Netflix's The Crown is about as satisfying as a sliver of chocolate mousse cake. Which is to say, it hits the spot, but it doesn't exactly deliver on the details. The first season wins with luxe production value, stellar performances, and the beauty of clipped English accents. It's great — it just isn't salacious.
However, according to series creator Peter Morgan, that's all going to change with season 2. As Metro reports, Morgan divulged at a panel for the Royal Television Society that the second season might explore Prince Phillip's alleged affair.
"Doesn't everyone in Britain know [Prince Philip] had an affair?" Morgan asked. Throughout Phillip's tenure, the press has speculated about infidelity — none of the rumours have ever been confirmed, and it's likely they never will be, given the family's preference for extreme privacy.
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Regardless, the rumours abide. Allegedly, the royal enjoyed an extramarital affair with the showgirl Pat Kirkwood in the 1950s. Both Kirkwood and the prince actively denied the claims.
“I’ve constantly denied rumours of an affair for years and the prince couldn’t do anything about it. The story seemed to follow me around and it has done a lot of damage," Kirkwood writes in her memoir, The Time of My Life. The duke himself called the rumours, "part of the mythology of the press."
Whether or not the rumours are true, an affair in Kensington Palace would certainly make for good television. The show, as lush as it is, is fiction. The royal family themselves gave this statement to Bustle: "The Crown is a fictional drama. The Royal Household has had no involvement." The show doesn't have to hold itself to factual standards the way a docu-series might. So, why not give us a juicy affair for season 2?
Morgan's not just interested in the scandalous nature of an affair — he's just interested in Philip in general. In an interview with Elle, Morgan expressed a love for the character of the duke. On the show, Philip (played by Matt Smith) is cantankerous — a loving husband, but an abrasive man.
"I find [Prince Philip] extraordinarily interesting—his childhood, again, you couldn’t make it up," Morgan said. "The soul of season 2 is about his complexity." In the same interview, when pressed about the alleged affairs, Morgan retorted, "This is a spoiler-free chat! We're still in the cutting room and making all sorts of changes."
Well, he hasn't quashed the whole affair rumour — and that's enough for us to call it: There will be extramarital hanky-panky on the second season of The Crown. (Maybe.)
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