So Many Thoughts on ‘The Crown’ Premiere

What I saw, heard, and wore. Plus, details on my new watch-with-me podcast.

The cast of ‘The Crown’ at the Season 6 premiere in Los Angeles Sunday. (Photo by Robin L Marshall/WireImage via Getty Images)

“I was devastated,” said Elizabeth Debicki, the actress who plays Diana on The Crown, of the first time she read the scripts for the final season. 

As one would be! Part 1, which debuts this week on Netflix, covers the tense and tragic time around the princess’s death. Still, to hear Debicki share that sentiment to a crowd of hundreds gathered for the Season 6 premiere on Sunday evening was quite moving. I leapt at the chance to attend the star-studded event in Los Angeles, not only to see the first episode on the big screen but to listen to Debicki, Crown mastermind Peter Morgan, and others during the panel discussion that followed. Their insights and reflections reminded me how important it is to hear from the people who make this show.

The Crown, for royal watchers, can be quite fraught. There is quite a vocal group against it — remember Dame Judi Dench condemning Season 5 last year before it even aired? She called “both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.” 

That degree of ire has always felt misplaced to me , thanks to the conversations I have had with many of the series stars over the years as contributing editor at Town & Country. For a 2020 cover story, I interviewed Emma Corrin, Josh O’Connor and Emerald Fennell (Diana, Charles, and Camilla in season 4), as well as Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, seasons 3 and 4). Last fall, I Zoomed with Dominic West (Charles, seasons 5 and 6) for another cover and a few months ago I was seated at a dinner next to Debicki (Diana, seasons 5 and 6). I’ve also had the chance to speak to some of the cast from the final installment (which I’ll share when I can!).

Time and time again, I have been amazed at how the actors advocate for the real-life people they play. The Crown’s casting department has done what seems impossible, finding people who not only look the part but feel a connection to the royal family member, too. Informed by the show’s expansive and meticulous research team, these artists quite literally fill the shoes of their characters. The actors speak in clear, credible, and comprehensive terms about the whole person they are depicting; their attachment makes me think about The Crown, and the stories it tells, in a new way.

I left Sunday’s premiere feeling a similar way, and wanted to share more with you. Below are some highlights from the evening, including the scene and the costumes on display, along with reflections on Diana, Dodi Fayed, and the series coming to a close. At the end, I offered up a little SMT of my own outfit (because you know a lot of thought went into it!). 

👑 Coming Up! 

It is Crown week here at So Many Thoughts! Stay tuned for written newsletters preparing you for the season and decoding the fashion on the show, as well as discussion threads to dive into all that is depicted in Part 1.

🎙️ But mostly: I am particularly excited about my new watch-with-me podcast. It’s in the spirit of what I did with my audio thoughts for Spare, stopping as I go to record my reactions to each Crown episode. Click below to upgrade to a paid subscription to get the podcast delivered to your inbox, as well as access to all of the SMT Crown happenings. And thank you! Your support makes this possible.

As always, if for whatever reason you cannot afford a paid subscription please *sign up for a free one first* and then send me an email: Hello@SoManyThoughts.com.

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Highlights of ‘The Crown’ Season 6 Premiere

Staging the UK in the US

My husband, Matt, and I arrived at the theater a few minutes before the corgi — thank goodness! And in those first moments, I was struck by the scene The Crown marketing team had set. It’s always fascinating, to my visual-minded eye, what elements are chosen to bring the UK to the US (it also makes me think what symbols one would use from America to stage elsewhere? But I digress…!)  The red — sorry, blue — carpet was dotted with men dressed as Royal Guards. Clad in bearskin hats and red coats, they shouted and switched spots every so often with admirable commitment. Union Jacks hung high above the step-and-repeat, while a string quartet played delightful variations on The Crown theme music. At one end of the carpet were a pair of gates like those outside of Buckingham Palace; at the other was a large (though not life-sized) cardboard cutout of the Victoria Fountain. The aforementioned corgi was one of the biggest stars: Zigi, a San Diego pup with an Instagram account.

Will and Harry… and Will and Harry and Kate

The first faces I recognized coming down the carpet were those of the younger generation. One could be forgiven for seeing double! For its final season, The Crown has added yet another cast switch, aging the likes of William and Harry between Parts 1 and 2. The energy this new crew brought to the carpet was palpable. All of these actors are largely unknown, and their delight at being in Los Angeles — and at this premiere! — was evident.

The Part 2 crew received glam glow-ups, too, with Ed McVey (William, part 2) in a jacket-less Valentino and Meg Bellamy (Kate, part 2) in slinky black Stella McCartney gown. The award for the most fashion-forward of the night goes to Luther Ford (Harry, part 2). I’ve yet to see a credit for his black sleeveless shirt, patent heeled boots and floor-length sash, but it was a sight to behold. Perhaps IRL Harry will see some inspo there?

Costumes on Parade

At the end of the carpet and lining the sides of the pre-screening reception were costumes from The Crown. You know I loved this! It was such fun seeing them up close, especially Diana’s pieces. I immediately recognized the red, boat-neck shift dress, which the accompanying sign said was made of silk crepe “exclusively in-house for The Crown.”

This season is all about swimsuits, and three iconic ones were on display: the bright green, the leopard print, and that (yes that) iconic blue one. When I asked Elizabeth Debicki what her favorite fashion moment of the season was, she cited that blue bathing suit. Props to the person who was in charge of mannequins for the evening. The leopard print bathing suit was on a form with its hands on its hips, just like in the promo shots of Diana. And that blue suit? It was showcased on a sitting form, its back turned to the viewer.

Screening on the Big Screen

The premiere included a screening of the first episode. No spoilers from me! But what an experience it was to see it in a movie theater. The Crown is a television show most often consumed on a flat screen at home or perhaps something smaller, like a tablet or phone. It’s entirely different to see it in a theater, rendering everything larger than life. The vibrant colors, the details of the costume, the surround sound — it’s a delight for the senses. 

One thing I had not expected was watching it with an audience of hundreds and hundreds of people. There was a lot of levity throughout the hour-long showing, with laughter at scenes that I had not received as funny. It was a reminder that the viewer comes at this show with his or her own emotion toward, and investment in, what is portrayed. 

This was the Plan All Along 

I was most looking forward to the panel discussion after the screening, featuring some of the stars and the creators of The Crown. Executive producer Suzanne Mackie spoke about the journey of the show — and how it was as it was pitched 11 (yes, 11!) years ago.

“I remember sitting in one of the very first early meetings,” Mackie said. “Peter [Morgan] knew what the architecture was of the whole six seasons….that architecture has remained very much intact, and that takes extraordinary skill and confidence and boldness. Of course, there were deviations along the way and it evolved. But essentially Peter knew the story he wanted to tell, and somehow we ended up telling the story of the second half of the 20th century.”

Getting to Know Dodi

One particularly poignant moment was when the moderator asked Khalid Abdalla what it was like to play Dodi Fayed. “It’s an immense challenge and one of the great honors in my life,” Abdalla said. “Dodi is a person who died 26 years ago, has been on supermarket shelves, in magazines, in the background. People know his name and they know virtually nothing else about him.”

When Abdalla was first asked to come meet with The Crown team, he began digging to find out more, looking for accounts of Fayed from his friends. What he found convinced him there was a story to tell. “It is entirely different to the one that is apparently summarized in the one word that hangs around him: playboy,” Abdalla said. “He was a gentle, shy person with a very intense and important relationship with his father. And one of the things that makes me proudest about playing him is that finally, after 26 years, we get to know him a little. We hopefully get to love him a little. And then finally, after 26 years, we can mourn him.” (See what I mean? These actors take this all to heart.)

Diana ‘Deeply in Our Hearts’

I was similarly moved by Elizabeth Debicki’s reflections on portraying Diana in these final weeks of her life. Asked what she thought when she first read the scripts, Debicki said:

“I’ll be honest, I was devastated actually. I remember I read all four and then I took a deep breath and went and just sort of laid down somewhere. It’s a very unusual and challenging and beautiful experience to play these characters. We feel a great deal of responsibility and we take it seriously is kind of the wrong way to explain it. It’s more that we take it deeply into our hearts and into our souls and we work from that place. And so I felt the weight of what was coming, but I thought the scripts were extremely beautiful and I trusted them and I wanted to play them.”

Morgan on the Monarchy

The Crown makes so many choices in its depictions; the further the series has gone, the more I can spot the directions it has taken, the themes it has relied on and the threads it has pulled. But if you step back from the specifics, I think listening to Morgan talk about the show and the royal family is extremely helpful. Consider what he said Sunday evening:

“When I think of the show from the beginning to end, I just imagined it being about this one particular family with a very particular set of challenges, which are quite different from the lives that we all lead. And yet they are still a family. I imagine them in some big ornate train carriage and the train was traveling through the second half of the 20th century, and they were looking out the windows. I've never really wanted it to be about ‘royal family this,’ ‘royal family that’ — it’s a family. And what I keep going back to is the challenges that they have and how I often feel great—”

Morgan paused, failing to finish the sentence. Instead he said, “It can’t be easy, right? It can’t be easy.”

Click to shop: Dress, heels, bag, earrings, sunglasses, stockings

What I Wore

So many questions about what I wore on Insta! And you are all right, because what does one wear to the Crown premiere? Knowing it was for Part 1, with the death of Princess Diana, I settled on black straight away. But I also wanted to choose something that spoke to the princess’s life and the indelible spirit with which she embraced fashion.

As luck (or fate?) would have it, 90s fashion is trending at the moment. As soon as I spotted this blazer dress at J.Crew, I knew it was the vibe I wanted: serious but spicy. But when the garment arrived, a bit of self doubt took hold — it was a bit mini for this midi-loving girl! A pep talk from a few mom friends (thank you!) convinced me I had to go for it, as did one of my favorite quotes from Diana herself: “Sometimes I can be a little outrageous, which is quite nice.” 

A great pair of stockings went a long way to making me feel comfortable (these Wolford ones were worth the investment) as did a not-too-high heel. I wanted my shoes to be special but nothing too heavy to weigh the look down or too strappy to sex it up (though you definitely could!). On a spin through the mall, I stopped back at J.Crew and grabbed these Mary Jane mules right off the display (bonus, they were on sale!). For my bag, I loved the structured shape of the Mansur Gavriel ‘Candy’ style, plus all the texture and shine of the patent leather embossed croc finish. Rectangular gold earrings and cat-eye sunglasses finished off the look. 

For glam, I opted for a voluminous 90s-blowout, a deep berry lip, and a thin-tipped French manicure (my first in…a decade? Inspired by Diana’s nails on The Crown, naturally).

This was, without a doubt, a real departure from my usual style — and I loved it. I felt great and it made the night that much more fun to wear something out of my comfort zone. With the holiday season approaching, let this be your reminder to try something new.

Stay tuned! Much more from me coming in the next few days.

PS: Looking for more? Here are my Town & Country covers on Season 4 ,“Charles. Di. Camilla,” and Season 5, “Charles in Charge.”