Does 'The Crown' Creator Peter Morgan Know Who Said These Royal Lines From His Show?

Variety

Peter Morgan, the creator and writer of Netflix's The Crown, tries to guess which character said well-known lines from the show. He discusses John Lithgow's casting as Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth's memorable 21st birthday speech, and why he almost didn't include Princess Diana in the series.

Transcript

00:00 I'm not an actor, okay.

00:03 Go on.

00:04 - Yeah, you're good.

00:05 That's good.

00:06 - Okay.

00:08 Hi, I'm Peter Morgan.

00:09 I'm going to be guessing who said what and when

00:12 on "The Crown".

00:14 I think?

00:14 - Yes.

00:15 - Right.

00:16 (upbeat music)

00:19 We're all dying.

00:22 That's what defines the conditions of living.

00:26 Are you sure this is from "The Crown"?

00:28 Okay.

00:30 I have no idea.

00:31 I don't remember writing that.

00:32 I mean, it sounds, it feels familiar as,

00:36 yes, linguistically.

00:38 I just, this is AI.

00:40 Is this AI?

00:42 This is a, it's chat GPT.

00:45 - We're all dying.

00:47 That's what defines the condition of living.

00:51 - Who's Winston Churchill?

00:53 No, I'm kidding.

00:54 He was so inappropriate for the role

00:56 that the fact that he became so stunning in the role

00:59 involved elasticity and talent.

01:04 And so you were just boggling at what he was up to.

01:07 And then he had great power and presence.

01:11 I mean, physically, he was so wrong for it

01:14 and he ended up being so right for it.

01:16 So that's about the inhabiting of a part.

01:19 I don't think of myself as royalty.

01:21 First and foremost, I'm a wife and a mother.

01:23 That's what's most important to me.

01:27 Diana?

01:27 I'm imagining season six.

01:31 [buzzer]

01:32 No?

01:33 Four?

01:34 Really?

01:37 - I don't think of myself as royalty.

01:40 No, first and foremost, I'm a wife and a mother.

01:43 - I sort of felt to myself,

01:44 I'm prepared to write this show without Diana

01:47 if we can't find someone who I believe is Diana.

01:51 You could get a lot of people to act

01:54 that class and that age,

01:56 but Diana is so totemic, so unique.

01:59 And I felt that, obviously,

02:01 that those two actors could do it.

02:04 And so it was a pleasure and a privilege to write the part.

02:07 But I think I would've been paralyzed

02:09 writing for someone that I didn't believe could do it.

02:12 And so I would've tried to reconfigure the whole show

02:15 almost without a Diana, which seems now impossible.

02:19 But that's only because I did feel it was possible

02:21 because of who we got.

02:23 [typing]

02:24 That was impressively cunty.

02:26 I think I gave that line to Prince Andrew, didn't I?

02:28 [buzzer]

02:30 Oh, Prince Edward?

02:32 Okay, one of the brothers.

02:34 - That was impressively cunty.

02:37 - Yeah, that was done with a sort of eyebrow going up.

02:40 It's amazing that you could use that word

02:42 and it loses some of its offensiveness

02:45 when wrapped up in an eyebrow-raised delivery.

02:49 It looks like a line out of "The Succession,"

02:51 but it's actually a line out of "The Crown."

02:53 I wonder how many lines from "The Crown"

02:55 could be in "Succession."

02:56 - There's this fancy new business theory.

02:58 It's called make more than you spend and you're King Cunt.

03:01 Dad, come on.

03:03 - I declare before you that my whole life,

03:04 whether it be long or short,

03:05 shall be devoted to your service

03:06 and the service of our great imperial family

03:08 to which we all belong.

03:09 I didn't write that.

03:11 The Queen wrote that.

03:12 [ding]

03:13 Or somebody wrote it for the Queen.

03:15 Well, she would've said that,

03:16 I think we had that in episode eight of season three.

03:20 [buzzer]

03:21 Four.

03:22 Three, four.

03:23 Eh.

03:24 Eh.

03:25 - That my whole life,

03:27 whether it be long or short,

03:30 shall be devoted to your service.

03:34 - And it's really beautiful.

03:35 I declare before you, I declare before you,

03:38 you know, not to you,

03:39 that my whole life, whether it be long or short,

03:42 that parenthesis is nice,

03:44 shall be devoted to your service.

03:46 Again, that's so, there's so much humility in that.

03:50 There's no declaration of it.

03:52 It's almost like a question.

03:54 And the service of our great imperial family

03:56 to which we all belong,

03:57 it's a beautiful, inclusive piece of writing.

04:00 I could never do it justice.

04:03 They're not the job, she is the job.

04:05 She is the essence of your duty.

04:06 Well, episode one,

04:10 George VI to Prince Philip.

04:15 - She is the job.

04:18 (dramatic music)

04:20 She is the essence of your duty.

04:23 - That was actually done

04:24 right at the very end of the first episode.

04:26 Jared delivered the line beautifully.

04:28 It was with real intensity.

04:30 And there was pain,

04:31 the pain of imminent death in the delivery.

04:34 She is the oxygen we all breathe,

04:38 the essence of all our duty.

04:39 Well, that's like the last one.

04:41 Oh, shoot, I didn't mean that.

04:42 Okay, sorry, sorry, I'll do it again.

04:47 Okay, I can't remember,

04:48 but I think it's Margaret.

04:51 No, of course it wasn't.

04:53 Damn right, yes.

04:57 When he gives her the bollocking.

04:59 Yeah, he repeats the line.

05:02 Of course he does.

05:04 - She's the oxygen we all breathe,

05:06 the essence of all our duty.

05:10 - What kind of marriage is this?

05:11 What kind of family?

05:12 You've taken my career from me,

05:13 you've taken my home, you've taken my name.

05:15 Well, that would be early.

05:18 It was definitely when Prince Philip

05:19 is starting to have doubts or he's struggling.

05:22 Season two?

05:23 Season one.

05:25 What kind of marriage is this?

05:27 What kind of family?

05:30 Well, first of all,

05:32 he had fantastic chemistry with Claire Foy.

05:35 They were brilliant together.

05:36 So as a couple,

05:37 they were sort of pretty electric, I thought.

05:40 And Matt, he comes with a restlessness,

05:44 which was really fitting.

05:46 And also, it's very straight-backed Matt.

05:48 Of course he's had no military career,

05:51 but he'd do well, I think.

05:54 You have no enemies, you say.

05:55 Alas, my friend, the boast is poor.

05:56 He who has mingled in the fray of duty

05:58 that the brave endure must have made foes.

06:01 Well, that's Thatcher.

06:03 Season four.

06:05 Episode two, "The Balmoral Test."

06:08 Yes, it was that one.

06:10 Yes, I enjoyed writing that episode.

06:12 - You have no enemies.

06:14 You say, alas, my friend, the boast is poor.

06:19 - I haven't had a conversation with either the Queen

06:21 or with Margaret Thatcher about it,

06:23 but you read up about it, you talk to people,

06:27 and you do your best.

06:28 And then you also have to make, you know,

06:30 you have to make a whole load of suppositions.

06:32 I hope we got it right.

06:33 Well, there were three of us in this marriage,

06:36 so it was a bit crowded.

06:37 Diana, next.

06:40 - Well, there were three of us in this marriage,

06:42 so it was a bit crowded.

06:44 - This is terrible.

06:46 I've got like zero.

06:48 I'm seeing, null point.

06:50 And it all sounds the same.

06:51 (upbeat music)

06:54 (upbeat music)

06:57 (upbeat music)

07:00 (upbeat music)

07:02 (upbeat music)

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