For example, a lot of non-British viewers were unaware of the Aberfan disaster until they watched the titular episode and there are Generation Z viewers who became interested in Princess Diana's life. However, the show raised many issues over its historical accuracy, which even led the UK Secretary of Culture to demand that Netflix to put a fiction warning at the beginning as a disclaimer. Which Netflix opted not to do, not helping establish the lines between history and dramatization much.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Despite Prince Charles being one of the best received parts of season 3, he was absent from more than half of the episodes (though he was still one of the season's largest roles), with many saying that they wanted to see more of him. Come season 4, Charles' history is given much more prominence, essentially becoming the season's male lead. Granted, given season 4's era had Charles in a much more notable role than before, this can be chalked up to history.

** The murder of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, shown in its entirety as they are all shot and stabbed to death by their bayonets. All while the children scream and cross themselves preparing to submit to their maker.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: For all of the controversy over the show's use of ArtisticLicenceHistory, we occasionally see characters doing things that may come across as a bit odd, but which are actually things that that person did in RealLife.

** The fifth Marquis of Salisbury really was nicknamed "Bobbety".
** UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson really was physically domineering and prone to conduct business while taking care of, err, 'other business'. [[RealityIsUnrealistic The show actually downplays]] Johnson's behaviour. [[note]]He'd tower over targets until they leaned so far back they'd stumble backwards. He'd conduct business while defecating with the bathroom door wide open in full view of his aides. He had a telephone installed in said bathroom, partly so he could handle government business while on the toilet, but also partly so he could inform whoever he was talking to that he was handling his personal business while talking to them. He'd also whip out his member -- [[ICallHimMisterHappy which he called "Jumbo"]] -- at random moments just to show off his manhood; he particularly enjoyed doing this at press conferences. The use of the word "Johnson" as a (somewhat American) penile euphemism predates him, though.[[/note]]
** George V really did have a pet parrot that used to perch on his shoulder at mealtimes (and when he read government papers for that matter); she was an African Grey called Charlotte, though, rather than the Macaw seen in the show. She was especially troublesome during breakfast, since she would partake of any boiled eggs on the table. Queen Mary hated her.

** Wallis Simpson's season 3 portrayal was well received thanks to stressing her devotion to David, and her [[WhamLine highly memorable final words to Charles.]]

* {{Narm}}: While Creator/GillianAnderson's performance as UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher was mostly very well received, several viewers have noted that her exaggerated voice and mannerisms occasionally veer into a parody of the Prime Minister.