Characters / The Crown (2016): Her Majesty's Government

Main Character Index | The British Royal Family | The British Royal Family: Older Generation | Relatives of the Royal Family | Friends & Acquaintances of the Royal Family | Her Majesty's Government | The Royal Household | Foreign Dignitaries and Leaders | Other Characters

The expanding cast of Prime Ministers, senior politicians and ecclesiastical figures featured in The Crown (2016). Beware of spoilers.

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Her Majesty's Government

The Prime Ministers

Sir Winston Churchill

The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, 41st Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: John Lithgow

"The party needs me. The country needs me. She needs me!"

Elizabeth's first Prime Minister, who has recently been elected to his second term as Prime Minister (1951-55) when George VI dies. From the Conservative Party, Churchill is the man who led Britain during the Second World War, and a dominant, commanding figure with a legendary reputation and great respect from the public. However, it quickly becomes apparent both that his best days are long behind him and that he stubbornly refuses to accept this fact.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Clemmie calls him her 'old pug' — likely due to his puggish facial features — in a completely loving manner.
• Blue Blood: Descendant of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Winston's father Randolph, a younger son of the 7th Duke, had the courtesy title of "Lord", given to non-peers. Winston was born at the family seat of Blenheim Palace, built by Queen Anne as a reward for Marlborough — the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of "palace". Even so, Churchill never became a peer, never held a title of nobility, and remained a commoner all his life, declining any elevation ^note Normally, a retired Prime Minister would be given an earldom, but Winston was offered a dukedom, an exceptional honor. He declined it, as it would be expensive to mantain, and according to the rules of the time, his son and grandson would be unseated from the House of Commons upon becoming peers on inheritance, cutting short any political career.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Well, born in the right century, he just lived far past it: Winston is truly one of the last Victorians, banging on about the Empire and uninterested in domestic affairs, hopelessly out of touch with the changing world and changing Britain of the 1950s.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Churchill is a Living Legend with weird habits like taking his dog to cabinet meetings or having his daily briefings read to him while he's in the tub. Becomes a subversion in his later years, as while he used to be a brilliant leader despite his quirks, he no longer is due to old age.
• The Cameo: A single appearance in Series 2 during a few WWII brief flashbacks, and a final one on his death-bed in Series 3.
• Cigar Chomper: He's often seen smoking a cigar, and it's a habit considered a signature Churchillian cue in the present.
• Clothing Reflects Personality: While most officials at No. 10 and in the Royal household wear contemporary suits, his uniform, even for an average workday, is a morning coat and bow tie.
• Cold Ham: He's naturally more restrained and respectful than usual when dealing with the Queen and other royals, attempting a less forceful way of persuasion based on a tactful, elaborate eloquence. Despite this, his face and body language still betray some pent-up, irate feelings from time to time.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Assassins" is set during his 80th birthday and chronicles his private life and struggles during the painting of his celebratory portrait.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Crybaby," per the Duke of Windsor. Winston goes on to prove him right, at least a little, by tearing up while reminiscing about his friendship with the late King.
• Enemies Equals Greatness: He is the Trope Namer and the series provides an example when he's having trouble crafting George VI's eulogy and is unable to find the right words. Upon learning that Eden is challenging his leadership and wants him to retire, Winston rises up to the occasion and produces another of his magnificent speeches.
• Establishing Character Moment: When he arrives at Elizabeth's wedding, after making sure that he is the last of the guests to arrive, he delays until the choir starts singing "I Vow to Thee My Country"^* This song was not part of the real-life wedding service, and strides into the abbey, every bit the great statesmen he presents himself as, even though at the time, he was still the Leader of the Opposition. He even gives a gaudy, loud aside to his wife disapproving of Lord Mountbatten's presiding over Indian independence and remarking that Philip's sisters married prominent Nazis, establishing him as an out of place, staunch Imperialist and clinging to the glory of past victories. When he returns to Number 10, he is no longer the great statesman able to do the job and Great Britain is no more the world's great power.
• Glory Days: His arc in the series is essentially this; while he still commands respect due to leading Britain during the Second World War, it is made abundantly clear that his wartime reputation is the only reason he manages to keep his job; he is not up to the job of leading a modern Britain, is increasingly frail and failing, is barely interested in anything except foreign affairs, and refuses to accept that both his time as an effective leader and Britain's time as the dominant global power has passed.
• Grumpy Old Man: As cranky as they come, with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp when he's irritated.
• Happily Married: To Clementine; he is always at his most candid with her.
• Historical Beauty Update: John Lithgow is more conventionally handsome than the real Churchill, possessing a more elongated face and softer features than Churchill's famous rough, bulldog-esque face. He also stands at a towering 6'4 and with a leaner build than the 5'6 and rotund Churchill.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Always greets Elizabeth this way, and tries to maintain a habit of bidding farewell similarly. Even after berating her in defense of preventing Philip from taking flying lessons, he hurriedly does this at the close of the audience.
• Ironic Echo: A subtle example, but one which demonstrates Character Development. At his first audience with the Queen, he is shocked and flustered when she politely offers him a seat and a beverage, insisting that according to tradition the Sovereign never offers the Prime Minister such comforts. This immediately establishes both his tradition-bound nature and his authority over the young, inexperienced Queen. At his last audience with the Queen, however, he is sitting in an armchair with a cup of tea beside him, having come to accept that he's too old (and ill) to go on and it's time to retire (and by extension, heralding some modernising changes).
• Jerk Justifications: He asks his new secretary if she's been told that he's a monster. When she replies "yes", Churchill nonchalantly retorts "You have to be a monster to defeat Hitler" and carries on.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: His main character arc is him not knowing when to do this; eventually, he folds after his stroke in June 1953, after (ahistorically) lying to Elizabeth about the extent of his health woes.
• Large and in Charge: John Lithgow, at 6'4", towers over most of the other characters, and had to stoop in order to look like the much shorter 5'6" Churchill.
• Large Ham: Winston always blasts into a room to make a Big Entrance, flattens those in it with a barrage of bluster in his signature bass rumble, and is prone to dramatic outbursts of patriotically-charged histrionics in the face of criticism.
• Living Legend: In the present, he is still consistently voted 'Greatest Ever Briton' in national polls due to his extraordinary resilience and leadership in getting the nation through the Second World War — which is why Elizabeth is a little daunted to have him as her first Prime Minister.
• Meaningful Funeral: Downplayed. His funeral (despite Elizabeth's obvious sorrow) is overshadowed by the new Prime Minister Harold Wilson's conversation with a Soviet marshal and rumours of his collusion with the Russians.
• My Greatest Second Chance: After being defeated by Atlee in 1945 and very narrowly in 1950, Winston returns to Number 10 in 1951 for a second term as PM, his first during peacetime, composed by a one-party cabinet, and being the direct outcome of a general election (unlike his war ministry, a coallition goverment with the forces emerged from the 1935 election).
• Not Now, Kiddo: A hilarious inversion during Elizabeth's wedding, when Clementine and a choir boy shush him after he complains about Philip's sisters' choice of husbands.
  Winston: You know why his three sisters aren't here...
  Clemmie: Shhh.
  Winston: They're all married to Nazis!
  Clemmie: Oh, do shut up.
  Winston: PROMINENT NAZIS!
  Choir boy: Shhh!
• Obsolete Mentor: Once he realizes that Queen Elizabeth doesn't need him, Winston opts to retire.
• Old Windbag: Good ol' Winston is not exactly laconic, often rambling about topics that are only a priority to him.
• Only Friend: He’s the only political ally and relevant sympathizer of Edward VIII during the constitutional crisis and one of the few people who never really speaks ill of the former monarch, despite knowing the full extent of his transgressions. It's not reciprocal, as the Duke of Windsor has enough contempt for everybody. Churchill’s friendship has its limits, however; as seen when the Duke tries to bring up the issue of Wallis Simpson being granted the title of ‘Her Royal Highness’, he is bluntly shot down.
• Passing the Torch:
  • His reluctant and slow relinquishment of the leadership in favour of Eden causes much friction. Ultimately, his stroke in June 1953 pushed him to retire.
  • He is also adamant, in the 50s, that the United States is not ready to lead the world and needs his tutelage and guidance to do so.
  • Later used on a meta level, as Lithgow makes a brief return in the Season 3 premiere to provide a connecting thread as the entire main cast is replaced with older actors.
• Perilous Old Fool: It's made clear that age has diminished him. He sleeps through most meetings, sees everything in the context of his Glory Days, and is laid out by frequent ill health. Eventually, Elizabeth is forced to confront him with the constitutional requirement for the Prime Minister to be of sound body and mind, convincing him to resign.
• Rousing Speech: Regarded as one of the greatest public speakers in history. While his best rousing moments are past and gone, he still has "the roar of the lion" in the contemporary narrative, as shown with his brilliantly crafted eulogy for the late King George VI. Edward R. Murrow and JFK would say that "Winston mobilized the English language and sent it into battle".
• Senior Sleep-Cycle: He dozes off in meetings and audiences.
• Skewed Priorities: Part of what fuels the crisis in "Act of God" is that Churchill, who just sees the Great Smog enveloping London and causing chaos as a bit of bad weather, gets a bee in his bonnet about Prince Philip taking up flying as a hobby and begins to fixate on preventing that rather than doing anything about the fact that London has been virtually brought to a lawless standstill by the smog.
• Time-Shifted Actor: The one notable aversion in the series. John Lithgow plays him throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s.
• Universally Beloved Leader: The British public love Churchill, due to his formidable leadership during the Second World War, and he is adored and cheered wherever he goes. In Real Life his legacy persists today. However, whilst the public may adore him, in-series he has a fairly rancorous relationship with his senior cabinet members behind closed doors and is widely viewed as something of a Perilous Old Fool during his second term as Prime Minister.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Elizabeth's reaction when she finds out he's been keeping information about his health from her. ^note Historically, Elizabeth was well-aware of Churchill's extreme ill health, and Operation Hope Not was formulated as a reaction, although it would only be implemented more than a decade later, leading Dickie Mountbatten to quip, "(Churchill) kept living and the pallbearers kept dying."

Sir Anthony Eden

The Right Honourable Sir Robert Anthony Eden, 43rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Jeremy Northam

Foreign Secretary to Churchill both during the war and his second government, and eventually Elizabeth's second Prime Minister (1955-57). He is ambitious and determined to achieve what he views as his rightful place as Churchill's successor, but his own ill-health and the changing world will prove challenging in ways he did not expect.

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• Blue Blood: Eden was born into an old landed gentry family from County Durham, being the third son of Sir William Eden, 7th and 5th Baronet.
• Cunning Linguist: Views himself as such because of his grasp of Arabic. (His Arabic isn't terrible—the Egyptians actually comment it's good, possibly too good. His speaking is limited to Modern Standard Arabic and he has a thick English accent, but the former is natural for someone preparing to use Arabic mainly in diplomatic situations, and the latter is basically inevitable given the difficulty of Arabic phonology for foreigners who don't speak another Semitic language. He also appears to understand Nasser's Egyptian Arabic, even if he can't respond in it himself.)
• Descent into Addiction: Eden suffered from a botched gallbladder operation and takes heavy doses of painkillers and other medications to deal with it. It seriously affects his judgment and ability to perform in office and gets so bad after the Suez Crisis that he has to take some weeks off to recover in Jamaica.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He is so infuriated at Churchill continuing to overshadow him and to never be recognized for his importance. So much so that he forces Churchill to say he needs Eden over a recorded phone call.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Or perhaps Historical Villain Downgrade, YMMV. The Suez Crisis has effectively ruined Eden's reputation with him routinely regarded as one of the worst 20th Century PMs. Yet this portrayal is far more sympathetic as he is justified in his ambitions to oust the ailing Churchill and his decision for war with Egypt is made from a mixture of good intentions, a desire to finally escape Churchill's shadow and his own ego.
• Humiliation Conga: He starts Season 2 with a pompous speech about continuing his alma mater's distinguished history of PMs. Then the Suez Crisis hits, and he's initially not worried at all since the Egyptians will still need the British pilots to navigate it. The Soviets promptly pounce and start training the locals, at which he's pushed by Macmillan to go to war. Rather than do so openly, he goes behind Parliament's backs and colludes with the Israelis to launch their own attack, which blows up in his face and gives a big hit to Britain's international reputation. Finally he's forced to retire, to be replaced by Macmillan.
• Hypocrite: Accused of this by Nasser of Egypt, which is probably what started the grudge. Eden mentions to Nasser that he is fond of Nasser's uniform and that if he had as many medals as Nasser did, he would never take his own uniform off. Nasser proceeds to point out that due to his service in the Great War (World War One), Captain Eden has even more medals than Nasser. And he's not wearing his uniform at the moment.
• It's Personal: Getting repeatedly snubbed by Nasser at a dinner party turns into Eden having a murderous grudge against the Egyptian president, resulting in the Suez Crisis. Mountbatten theorizes that under it all, Eden just wants to get back at Nasser for the six or seven slights.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He schemes to nudge Churchill into retirement partly because of his own ambitions to be Prime Minister, but also because he (not entirely incorrectly) believes that Churchill is too old, too tired, and too fixated on international affairs rather than the domestic issues facing the country to effectively do the job.
• Number Two: Of the Conservatives, and decidedly gunning for the first spot. He really wants to be Prime Minister. Due to his declining health, Churchill was largely a figurehead in the 1951-55 government and Eden is effectively the man governing the nation.
• The Peter Principle: A remarkable foreign secretary who opposed appeasement and Hitler since before the war and a competent deputy to Winston Churchill for almost 15 years. The Conservative Party wins the 1951 and 1955 elections thanks to Eden, but when he succeeds Winston and becomes the head of the country, his premiership quickly collapses in 1956 after a series of blunders in the Suez Crisis and his image becomes tarnished beyond repair.
• The Proud Elite: Fully embraces his alma mater Eton College's elitist reputation.
• Quote-to-Quote Combat: Quotes Hamlet to Macmillan who finishes the quote. Macmillan finishes their conversation with a quote from Troilus & Cressida that Eden finishes.
• Resigned in Disgrace: Eden has gone down in history as the man responsible for the Suez fiasco.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Famous for it, to the point where the Homburg hat was for a time known as the "Anthony Eden".
• Sore Loser: Visibly irritated at how well his colleagues receive Churchill's eulogy for King George VI, knowing they are now less inclined to remove him as leader. Eden exits as soon as the address is finished, leaving the room abuzz.
• Tough Act to Follow: In-universe. Whilst doing so much of the work, Eden lives under the shadow of the great war leader and national myth Churchill. When Eden's time comes, he tries to invoke Churchill's past rhetoric and élan as the head of a great power, but Eden mishandles the Suez Crisis and is forced to resign.

Clement Attlee

The Right Honourable Clement Richard Attlee, Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition and 42nd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Simon Chandler

"The Prime Minister needs to be given a chance. Even if it's only to hang himself. Let's see how the old fool responds."

The Leader of the Opposition when Elizabeth takes the throne, having been Prime Minister (1945–51) before Churchill's return to power. A cautious and uncharismatic man, he is nevertheless well-respected by the public for his bold, innovative policies.

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• Artistic License – History: At one point, Churchill describes Attlee — to King George VI, no less — with "an empty taxi pulled up before the House of Commons, and Mr. Attlee got out." While this quote is attributed to Churchill, and the two Prime Ministers were hardly friends, Churchill denied ever saying it, remarking that he respected Attlee's loyalty and service in his government during the war and publicly denounced the quote and anyone who said it. At very least, even if he did express the sentiment in private it's highly unlikely he would do Attlee the severe discourtesy of expressing it before the King.
• Boring, but Practical: The series mostly shows his boring side, but he soundly defeated Churchill in 1945 after all. The historical Attlee is ranked the greatest British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is remembered as the father of the welfare state.
• Butt-Monkey: Much mocked around for his perceived dullness.
  Winston: An empty taxi pulled up at the House of Commons, and Mr. Attlee got out.
  George VI: Quite.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Visibly annoyed when the entire audience at Elizabeth's wedding stands up upon Churchill's arrival, even though he is the sitting Prime Minister at the time.
  Eden: There's poor old Attlee. He's our Prime Minister. No one got up for him.
• Foil: Much like his rival Churchill, he's been a top politician for decades, and losing the 1951 election doesn't preclude him from leading the Labour opposition afterwards for some more years. Winston tries to be grandiose and flamboyant, while Attlee is portrayed as uninteresting and meek. They both retired in 1955. However, they contrast in one key respect; Attlee, for all his lack of charisma and epithets of being "a sheep in sheep's clothes", is described by one character as having been one of the most radical, effective and innovative Prime Ministers of recent memory. Conversely, Churchill, for all his charisma, is clearly demonstrated to be an out-of-touch spent force with no new ideas and no real ability to govern a changing, modern Britain. Many historians would agree that this pretty accurately sums up the two as Prime Ministers (with regard to Churchill's second term, at least).
• Genre Savvy: In "Act of God" he is skeptical about a member of the Churchill government going behind Winston Churchill's back to give him information about Churchill turning down documents from the Meteorological Society warning of a toxic fog coming to London. He cites the Aeneid "Beware of the Greeks even when they bear gifts."

Harold Macmillan

The Right Honourable Maurice Harold Macmillan, 44th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Anton Lesser

"The storm is now raging against us. With Eden's war, we've discarded the moral advantage or any goodwill we once held. Not to mention the dire economic situation. It's really been quite ruinous."

Elizabeth's third Prime Minister (1957–63), from the Conservative Party. As Eden's Chancellor of the Exchequer, he proves a ruthless and cunning politician, but despite his political successes his personal life and weaknesses increasingly take a toll on him.

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• Awful Wedded Life: Is very much aware of his wife's distaste for him and her long-term relationship with another man.
• Butt-Monkey: Is in the audience while a troupe of comedians make fun of his mannerisms and moustache. He tries to show he can laugh at himself; after the comedians spot him, it becomes clear he cannot. (His wife and her lover, for their part, enjoyed the show immensely.)
• Hypocrite: In his first meeting with Her Majesty, he tried to denounce the Suez Crisis as "Eden's illegal war." Elizabeth didn't even blink an eye when revealing to him that Eden mentioned to her that it was Macmillan who argued for the war in the first place. At which point he decides to simply keep quiet to avoid making it worse for him.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After arrogantly telling Eden that "there's no justice in politics" when taking his place as Prime Minister, he ultimately can't handle the pressure and mockery directed toward him.
• Motor Mouth: He just can't shut up when explaining to Elizabeth the significance of the Sputnik satellite's launch and the importance of repairing Anglo-American relations. Both his wife and Philip are clearly exasperated by his tirade.
• "Not Wearing Pants" Dream: Imagines himself pantsless on stage while the above-noted comedians take the piss out of him.
• Secretly Selfish: Philip accuses him of this over his decision to resign right in the middle of Elizabeth's pregnancy, noting that for all his politeness and appearance of integrity he took the action most convenient to him alone.
• The Starscream: Despite being one of the most vocal proponents for war during the Suez Crisis, he distances himself from the decision when the backlash focuses on Eden and sets himself up to become Prime Minister.

Alec Douglas-Home

The Right Honourable Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home, 45th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: David Annen

Elizabeth's fourth and her second shortest-serving Prime Minister (1963-4) ^note his term lasted two days short of a year, but still substantially longer than Liz Truss at a mere 49 days (less than the shelf life of a head of lettuce) becoming one of the briefest terms in British history, previously Macmillan's Foreign Secretary. Hurriedly chosen in 1963 to succeed Macmillan in the wake of his resignation, his peerage and old-fashioned way of running things allows Harold Wilson to take power.

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• Blue Blood: Since he was a sitting member of the House of Lords at the time of his appointment, there is not an inconsiderable amount of backlash when he becomes Prime Minister. He would later disclaim his peerage and win a Commons seat in a by-election, but his being an aristocrat would provide fodder for his parliamentary rival, Harold Wilson.
• The Cameo: He never receives a proper introduction as Prime Minister since he's appointed in the last episode of Season 2, and defeated by Harold Wilson in the first episode of Season 3, but he does at least appear on-screen, meaning he's not The Ghost. The real Douglas-Home again served as Foreign Secretary under Heath's government, though it's unknown and unmentioned if he was present at the Cabinet standoff between Heath and Scargill.
• Last Episode, New Character: To an extent. His totally offscreen introduction as the new Prime Minister, succeeding Macmillan in 1963 after only a brief previous appearance (as the foreign secretary in "Dear Mrs. Kennedy", where he is not named).
• Short-Lived Leadership: His term lasted a couple of days shy of a year. ^note However his political career did not end and he became Foreign Secretary for a second time under Edward Heath in 1970, repeating the position he had under MacMillan and making him the last PM to have served in another PM's Cabinet after the end of his term until David Cameron was appointed Foreign Secretary too in 2023 under Rishi Sunak.

Harold Wilson

The Right Honourable James Harold Wilson, 46th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Jason Watkins

"We can't be everything to everyone and still be true to ourselves."

Elizabeth's fifth Prime Minister (1964-70, 1974-76), and her first to be the leader of the Labour Party. A charismatic and wily individual, he'd become the dominant figure of British politics during the Swinging Sixties. Last PM to serve two non-consecutive terms.

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• Brutal Honesty: In his quiet way, he manages to ask questions which gently chide Elizabeth's royal mask, and puts no spin on his party's failure over devaluing the pound, or why the public elected Labour after 12 years of Conservative rule. Wilson also alludes to his brutal honesty when telling Elizabeth that he prefers numbers to art, because you always know exactly where you stand. Thus, even if Elizabeth doesn't agree with him, or even like him, she can trust his honesty.
• Career-Ending Injury: Wilson's early-onset Alzheimer’s requires him to step down halfway through his second term in 1976. ^note Unusual for a former PM, Wilson would stay in the House of Commons as MP after leaving office until 1983, and then would attend the House of Lords until 1994, one year before dying of cancer and Alzheimer’s.
• Cigar Chomper: He prefers to smoke cigars, but hides this habit from the public as it goes against his image as a champion of the working class.
• The Comically Serious: His being forced to repeat all the dirty limericks Margaret and President Lyndon Johnson shared makes for some squirm-inducing hilarity.
• The Confidant: Serves as this to Queen Elizabeth, often leading to moments of them discovering mutual similarity. The Queen even admits that she let out an "unconstitutional cheer" when he defeated Ted Heath in the 1974 election.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: His predecessors were all Tories with privileged backgrounds, "traditional" (i.e. military, followed immediately by Parliamentary) careers in public service,^note  of Elizabeth II's first four PMs, Churchill, Eden, and Macmillan all served in the Army and quickly moved to Parliament thereafter. Douglas-Home never served in active duty, but only because he was born in 1903—too young to serve in World War I (being only 15 when it ended) and too old to serve in World War II (being 36 and already an MP when it started, although he volunteered for active service, only to be diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis which left him quite literally incapacitated for two years) and spoke with RP accents. He is a member of the Labour Party with a middle-class background (his father was a chemist^note Note to Americans: This means "pharmacist", not "researcher in chemistry" and his mother was a schoolteacher), an academic career (a self-described Oxford don and statistical economist, he had been shunted to civilian research work when he tried to volunteer for service during World War II), and speaks with a Yorkshire accent.
• Cowardly Lion: He appears uncomfortable and nervous in nearly every single situation he finds himself in...including when he has to verbally recount Margaret's poetic exploits to Elizabeth, when he's defending the Queen's sluggish response to the Aberfan disaster in the face of his firebrand republican deputy, and when he's firing an obstructionist Lord Mountbatten. He doesn't exactly take on adversity with a stiff upper lip, but he's never in short supply of adversity to face.
• Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Inverted. He smokes a pipe in public because it makes him seem more working class than his preferred cigars.
• The Generic Guy: Elizabeth is baffled that unlike all her previous Prime Ministers, there seems to be absolutely nothing notable about his appearance or personality.
• The Good Chancellor: As the Queen's first Socialist PM, Wilson is met with initial reluctance and has to fight against Elizabeth's distrust, dispelling several assumptions and suspicions about him being a KGB spy or leaking criticism about her to the press over her underwhelming response in the Aberfan disaster — criticism initiated by the anti-monarchist elements of his government he struggles to control. Ultimately he is portrayed in a positive light, and his loyalty and adequacy are recognized by the Queen and the people with his return to power following Heath's government.
• My Country, Right or Wrong:
  • The KGB has made attempts to recruit him due to his socialist beliefs several times but to no avail; he is loyal to a country that, with all its problems, he views as great.
  • In "Aberfan", he finds Elizabeth's initial decision not to attend the scene of the disaster to be unfortunate but feels she has good reason, and refuses to label her as cold-hearted.
• My Greatest Second Chance: The last PM to ever repeat office after a defeat. He returns to Number 10 in 1974 after having been ousted in 1970.
• Odd Friendship: He is an avowed socialist who has a close friendship with the Queen — and in fact is the only Prime Minister other than the legendary Churchill whom the Queen acquiesces to dine with at Downing Street in his farewell. ^note The less personal and more institutional dinners with Thatcher in 1985 and with Major in 1996 are adapted out.
• Photographic Memory: When revealing his Alzheimer's diagnosis, he says that he used to have one and that encroaching forgetfulness was the first hint that something was wrong.
• Red Herring: In-universe, members of the Royal Family suspect that he has Soviet allegiances and is a spy. It's not him, but rather the Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, Sir Anthony Blunt.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: In his debut, Wilson is shown as an affable but blunt man who's forwardness makes him seem awkward but at the same time genuine in his ideas for change. Rumors swell around him being a mole for Russia with his socialist leanings and frequent trips to Russia. At the end of his debut, it's revealed that in all likelihood that the Soviets really did try to recruit him but he turned them down; Wilson ultimately turns out to be a Red Herring for the Soviet Spy plot.
• Slave to PR: He was probably among the first politicians to understand the power television and media could have on public opinion and works hard to present a working-class image to his supporters.

Ted Heath

The Right Honourable Sir Edward Richard George Heath, 47th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Michael Maloney

Elizabeth's sixth Prime Minister (1970-74), once again from the Conservative Party. Supposedly an innovator, he instead proceeds to put the United Kingdom into a coal crisis which makes him highly unpopular with the people.

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• Beware of Vicious Dog: Heath is not an animal person and shrinks away when in his first audience he crosses paths with a pack of the Queen's Mister Muffykins corgis, which doesn't endear him to her. He even retorts when the Queen tells him they mean no harm.^note  To back up Heath's Jerkass Has a Point stance, while in Real Life the Queen's dogs always behaved perfectly around her, an expert, the corgis were actually known to fight each other with vigor and get nippy to other humans, including royals. While they may have never meant any harm, they were not totally harmless or the most docile breed, either.
  Heath: All animals mean harm. They are but a meal away from barbarism.
• Brutal Honesty: Shares Wilson's propensity for being blunt to the Queen, though unlike his predecessor doesn't care about being kind or courteous while at it.
• Confirmed Bachelor: He never married. As Philip says, his closest and longest relationship has been with a piano.
• Demoted to Extra: He's mentioned to be on the trip to Hong Kong for the 1997 handover ceremony (in the first class section, while Charles is in business), but he's not shown onscreen again.
• Jerkass: In-universe he is disliked by the more traditional Royal Family, the miners, the unions, the Labour Party and rarely appears sympathetically. With regards to the Royal Family, it doesn't help that he's rather rude about the Queen's beloved corgis (even though Jerkass Has a Point) and doesn't take the time to soften his Brutal Honesty with the Queen like Wilson tried to. Even the Queen admits she unconstitutionally roots for Wilson. ^* Hilariously, there's news footage of the Queen cheerily telling the real post-PM Heath that he's "expendable", and Heath repeating it ...which may skew him more to Butt-Monkey in Real Life.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Being unexpectedly confronted with something you are afraid of is unpleasant for anybody, and the Queen is both professional and gracious enough to fully understand that not everyone will love dogs, and particularly her corgi pack, to the same extent. Heath isn't penalized for not liking the corgis, but he's not given the extra stature that would have come with it.
• Mummy's Boy: Grumpy, dour Ted has fond memories of how his beloved mother scrimped and saved for him to get a piano.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When the miners' union leader accuses him of coming from privilege, he angrily retorts that he comes from a working-class background and that his family struggled mightily when he was growing up.
• Perpetual Frowner: Never appears with a smile on his face.
• The Piano Player: An excellent piano player from childhood, and his "longest relationship".
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Exchanges entertaining ones with Arthur Scargill when Scargill mistakenly and ignorantly accuses him of knowing nothing about working-class hardship. Heath follows with one of his own, calling Scargill a hoodlum and a hostage-taker operating illegally. While both men have points, it's the kiss of death for negotiations and brings on severe power cuts for the UK.
• Stubborn Mule: A personal flaw of his, with his adamant policy of not negotiating with the miners. He underestimates the will of the public to go along with his drawing out of the 1972 miner's strike, even as the government's coal reserves start to run low and imposes energy conservation measures when they do.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He is intoduced and prominently featured in one episode, just to be ousted in the beginning of the next one.

James Callaghan

The Right Honourable Leonard James Callaghan, 48th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth's seventh Prime Minister (1976-1979), and second from the Labour Party. Also the only person to have served in all four of the Great Offices of State — Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.

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• Adapted Out: Callaghan was in the original production of Morgan's The Audience over Harold Macmillan, Ted Heath, and Tony Blair, but he seemingly doesn't exist here, with not so much as a mention, let alone as Prime Minister.
• Unknown Character: Despite having held all four prominent offices and his premiership having involved a brutal season of labour unrest and strikes aptly known as "The Winter of Discontent" (as the culmination of a series of political errors which brought Margaret Thatcher to power), Callaghan is the only Prime Minister of the period covered by the series not to be portrayed or even named — his term in office was completely skipped over, as was that of Alec Douglas-Home ^note  although Home did at least get in a cameo appearance as Macmillan's Foreign Secretary, and was mentioned by name, which Callaghan was not.

Margaret Thatcher

The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher (née Roberts), 49th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Gillian Anderson and Eva Feiler (young Margaret)

"Power is nothing without authority."

Elizabeth's eighth Prime Minister (1979-90), a Conservative, and the first woman to hold the office in British history. However, her policies and attitudes make her one of the most divisive world leaders of the 20th century.

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• '80s Hair: As one of the most visibly powerful and groundbreaking women of the later 20th Century, her Power Hair spawned a great many imitators in working women of the era.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Aside from an Incredibly Lame Pun she makes while waiting to see if the Conservatives will win the 1979 election, she is presented as having No Sense of Humor. In Real Life, this was not the case. In fact, unlike many of her predecessors (and successors), Thatcher's most charismatic, best-known and most powerful speeches included plenty of jokes — often wryly acknowledging her feminine status.^*  As seen in her famous speech at the 1980 Party Conference, where she addressed the pressure on her to 'U-turn' on certain economic policies; "I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.” Off-script, she also exhibited a quick wit, as seen when responding to heckling protesters who broke into another conference; as they were being carted away, to calm the tense situation she quipped, "Never mind — it’s wet outside. I expect they wanted to come in. We can’t blame them; it’s always better where the Tories are." Despite this, it was also commented that she never really understood or “got” jokes told to her, so whilst she may not have lacked a sense of humour, it was dependent on her being the source.
• Alas, Poor Villain: As a controversial figure, the show paints Mrs. Thatcher in a polarizing light, antagonistic at times, but she elicits and gets some degree of sympathy when she's being ousted from office, and before that, the treatment she, a public servant, receives at Balmoral from the idle, easily vexed royals is downright callous and uncalled for, making her notably more palatable to the viewer.
• Apron Matron: Mrs. Thatcher prepares and serves dinner to members of her cabinet, to the top senior of the armed forces and to her family in Number 10 alike, and while wearing an actual apron.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: She was quite happy with having enemies, and berated Geoffrey Howe over his lack of 'killer instinct'. And this, coupled with her general demeanor and stance on Europe, makes an enemy of him and brings out his killer instinct - killing her politically in parliament with his resignation speech, which leads to her own resignation not long after.
• Bittersweet Ending: She leaves office in 1990 having been rounded on by her own party — many of whom she considered close allies, if not friends — though her legacy as the United Kingdom’s first ever female Prime Minister is acknowledged and rewarded by the Queen with a grand gesture; the Order of Merit, awarded at her sole discretion and presented as a parting gift from one powerful female ruler to another, which certainly takes the sting out of things.
• Brainy Brunette: As we see in a glimpse back when she was simply Margaret Roberts back in her Oxford days.
• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Whilst her policies and tenure as Prime Minister may be divisive, to have reached the highest office in the land — in the comparably unenlightened late 70s — is an undeniable achievement. Thatcher was the first female leader of a G7/P5 country and the first female Prime Minister of a sovereign European country. However, while she reaches the highest level of political power in the UK, she doesn't include any women in her cabinet.
• Broken Tears: She suffers several tearful episodes when her party eventually turns against her prior to her resignation. She experiences a silent emotional collapse when hidden from view, briefly breaks her low voice to spit out abuse towards the "little men" who are forcing her downfall, and even goes so far as to attempt to push for the complete dissolution of Parliament. In the end she breaks down in tears before the Queen, as she is informed that the party and people of Britain no longer support her.
• Category Traitor: The most powerful woman in the world, but has no faith that any other members of her sex can achieve what she has, and determinately sticks to an all-male cabinet, which causes some consternation for the Queen.
• City Mouse: She was raised as a grocer's daughter in central Grantham and is a politician who doesn't focus on leisure time. As a result she is a Fish out of Water amongst the privileged and country-loving Royal Family, showing up to Balmoral with no suitable outfits or shoes for the country sports she’s invited to take part in.
• Character Tics: She tends to tilt her head and keep a steely gaze as a gesture of deep dissaproval towards whoever is talking.
• Cold Ham: The Lady speaks in a famously modulated, measured tone and most of her diatribes ache under the weight of ideological axioms. She solemnly lectures people — the Queen included — with her theatrically earnest, dogmatic thinking in an entirely unabashed manner.
• Commonality Connection: Whilst they may have frequently butted heads, the Queen is sympathetic, as a woman, to the manner in which Thatcher was turned on and ousted by her party. She tells Thatcher that just as she had to deal with a cadre of “old, grey men” when she ascended the throne, she commends the way Thatcher herself dealt with the “old, grey men” of Parliament. It is this shared connection, as well as shared faith and love of country that compels the Queen to award Mrs Thatcher with ‘The Order Of Merit’, an award limited to just 24 living recipients and granted at the sole discretion of the monarch to those persons who have exhibited exceptional meritorious service, no matter their background. See Stunned Silence.
  The Queen: You could be the daughter of a duke. Or a greengrocer. What matters is your accomplishments and nobody can deny that this is a very different country now, to the one inherited by our first woman Prime Minister.
• Consummate Professional: Work is everything to her, and she has no time for the trivial parlour games at Balmoral during her first visit as Prime Minister.
• Control Freak: Her leadership style is decisive and inflexible — even in the face of rampant criticism, including that which comes directly from the Queen over sanctions against South Africa.
• Daddy's Girl: Her alderman-grocer father instilled in her the values of hard work, and he's clearly her inspiration, as the Queen comes to find out during a couple of audiences.

• Determinator: Authoritative, opinionated and always in charge, she never backs down if she thinks she’s right, even in the face of overwhelming criticism. Most keenly seen in her absolute determination to crush the invading Argentines and defend the sovereign territory of the Falkland Islands.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: In "48:1", she states that she wants neither pity nor compassion from anyone as "nothing would insult [her] more".
• Easily Forgiven: Britain in the early 80s was wracked with galloping unemployment and social unrest, her Conservative Party's popularity was massively down, and she was increasingly criticized for not having a handle on things. However, her determination to go to war and win back the Falkland Islands from the invading Argentine junta got the nation firmly behind her and sky-rocketed her popularity almost overnight.
• Enemies Equals Greatness: A staunch defendant of this, firmly quoting a long poem from Charles Mackay to the Queen.
• Exact Words: Agrees to "signals" regarding South Africa because it's vague enough to be used for her purposes — which is not to join the Commonwealth sanctions against them.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: Mrs Thatcher, unlike many of her predecessors and in spite of her rather grand, modulated tones, was actually from a humble lower-middle class background. In "The Balmoral Test" she commits a long series of faux pas, as she is not accustomed to the royal family's lifestyle (she doesn’t hunt, she and her husband sleep in the same bed, she dresses for dinner two hours early, etc) but the dimmest view is taken over her decision to accompany the Queen stalking in a bright blue dress and unsuitable court shoes.
• Female Misogynist:
  • She believes that women are too emotional to be trusted with positions in high office, despite being the Prime Minister, and she says this all to the ''Queen regnant'' of all people, who represents the highest office in the country. It reveals her own Pride in having attained the rank of Prime Minister, against all odds, but also shows her canny knack for kicking the ladder out from beneath her.
  • On a smaller scale, she also believes she must display Housewife behaviour while she's the Prime Minister, even while disdaining housewives, simply because she has no other concept of female duties.
• Foil: To the Queen. Both women are a force to be reckoned with, but that’s where the similarity ends. The Queen holds her position by birthright and is deeply traditional and historically-minded, taking time to relax with country sports. Mrs. Thatcher is a self-made, work-obsessed, lower-middle class grocer’s daughter and is immovably and unapologetically modernising in her pursuit of social order and economic growth.
• Freudian Excuse: Her disdain and low view of women stems from a tense relationship with her mother, which she lets infect her attitude towards other women in her career and her relationship with her daughter.
• Go-Getter Girl: As seen in a Hard-Work Montage flashback to her Oxford days, where she’s seen skilfully conducting chemical experiments and later on, with only a firm look, silencing a rowdy group waiting for her to give a speech, before posing for a prescient photograph with her all-male fellow undergraduates.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Wears a striking purple maxi dress for dinner at Balmoral.
• Happily Married: Famously so to her husband, Denis. She even takes offense about a maid unpacking his suitcase when she feels a wife ought to do it and is distressed at the thought of not sharing a bed with him at Balmoral.
• Historical Beauty Update: Downplayed. While PM Thatcher was a pleasant enough looking woman, here she is played by famed 90s babe Gillian Anderson - but with Anderson at a similar age and in even-further aging makeup.
• Hypocrite:
  • Everyone else can and must care for themselves, but the resources of multiple governments are frantically looking for Mark Thatcher despite his own recklessness and foolishness.
  • She claims to despise the Commonwealth of Nations due to it being full of “unstable despotisms with appalling human rights records” yet she refuses to sanction the apartheid government of South Africa with its own appalling human rights record — although South Africa was neither unstable nor a dictatorship, suggesting what she cared about more.
    • On that note, she tells the Queen that she aims to turn Britain from a nation that is "dependent to self-reliant" – to explain just why she's maintaining Anglo-South African trade (incidentally, protecting Thatcher family business interests) and thus tying her own hands on the matter of not implementing sanctions.
  • She expresses open disdain for women in politics, arguing that women are too emotional to effectively lead... yet takes on the Prime Minister's job anyway. The twist is that she only becomes emotional when she can no longer effectively lead.
• Iron Lady: The Trope Namer, she was beyond iron to somewhere around titanium towards her (entirely male) cabinet, and defined the "presidential Premiership" in British politics even more than Tony Blair. The nickname was applied to her in an insulting manner by the Soviet military newspaper Red Star in 1976, when she was still Leader of the Opposition, but soon became affectionate.
• Lack of Empathy: Her Ayn Rand-style political philosophy and worldview, constantly championing worrying about yourself before anyone else. It eventually hits an internal Berserk Button for the Queen, who attempts to publicly call her out over joining sanctions against apartheid South Africa — but to no avail.
• Landslide Election: She sails into office in an election which saw a 5.2% swing from Labour to the Conservatives, the largest swing since the 1945 election, which Clement Attlee won for Labour.
• Life's Work Ruined: After her own deputy, Geoffrey Howe, calls for her to be voted out (to a packed Commons), and she is subsequently forced to stand down, she laments not being able to finish her self-appointed mission of making Britain completely self-reliant.
• Married to the Job: Famously so. She tells Princess Margaret that leisure time gives her little joy, as working is what she loves most. She finally confesses to the Queen that the job is her only true passion.
• Might Makes Right: She favors her father and son Mark for being "strong" and shows disdain for anyone that shows vulnerability or is marginalized (her daughter, her mother, other women, poor people, etc).
• Mother Nature, Father Science: Thatcher is an Oxford-trained research chemist (and still the only scientist to become Prime Minister) and Female Misogynist with a cold, clinical view of the world and a strong desire to operate on the level of other men.
• Nepotism: One of, if not the main reason for her reluctance to agree to sanctions against South Africa, despite overwhelming pressure from the other Commonwealth nations and the Queen herself, is the fact that her beloved son Mark has business interests in the country, which she casually, though revealingly, notes to the Queen.
• No Social Skills: She has the particular force of character and charisma required to be a very successful politician, but social pleasantries are another matter, and overall she's an obsessive, intimidating workaholic with an inability to relax, a Lack of Empathy and No Sense of Humor.
• Not Like Other Girls: To both her credit — she is the PM; a huge and rare achievement for anyone, made all the more unlikely by her gender and background — and her Female Misogynist detriment (she believes she is only the PM because she's not like other girls, and shows no interest in working with or understanding any of them). She's an excellent example of the problems and dangers of this belief.
• Parental Favoritism: Openly favours her son Mark, and spoils him rotten compared to his twin sister Carol, who voices her frustration to their father over being The Un-Favourite.^note It's worth noting in Real Life, she wasn't quite so bad. Carol's ex-boyfriend Jonathan Aitken was NEVER given a Cabinet position solely due to having "made Carol cry". Carol has also arguably been more successful and far less notorious than her brother. It’s presented as boiling down to Margaret’s own internalised misogyny.
• Patriotic Fervor: The idea that the Argentine junta has trespassed on (and later invaded) sovereign British soil, albeit far away in the South Atlantic, spurs her into a protective, idealistic fury. Her actions also create this amongst the British people, and following Argentina's declaration of surrender, the streets are filled with Union Flag bunting and chants of "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, oi, oi, oi!" – strangely enough, out of respect (the chant was conceived of by various anti-Thatcher protest groups).
• Pet the Dog: She and Denis have a very loving, healthy, and even gender-norms defying relationship. She's also a normal mother frantic for the safety of her child when son Mark goes missing.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Overlapping with Politically Incorrect Hero depending on POV, but politically incorrect all the same.
  • She dismisses the leaders of the Commonwealth countries as "unreliable tribal leaders in eccentric costumes”, highlighting her dim view of the institution itself and the irrelevance she perceives of the nations within it. In her mind, having to make small-talk with someone like the President of Zambia just gets in the way of talking to fellow power-players like Ronald Reagan or Mikhail Gorbachev.
  • She's also the infamous lone Commonwealth holdout against sanctioning the South African apartheid regime.
  • Her views on women and the social contract also fall firmly under here.
• Power Hair: Sports her signature honey-blonde '80s Hair bouffant, of course.
• Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Anderson voices Mrs Thatcher with her signature low, slightly scratchy, modulated tones. The real-life Thatcher completely changed her accent (which was Midlands) and slightly shrill pitch to the low, clear register she is famous for in order to be taken more seriously as her career progressed — it worked.
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: She does wear dresses of course but as the 80s progressed, her wardrobe became more and more masculine, with a penchant for brass-buttoned power-suits that verge on the militaristic. And despite leaning into Housewife duties (due to her conservative values), she disdains her mother for being "weak" i.e. being 'just a housewife' without realising that it was the only role her mother was allowed to have and that her beloved father may have firmly had a hand in that.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: After sweeping to power in the '79 election, her popularity took a nose-dive over increasing unemployment and social unrest. However, her iron-jawed display of military might in taking back the occupied Falkland Islands catapulted her back into the public's good books.
• Self-Made Woman: Despite her rather grand persona, the greengrocer's daughter is deeply proud of her lower-middle class background and values self-motivated determination and grit above all else. Many of the speeches we see or hear her give over the course of the series reference working hard, getting on with it, and not relying on others (AKA the State) for help.
• Social Darwinist: Has a disdain for "weak" people or people relying on government assistance, exhibits internalized misogyny, values her son Mark for being "strong" even though he's an ungrateful Jerk Jock who looks down on non-English people.
  Thatcher: But there is a limit to what one can do if people are themselves limited.
• Speak Truth To Power: Unlike any of her predecessors, she isn’t at all over-awed or intimidated by her audiences with the Queen, and wrestles control of the conversation out of her hands on occasion.
• Stunned Silence: When the Queen awards her the immensely prestigious Order of Merit as, essentially, a cheering-up goodbye present (and something of a thank-you), and pins it on her personally, the famously vocal Thatcher is too amazed to utter a word.
• Subtext: Her son Mark goes missing in the Algerian desert whilst taking part in the Paris-Dakar rally at the same time that the Argentine government invades South Georgia (a British overseas territory). Worried sick for her son, she chews out an aid who tells her she should do nothing about the Argentine situation, seemingly equating it with her son's disappearance.
• Team Mum: Despite being a ball-breaker around the debating table, she's also seen clucking around the kitchen and serving up kedgeree to her senior cabinet members in a very maternal manner. It was often opined that part of the reason for her success as Tory leader was that, as a somewhat ferocious lower-middle class woman, she reminded her primarily upper/upper-middle class male cabinet of nanny or (even scarier) the matron at boarding school, and so, for a good many years, they obediently toed the line.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: She is utterly broken by the manner in which her party turned on her, and forced her out of her role as party leader and Prime Minister after eleven years of what she felt was strong, supportive leadership.
• True Blue Femininity: Consistently wears Conservative Party blue as it showcases her formidable personality, her loyalty to the Party, makes her stand out — and she looks damned good in it.
• Verbal Tic: “No. No. No” to express strong disagreement, always three times, and Punctuated! For! Emphasis!.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The show attempts to humanize her actions as being performed out of a firm-held belief that she must fix the problems her nation faces, no matter the cost, but frequently she comes off as a militant, detached person incapable of empathy for anyone other than her son and husband, and lacking self-awareness.
• Women Are Wiser: Defied. While she spoils and enables Mark's behavior, Denis scolds him for not showing more gratitude to the rescue team that returned him safely to England.
• Workaholic: Admits she takes no pleasure in idle time and has no passion for anything but working in government. She even steals a private moment at Balmoral to look through her red box when she's supposed to be out stalking with the Queen.

John Major

The Right Honourable John Major, 50th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

^{Click here}  to see his cameo in Season 4

Played By: Marc Ozall (Season 4), Jonny Lee Miller (Season 5)

"The senior royals seem dangerously deluded and out of touch. The junior royals, feckless, entitled, and lost. And the Prince of Wales, impatient for a bigger role in public life, fails to appreciate that his one great asset is his wife. It's a situation that can't help but affect the stability of the country. And what makes it worse is, it feels it's all about to erupt. On my watch."

Elizabeth's ninth Prime Minister (1990-97). Formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer, later Margaret Thatcher's successor as Prime Minister, following her resignation.

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• The Comically Serious: His description to the Queen of how he got engulfed in Yeltsin's Vodka Drunkenski antics and his own attemps to maintain composure in the middle of it all during his visit to the Kremlim is full of bathos.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Although he and Thatcher have commonality in their humble backgrounds, Major is famously a dramatic departure in character from the charismatic, opinionated, and larger-than-life Thatcher, being a somewhat flat, inanimate, slightly bland man who, when spoofed, was often depicted in colourless grey-scale.
• Dismissing a Compliment: When Charles starts to scheme against his mother and tries to cajole Major, praising him as a remarkable person with some "fascinating contradictions", like becoming a Tory despite coming from a working class background, Major just stares at him, remaining unswayed and inscrutable.
• Firing Day: His 1997 farewell scenes are rather poignant, with a saddened Major receiving warm praise from Elizabeth II and then gracefully Passing the Torch to Tony Blair, waiting for Blair's car as the new PM arrives to the Palace for his first audience with the Queen.
  Major: It's a funny old business. One day, you're prime minister, arguably the most... Well, the second-most important person in the country, and the next, you lose your job, your car, and you're evicted from your home. All before lunch. [...] Good luck.
• Graceful Loser: In keeping with his Nice Guy personality, in "Decommissioned", Major is magnanimous in defeat against Tony Blair. On his way out of Buckingham Palace, Major waits for Blair to wish him "good luck" and then there's a very touching moment where, having taken a final look round Number 10, Major leaves his replacement a bottle of champagne and little hand-written note, simply saying "It's a great job, enjoy it!".
• Nerd Glasses: Famously wears a pair of thick, large-lensed specs, and pursues the trivial parts of the work of Her Majesty's Treasury.
• Nice Guy: Comes across as the nicest of the Prime Ministers depicted in the show.
• Not So Similar: Prince Charles tries to enlist his support, comparing his succession of Margaret Thatcher with Charles' hypothetical ascension to the throne, presenting it as a much needed renovation. Major remains prudent and doesn't indulge the analogy.
• Number Two: Serves as this to Thatcher in Season 4 (aside from deputy PM Geoffrey Howe), silently sitting by her side handling the busywork while she preaches her policies.
• Only Sane Employee: He's the only one in the royal circle who is aware of the collision course the family is set on due to their petty tribulations, but unfortunately it's not his place to correct it, as that is a task undertaken by the Private Secretaries and, as head of the family, the Queen herself.
• The Quiet One: Of all of Elizabeth’s Prime Ministers (some of whom are outright Large Hams), he’s easily the most softly-spoken and composed, though what he does say tends to carry more weight for that very reason.
• Rank Up: After Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister, Major gains a considerable majority, even beating out Michael Heseltine who forced his boss to resign in the first place, and leads the Conservative Party into The '90s.
• The Reliable One: Major is afforded something of a Historical Hero Upgrade from the bland, nerdy man he is often remembered for being, and is portrayed as a sage, guru-like figure whose calm demeanor and rationality lend him the qualities of The Social Expert in his dealings with the Royal Family. For this very reason, the Queen asks him to mediate between Charles and Diana, even though she acknowledges that he is the busiest person in the country before getting him to take on this burden.
• Royal Favorite: Upon his defeat in a Landslide Election won by the (New) Labour Party, the Queen takes the rare step of assuring Major that she finds him calm, forthright and dependable and — in a rare showing of uncharacteristic, unfiltered praise — that she counts him as one of her favourite Prime Ministers, something that William tells to the Middletons years later. ^note Which proved true in Real Life; the series doesn't mention the once-in-a-decade honour of the Queen dining in Number 10 in 1996, for the 80th birthday of former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, with John Major as host.
• Self-Made Man: Like Mrs Thatcher before him, he entirely lacks the Etonian privileges of his predecessors, and in fact was the Brixton-born son of a music-hall performer. After leaving school with just three O-levels, he worked a variety of clerical jobs and endured a period of unemployment (during which he tried and failed to become a bus conductor) before working his way up the political ladder, despite the odds being stacked against him. When he meets with Prince Charles, the prince (slightly clumsily) expresses his own amazement that a boy from Brixton could rise to the highest elected office in the land.
• The Spock: Major is an inscrutable fellow, and unlike many of Queen Elizabeth's previous Prime Ministers, he approaches conversations with members of the Royal Family with cautious logic. In the face of Prince Charles' flattery, and his attempts to convince him of the legitimacy of a Sunday Times poll, which notes that a solid portion of the populace would approve of the Queen abdicating in his favour, Major remains non-committal, entirely unemotional, and only comments to advise caution over taking any poll too seriously. Similarly, when the Queen herself approaches him with a request to overhaul the Royal Yacht Britannia at a cost to the taxpayer of £14.75 million, he (sensibly) advises against it, asserting that with the current global recession such extragence would be a mistake optically.
• Third-Party Peacekeeper: Due to his quiet, rational temperament and overall trustworthiness, the Queen asks him to mediate during the Wales’ divorce.
• This Is Gonna Suck: In "Queen Victoria Syndrome", set during his first year of office in 1990, he spends time one-on-one with Prince Charles and then the Queen before he and his wife Norma are thrown into the mayhem of a summer at Balmoral and the decadence of the annual Ghillies Ball. As the evening concludes, he warns Norma that the Royal Family are a tinderbox ready to blow — and that it's going to happen on his watch.
• Workaholic: Norma mentions somewhat sharply that their children don't see him and his devotion to the job over everything else appears to be straining his marriage a bit.
• Younger Than They Look: He rose to Premiership in his late 40s (relatively young for a PM) but he’s not exactly "hip", and a combination of his gray hair, conservative clothes and poised demeanour makes him seem more mature than his years.

Tony Blair

The Right Honourable Anthony Charles Linton Blair, 51st Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Bertie Carvel

"New Britain!"

Elizabeth's 10th Prime Minister and the first to have been born during her reign. Blair famously breezed into power in 1997 on a wave of promised change after eighteen years of Conservative rule.

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• Artistic License – History: The series implies that in 2005 his career was already down in flames, something that tends to happen with all the PMs and was predicted by the Queen Mother. Prince Charles notes that despite a waning popularity, Blair has a misplaced ambition to become the first Labour PM to win a third successive (and unlikely) term. In reality, Blair still had plenty of political steam and was able to coast towards a comfortable third victory shortly after the end of the show ^note  By the time of Charles III's ascension in late 2022, Blair was the last PM to win three general elections (1997, 2001, 2005), the longest-serving PM of the politically turbulent 21st century, (stepping down voluntarily in 2007 in favour of Gordon Brown, partially as per their deal), and the ninth historically.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Famously sports one.
• Commonality Connection: Prince Charles attempts this approach again, citing a similar forward-thinking mindset, reformist drive and a common generational youth that would make them "brothers", with Blair being an allegorical child of the Queen. Similar flattery failed with Major, but Blair is more receptive to it.
  Blair: To be stuck in a system that wants you to be nothing. No one. Without a voice. It would be like being trapped for eternity in opposition. I mean, we had 18 years. That was bad enough. He's already had 50.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: With his media-savvy "presidential premiership" style, grinning charisma, and "Call me Tony" cosy informality, yet again he's a UK Prime Minister utterly unlike his predecessor.
• Cult of Personality: John Major relays to the Queen, when she asks what Mr Blair is like, that he has captured the mood of the nation with his youthful, modern, media-savvy approach, but equally there are also thoughts that he's all style and no substance.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: He starts his tenure as so wildly popular that one of his nicknames is "King Tony". By the time of the last episode, his newest nickname is "Tony Bliar", owing to his part in the controversial and unpopular Iraq War, and his approval ratings have completely tanked. Interestingly, the Queen Mother predicted with absolute certainty that this would happen, having seen almost all of Blair's predecessors go the exact same way.
• Humble Pie: Riding high on his immense popularity, Blair gives a speech to a vast crowd of Women’s Institute members — a staunchly traditional, wholesome institution that the Queen herself is hugely passionate about. Unwisely, Blair makes the cardinal error of giving a party-political broadcast in a space where politicking is an absolute no-no, and he’s slow-clapped off stage. It’s the first inkling of the popularity tanking he’ll see in future.
• Internal Reformist: Blair overhauled the Labour Party and is expected to do the same with the country following his 1997 landslide victory, under the motto of "New Britain". Prince Charles tries and begins to win Blair's sympathy by evoking it as their common goal.
• Landslide Election: Blair famously comes to power in 1997 under his "New Labour" ideology in an election which sees his Labour Party win its largest landslide general election victory in its history.
• Last Episode, New Character: Introduced in the Series 5 finale, "Decommissioned".
• Meaningful Rename: Blair and his team were determined to completely overhaul Labour's rusty old socialist image, and with their finger-on-the-pulse insight into the growing power of mass media, combined with their public-relations savvy, rebadged the traditionally blue-collar Labour Party as New Labour. Blair's entire campaign was built on offering a "New Britain"; an alternative to Conservative rule, with disaffected middle-class cubicle slaves as his election base. As seen in "Decommissioned", the strategy and rebadging work to great effect, and his election win is a landslide.
• The Rival: The Queen is uneasy with him and has a nightmare in which "King Tony" has supplanted her, and her dislike of him is rather palpable. ^note  Notably, Blair's honours - Knight of the Garter - were delayed for 15 years. Knighthood used to be bestowed regularly upon former prime ministers much sooner, with John Major getting a royal distinction (Order of the Companions of Honour) just 2 years after leaving the office, and becoming a knight after 8 years.
• Transatlantic Equivalent: Whilst Mrs Thatcher is often thought to have pioneered the concept of a "presidential premiership", she is still unmistakably British in her Grande Dame stateliness, whereas Blair is very much the "presidential" Prime Minister, taking inspiration from American politicians in terms of his touchy-feely, emotionally-driven, media-savvy persona and ad-man approach to politics. He even suggests rebadging HMY Britannia as "New Britain", which, rather crassly, is one of his campaign slogans.
• Uniformity Exception: The first PM born in Scotland since Ramsay MacDonald left office in 1935, and the only example in the series. ^note Just how Scottish he is is a matter of debate; he claims he lost the accent when he was young, and as Gordon Brown says to him in Morgan's The Deal (2003), "Yer English". In a nutshell, Blair has never personally self-identified as either English or Scottish, only as the less specific British. His father, Leo Parsons, was born in England but grew up in Scotland after being adopted by the Blairs, a Glaswegian couple, while his mother, Hazel, was from Donegal in Ireland. Blair grew up partly in England, partly in Scotland, and (briefly) in Australia. Taking all that into account, it makes sense that Blair would consider himself to be simply British rather than English or Scottish.
• Warhawk: Blair’s fervour for ground-based warfare is presented as a moral crusade that’s tinged with a quest for personal glory, and is ultimately his undoing as a popular Prime Minister, as his positive public opinion plummets over the bloody Iraq War.
• Young and in Charge: Aged only 43 when he came to power, Blair was the youngest UK Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool took power in 1812 at the time of his appointment. Being born in 1953 (the first PM born after WWII and during Elizabeth's reign) allows Prince Charles to describe Blair as the first PM young enough to be the Queen's son.
• Your Tradition Is Not Mine: In Series 6, during the cultural shift to a less deferential Britain under New Labour and amidst the Royal Family’s declining popularity, Blair (egged on by Cherie) strongly advises Elizabeth to reduce the Royal Household’s list of occasionally comically-specialised staff. She initially errs, but after interviewing every one of said staff, Elizabeth acknowledges their merit as guardians of tradition and history, and refuses to act on his advice.

Government Officials

Churchill's Government

Lord Salisbury

The Most Honourable Robert "Bobbety" Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury, Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council

Played By: Clive Francis

A high-ranking Conservative politician and member of Churchill's government.

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• Beleaguered Assistant: Is aghast and completely befuddled when dealing with Churchill when he refuses to relay the seriousness of his ailing health, and the fact that he's had a stroke, to the Queen.
  Bobbety: A stwoke??
• Blue Blood: As a marquess (junior only to a duke) in his own right, Bobbety is amongst the highest ranking members of parliament, even prior to the ranks of office he attained.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Like the real Lord Salisbury, he is unable to pronounce Rs.
• In the Blood: When he is being scolded by Elizabeth for hiding the health problems of Churchill and Eden, she muses that the phrase, "History teaches never trust a Cecil", as being more appropriate than previously thought.^* The saying appears to be anachronistic though, since the earliest reference is to Bobbety's grandson, also Robert, then Lord Cranborne, for his secret backroom deal on Lords Reform with Tony Blair in 1998.
• Known Only by Their Nickname: No one ever calls him by his name. Louis Mountbatten calls him Bobbety Salisbury, throwing in his title.
• Oh, Crap!: He and Churchill exchange this look when they realize Elizabeth will be meeting them individually.

Jock Colville

Sir Jock Colville, Joint Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Played By: Nicholas Rowe

Chuchill's Private Secretary, former Private Secretary to Princess Elizabeth.

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• Beleaguered Assistant: A given for any civil servant subordinate to Winston, a force of nature even in his 80s, and crankier than ever. He at least has the advantage of having being Churchill's aid during the darkest (and finest) hours of WWII.
• Mistaken Confession: When the Queen summons him, he assumes it's about Number 10's conspiracy to hide Churchill's strokes and apologizes for lying. It turns out the Queen didn't know about it and the meeting was about Lascelles' succession.
• Secret-Keeper: He keeps Winston’s strokes a secret from the Queen.

Macmillan's Government

Selwyn Lloyd

The Right Honourable John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Played By: Richard Elfyn

Amongst the highest-ranking members of Macmillan’s government in his capacity as Foreign Secretary, and a close ally of the Duke of Windsor.

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• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Selwyn’s role is amongst the most senior of government positions (fourth in ministerial rankings) and he is therefore able, seemingly on a whim, to offer his old friend the Duke of Windsor one of the most senior and important ambassadorial roles in the land; Ambassador to France, a nation considered one of the United Kingdom’s most important allies.
• Spanner in the Works: Selwyn’s plan to help his old friend the Duke is blocked by the Queen herself after she uncovers the ugly truth of her uncle’s Nazi sympathies hidden within the Marburg Files.
• Undying Loyalty: To the Duke of Windsor. He's the most powerful of David’s remaining friends and the one who orchestrates the failed comeback of the former king to public service.

John Profumo

The Right Honourable John Dennis Profumo, Secretary of State for War

Played By: Tim Steed

Secretary of War to Harold Macmillan and the namesake of the scandal that takes down his government.

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• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: The so-called "Profumo Affair" is detailed in Series 2 finale, "Mystery Man". In a nutshell, the married Profumo is accused of having an affair with an aspiring model and escort, whom he met at one of the infamous "sex parties" set up by Society fixer Stephen Ward. The plot thickens when it's alleged that the girl in question, Christine Keeler, is also having an affair with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a senior naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy in London. For a government minister – the War Minister, no less – to be sharing a bed with such a personal associate of a Soviet diplomat at the height of the Cold War is an issue of national security, not to mention fabulous gossip. (In an even smaller nutshell, "Billy Jo-el" later got it down to "British politician sex".)
• Redemption Quest: Profumo never went back into (or anywhere near) politics, but spent the rest of his life working as a volunteer for a charity dealing with poverty. This even earned him... an honour from the Queen, and a seat next to her at Margaret Thatcher's birthday dinner, twenty years later in 1995. He's usually now held up as proof that you can redeem yourself after complete infamy and disgrace.
• Scandalgate: The scandal reaches such a fever pitch that Profumo addresses the House, claiming no impropriety whatsoever in his acquaintance with Keeler, but the story doesn't go away. As more and more details began to emerge, Profumo is left with no option. In his resignation letter to Harold Macmillan, Profumo admits lying to the House. Ward, faced with pimping charges, is Driven to Suicide. The scandal is also the last straw for Macmillan’s already shaky government and Macmillan resigns, broken, and citing his recent ill-health to the furious Queen, who feels utterly let down by another "elected quitter". 

Wilson's Government

Marcia Williams

Miss Marcia Matilda Williams, Political Secretary to the Prime Minister

Played by: Sinead Matthews

The private secretary of, then political secretary for and head of Harold Wilson's political office. She was later a Member of the House of Lords from 1974 to 2019 under the style Baroness Falkender.

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• '60s Hair: Her thick strawberry-blonde hair is styled into a wavy 60s 'bouffant' 'do.
• Aggressive Categorism: Absolutely hates the Royal Family, and tries to convince Wilson to portion the public outrage over the Aberfan disaster onto the Queen, when she initially doesn't attend the disaster zone.
• Behind Every Great Man: She's depicted as the driving force behind much of Wilson's policy and is surprisingly blunt and confrontational with the man who is, of course, her boss.
• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: She and Barbara Castle, below, represent the first time that women working in the UK Government held senior Cabinet positions — and both are a force to be reckoned with.
• Fiery Redhead: Has strawberry blonde hair and a hot temper to match — she even openly bollocks the PM when she feels he's acting weakly, barking at him to 'grow some balls' over his reluctance to deflect public outrage for the Aberfan disaster onto the Queen, and away from the Party.
• Hypocrite: In the same conversation with Wilson, while watching furious Welsh residents berate the Jerk Justification-spouting, Labour-controlled National Coal Board on TV, she expresses bewilderment and concern more about the Conservative government allowing the conditions for the Aberfan disaster to arise than about the disaster itself, then proclaims empathy for the victims' families when the conversation turns to Elizabeth's inaction.
• Number Two: To Harold Wilson — as The Guardian wrote in her obituary, everyone agreed that Williams “was the single most influential figure among his staff."

Barbara Castle

The Right Honourable Barbara Anne Castle (née Betts), First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity

Played By: Lorraine Ashbourne

Harold Wilson's other powerful right hand woman who was First Secretary of State in his first government. She would become Secretary of Health and Social Services when Wilson returned to power.

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• '50s Hair: Sports a softer, fuller version of HM the Queen's classic 50s 'do, dyed in a deep red.
• Apron Matron: She's bolshy, opinionated, northern and female — attributes utterly atypical to the previous Conservative Government.
• Berserk Button: Prince Philip's television interview, where he suggests that the Royal Family should have a pay-rise, causes an explosive reaction in the deeply socialist Barbara.
• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Like Marcia Williams above, Castle's senior cabinet role represented a pioneering new wave of women in politics. She is often regarded as the most important female Labour Party politician of the 20th Century.
• Fiery Redhead: She's not Margaret Thatcher. Temperament and hairstyle (and gender and the above broken rains of glass) are the only things they have in common — however, without a good knowledge of British politics and timeframes, despite Castle being her Foil and political antithesis, it is amusingly possible to mix them up.
• Hero of Another Story: She has a more prominent role in the film Made in Dagenham.
• Working-Class Hero: Unlike many of her predecessors, Castle was from a humble background and worked her way up. Many senior Labour politicians (particularly women) in the modern era cite her as the reason they got into politics.

Thatcher's Government

Sir Geoffrey Howe

The Right Honourable Sir Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Played By: Paul Jesson

Thatcher's deputy Prime Minister from 1989 to 1990. His resignation is widely considered to have accelerated her downfall.

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• The Dog Bites Back: He was known as a mild-mannered, fairly loyal deputy, but his highly public resignation, after having been pushed too far by Mrs Thatcher over her policies on Europe and generally disagreeable treatment, was perhaps the final nail in her coffin as PM.
• Number Two: To Prime Minister Thatcher, who at one point cites his lack of gumption for his inability to bag the top job of PM.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Formerly mild-mannered Howe delivers an epic one of the these to Mrs Thatcher to a packed House upon his very public resignation, using a now-famous cricket-based simile to tear into her.
  Howe: It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease, only for them to find, as the first balls are being bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.

Willie Whitelaw

The Right Honourable William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council

Played By: Don Gallagher

A high-ranking Conservative politician and one of Thatcher's closest allies. Whitelaw was previously Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983.

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• Number Two: Serves as deputy Conservative Party leader in the House of Lords while Thatcher leads the field in the House of Commons.
• Undying Loyalty: To Mrs Thatcher — he was always one of her closest allies and she once famously and playfully noted that "every Prime Minister needs a Willie."

Lords Spiritual

Archbishop Fisher

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Geoffrey Francis Fisher, 99th Archbishop of Canterbury

Played By: Ronald Pickup

The Archbishop of Canterbury when Elizabeth takes the throne, and principal head of the Church of England.

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• The Church: As can be seen from his full title, he is the 99th Archbishop of Canterbury in an ancient line going all the way back to the year 597 — when Elizabeth’s distant ancestor, Ceol of Wessex was King — and provides spiritual leadership and guidance to all Anglicans worldwide, including the Queen herself.
• High Priest: He represents the highest religious office in the land as direct head of the Church of England on behalf of the reigning monarch, its Supreme Governor. Only the Queen, therefore, is his senior.
• Holy City: Canterbury, his holy seat. It was a very common destination for pilgrimages on account of its beautiful cathedral and it being the site of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket. It is the principal see of the Church of England, and has been ever since it was still a part of the Catholic Church. However, like all Archbishops of Canterbury, he lives in Lambeth Palace in London.
• Not So Stoic: Tries to remain apolitical and reasonable during the Duke of Windsor's debate with Tommy Lascelles on his scandalised wife attending the coronation, but even he is displeased when David insults the late King.
  Tommy: Nothing weak about the late king, sir. I'm sure I speak for everyone present when I call him a hero.
  Fisher: Hear, hear.
• Serious Business: “Violating the scriptures and offending The Church” are the main reasons Elizabeth cites to Margaret for her blocking her marriage to the divorced Peter Townsend.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Appears briefly in just a few episodes, being highly consequential, administering Elizabeth's coronation and opposing both Edward VIII and Princess Margaret marrying divorced people.

Archbishop Williams

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Doctor Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury

Played By: Richard Heap

The Archbishop of Canterbury as Queen Elizabeth begins her Golden Jubilee year.

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• Boring Religious Service: Of the 'sin is bad' variety. Upon hearing from the Queen that Charles wishes to wed the previously married, now divorced, Camilla, Archbishop Williams lends his weak approval, but mandates that the services must include heavy passages of contrition and acknowledgment of “sin” and “wickedness” from both the bride and groom, which makes for a rather dreary and heavy-going wedding ceremony, which in most cases are supposed to be joyous occasions.
• The Church: He is the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in an ancient line, and principal head of the Church of England — only Queen Elizabeth herself, as Head of the Church of England, is his senior.
• High Priest: He represents the highest religious office in the land as direct head of the Church of England on behalf of the reigning monarch. As a highly religious woman, the Queen therefore feels compelled to ask for his blessing that Prince Charles should finally be allowed to marry Camilla, his true love for over 30 years.

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