PM Harold Wilson's advice to the Queen - The Crown S03 E03 

I don't think so. This is not Harold Wilson I knew! Harold Wilson was a don at Oxford. I doubt he would behave as timid as that

I was thinking the same thing. Natural yet idiosyncratic. Brilliant.

Ya id always look forward for their audience. Their relationship is so interesting and real. ❤

Jason Watkins was the highlight of the season along with Josh O’Connor. At the end of the season when the Queen tells him she’s coming to dinner, his wonder at being selected for the same honor as Churchill is so touching.

Jason Watkins is a very well respected actor. I think he got his due.

A lot of vloggers and streamers need to remember that

All of Humanity needs to remember that!

You cannot be everything to everyone otherwise you will be nothing to no-one.

I was in politics here in the United States for over 20 years. What Wilson said is true. All of the people can never be pleased or appeased. One makes decisions on what would be best for most or would do the greatest good for the area that you represent as a whole.

@@retroguy9494 You dont appease people... thats liberalism... Do whats right.. people will be pleased... the very foundation of government and the banking system ...and tax system is corrupt...and creates debt .. no matter how much the people work, greed created this... If you were in politics for 20 years... then you are part of the problem. If you had a brain in your head ... well you dont... a politician doesnt have answers... you make laws because you have no answers ... and cant solve anything because you dont have the mental capability to do so. Science... engineers... technicians make solutions to problems. You dont.. thats why this system wont work. and is doomed to fail and soon... debt will kill everything. Think on that !

Agreed.

oh no they do understand it perfectly well. the point is that there are so many variables to consider and so many things can go wrong. and besides, those who are incapable of ruling usually are not there thanks to their skills, they're puppets for the real politicians, moving threads from out back.

Those who don't understand this are the common variety of politicians. Those who understand are what we call statesmen.

A greater pity is the population do not understand it

it's deliberate. if there was no crisis going on (fabricated or natural), people would have too much time to think for themselves.

Indeed.

@@johnschuh8616 The brilliant Jason Watkins.

Ironically, far better known for his exquisite comedy roles!

He'll always be Herrick from 'Being Human' to me :)

Indeed, an astonishing performance.

Yes and also helps to keep your head and your job intact I suppose. Who cares if it's all a lie anyway, there is NO NEED FOR HUMANITY AT ALL AS THE MAN SAID! 🙄 All we have are droids 👑 🤖 👑 doing droid things without any care in the world for humanity now.

​@@facta-non-verbathank you

The Queen and Harold Wilson got on very well.

​@@kevinallen9414He was her favourite

@@falconeshield Churchill was her favourite

Agreed. It’s as if the director told him to act as if his neck is on the line. It’s much more subtle of course. Obviously this queen would and could never do that but I imagine in the Victorian era and prior, servants of the monarch had to be careful with their language as to not offend the frustrated monarch any further. What’s interesting here is the queen is having a rather human moment despite herself not feeling human and the PM is both telling there is nothing wrong with her and that her lack of emotion is exactly what is needed when being queen. Despite his criticism towards the monarchy, he understands the importance in having a head of state that is not frustrated with trivial matters like these.

Ha ha ha ha

At one stage in his first term as PM Wilson's whole cabinet appear to be leaking against him. He coined two phrases - a week is a long time in politics. He also stated that the only conversation he knew would never be leaked was the one he had each week with the Queen.

Which they most certainly did not 😅

Well then, the screenwriters did a good job

Why doesn't it matter?

We had a brass-faced 8 day clock in our front hall, and it's tick-tock was so restful and constant. /

@@zen4men We have one over the fireplace in the living room. It chimes and everything. It's been there so long that I don't even notice it anymore. However, it's been known to make people who have been in the house for various reasons jump when it chimes! 😂

@@retroguy9494 Nothing like a chime! Old clocks are human, human-scale. New clocks are mass-output factories - humanless. /

@@zen4men I agree with you! 👍

@@retroguy9494 We face a growing tyranny. One that most do not know how to face. And systems going all-out to destroy our way of life, and deliver us into bondage. /

Why your words sounded soo british to me

@@scharnhorstkaisarbeethoven because I am soo british lol

@@branflakes12341 🤣🤣🤣

In US, we say - there is no there, there. She had such patience and was such a phenomenal source of institutional wisdom. To advise, caution, admonish and inquire. You are my PM, but I have had 179 starting at the top of the deck, Churchill. What do you plan, how will it help? Have you seen when X,Y,Z did it and their results? You should speak to B, he can help you.

@@michaelplunkett8059 The problem is, this kind of authenticity is the exact opposite of "there's no there there." The latter is the sign of someone who simply is carried away by the tide of events, their own feelings, or desires. The remark about Wilson - "what you see is who he is " - is about someone who possesses bone-deep integrity that doesn't pose for his own purposes. Even when Wilson is describing how he tries to fit in - he's doing that as part of the burden of leadership, not b/c he wants to lie, but b/c he is trying not to offend. Giving up your own preferences the better to serve - to have the opportunity to serve - is a million miles away from manipulation.

We will never know because the monarch's views are never publicly reported merely speculated. Although I do believe the speculation that the Queen and Thatcher didn't get along

In the series this is the first PM who spoke to her as an equal. He was blunt but took care to choose his words when the situation called for it, he didn't put on any airs, he didn't patronize her. I think she appreciated it. Despite them being polar opposites politically. I think she developed compassion through him as well--her growing frustrations with Margaret Thatcher's whole "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" Social Darwinist attitude towards the disadvantaged, working class public, really got to her.

Wilson was a complete disaster.

harold wilson and winston churchill were the queens favorite prime ministers. that’s a fact

This dude destryed Britain...

They were probably too wrapped up in themselves to notice the Queen bone dry eyes!

She guarded her emotions after seeing her loony Uncle run amuck. She was trained by her granny - Queen Mary. Eileen Atkins gave great inside into that role. Fiancé died, husband dead, buried her children, endured a World War and the global depression. Mary knew how varied and hard the Queen would face and trained her well. To be resolute and enduring for the nation and still cope with the changing demands of history.

​@@michaelplunkett8059 I agree and Queen Mary was one tough lady just imagine what she lived through in her life time, she was around for Queen Victoria's reign, then Edward VII, her husband George V then her son and granddaughter, WWI & II, the depression, losing her children, husband and finance as you said, she also saw three old monarchies deposed and managed to help prevent the same in Britain her and George V worked hard to win the people and visited everyone and anyone. I bet she was a minefield of wisdom when Elizabeth II ascended the throne and like you pointed out she did her bit to prepare her Queen Mary was all about duty

Very true but "time and place" is relative to the individual.

I wonder. I've lost pretty much my entire family including the 2 people I loved most in the world and who were the only two people who ever loved me unconditionally. I couldn't cry then, or for any of them. And it's been 25 years or more. However, I still grieve for them daily. It's as if a big piece of me went with them. I heard it said that tears are a way of melting a heart that is frozen in grief. Perhaps it is that my grief is just too much.

​@@retroguy9494My beloved father died in 1999, I have never grieved for him dying, I grieved for nearly two years watching and waiting for him to die,and it was such a relief to see him pain free. He is always in my thoughts and I can have a chat with him when times are tough. He has three daughters, two of us laugh and talk about him frequently and the third can barely mention his name without crying. After 55 years of nursing I advise never to judge how people react to death, the people you think/expect to be strong can crumble and the fragile stand tall. Death is inevitable but until the moment arrives no one knows how they will react.

I LOVE the clock!

Ha ha ha ha

Also John major

She adored Churchill, She liked Wilson, was fond of Callaghan and fought and respected Thatcher. She was close to Major and found him loyal to her.

@@patsimpson7834 ha ha ha what?

@@johnmh1000 I don't always produce words when I laugh but if you insist I had a mental picture of them down the pub.

Both liers though, typical politician and royal

@@gailhancocks5207 These are only actors mate, Hence why he's complimenting the acting.

In a slightly different key, but yes. Regarding the pipe-cigar incident, John Kennedy liked cigars but he was, to be best of my knowledge never photographed smoking one. Did not fit the image. Remember the portrait with Kennedy posed with a cigar in his mouth, looking all the world like someone from Boston Irish politics. It projected all the qualities that made him successful. But the look was too close to that of his maternal grandfather. Too much like an Irish Catholic with all his vices and virtues. Jackie was pushing the patrician look. One thing I liked about Bobby. He was a mug and he looked it.

She’s overrated and not pleasing on the eye

ironically, the best moments of his tenure as queen in the show are in season 3 where the fans are so divided in the change in cast.

Award shows aren't important and there were better actors at that year

no. this is not Harold Wilson I knew!

@@tomwang3510 "she" refers to Olivia Colman

@@TheFlowerofSpades I know, she is also not the Queen I knew.

@@tomwang3510 Oh my apology, I don’t know you knew Her Majesty personally

She was told not to? She’s the sovereign. “I must? Your must or my must? I tell! I’m not told. I’m the Verb, not the Subject!” - George III

Thanks for sharing that about Jason. My family knows that loss too. My brother passed away at 34 a little over a year ago. He was healthy and it happened just like that.

Only a liberal writer would give a liberal PM faux credit. He almost destroyed the country.

PS. While other actresses played the late ER II with aplomb, Clair Foye's return to kerp the role, I feel, has somehow improved the show.

Setting aside the political consequences if his remarks got leaked, he is also exposing something very private here. Things he has likely never shared before and never will again.

I think the question was rhetorical. He's not seeking confirmation of the confidentiality, but rather signalling to the Queen that what he is about to say is personal, private, and sincere.

@@galadinwow And he also reiterated to her that what she shared with him was confidential and would never leave the room. Comforting her in her moment of vulnerability.

🎉❤❤​@@ajvanmarle😂😂😂😂😂😂

I guess it was more important for him to know that the people would never find out that he liked the finer things in life whilst championing for the common man.

The predecessor of Willson, who was merely mention in The Crown was actually a friend of the Royal Family before he became a PM. Regarding Thatcher I think their relationship was like the one she has with her sister Margaret, both were females (so no chilvary here unlike the rest of PM) and had the same age, so they eventually will collide when they disagree, but somehow they deeply respect each other.

There is a later episode of the series in which Prince Charles is having a conversation with Tony Blair around the time that Blair became Prime Minister in the 1990s. The Prince described the relationship between the Queen and successive PMs as follows. Winston Churchill was like a grandfather to her. Anthony Eden and Harold Macmilllan were like father figures. Harold Wilson and Edward Heath were like brothers. Margaret Thatcher could have been her twin sister. And finally, Tony Blair would be like a son to her. Indeed, part of the reason that Prince Charles and Tony Blair had such a good rapport with each other is that they were of the same generation.

A lot of better people despised Princess Die-ana for her self-indulgence and mawkish simpiness, which was exactly the attraction for the worshipful failure classes. A lack of self-discipline and foresight is remarkably uniform amongst the lower orders throughout the animal kingdom.

We were fighting two or three other wars at the time. Oman, Indonesia ect. Most were successful.

​@@hachwarwickshire292 Andrew Gilchrist's name was used to facilitate the deaths of over 3 million people. That's what most of the people here do not know

Personally, I think she lost the will to go on when old Phil died. She REALLY went downhill after that. This is not uncommon with people who were married as long as they were and counted on each other for support most of their lives.

Why?

Completely agree. Imelda Staunton was totally wrong for The Queen - and no actor in the world could ever make John Major interesting.

Exactly

True

The silences are powerful and eloquent.

Wasn't an official audience so no bell , just the Queen asking advice from her P.M.

There is a bell she rang when she wanted a meeting to be over?

@@retroguy9494 yes.

@@zinussan50 Wow I just learned something! Thanks!

@@retroguy9494 if you follow the series, from season 1 until 5, most every single meeting, the queen rang the bell when it's ended.

dependng on where his military service was, and when that happened could be ptsd

@@donaldcake1 Possibly, but I doubt it. He seemed to have been happiest when doing one of two things: painting and being in physical danger. The only thing that kept him from participating in the D Day invasion was an order from the King. He was just a person who would become emotional very easily and it often would bring him to tears. It happened to help him politically. Different time and place.

No one needs hysteria till they lose the head of state and then become the head of state

She visited Aberfan several times very very quietly and the media only found out when she was there

She actually didn’t want to go. She was told to go.

@@ClaudeS39 WRONG! She wanted to go but was advised not to, was persuaded that if she went she would be the centre of attention and her presence would hinder the recovery operation.

so the show twisted the facts again🤣

@@OnLifeandLove Well in its own words '... It is not a documentary, but based upon known facts and hypothetical discussions ...'. Draw your own conclusions.

The real Harold could outsmart anyone

@@stephenchappell7512 Completely agree... This 'drama' here is ahistoric and a fabrication of the the truth. For starters Wilson had informed the Queen of his intention to quit as leader of the Labour party and PM when he was 60 upon entering office for a second stint in 1974 - he did so in March 1976, which presumably is what this scene is about (I haven't watched any of this these) - so all the complaining by the Queen about Eden giving her time etc is all guff. Wilson knew he was going as he had dementia and was tired, beating Heath and getting back into No 10 was enough. All of Wilson's special advisors have published their memoirs and so this is a matter of record, although no doubt there will be some of a conspiratorial nature who will seek to use this to platform to discredit these established facts. Wilson was a past master at what we call now 'public relations'. Undoubtedly, not a successful PM but that conclusion belies his skill and dexterity. I'm not complaining at the scene here as it's merely entertainment, but it's widely known that Wilson was something of a favourite of the Queen's - she would NEVER have spoken to him or any democratically elected leader as she did here as that would have been beneath her. It's widely known, for example, that she disagreed vigorously with Mrs Thatcher's policy towards the Commonwealth but never openly spoke of it as that would have been in contravention of her duties. Paradoxically, she got on better with Labour PMs than Tory ones. Don't read too much into this, as reality is much further from the stage performance here.

@@alcuinofyork6845 Being only a young child at the time of these events (born 68) this is all slightly before my time but looking at him in archive interviews (and even Morecambe & Wise sketches) shows that he was a man who possessed a very high intellect

@@alcuinofyork6845 This scene is post Aberfan, 1966.

@@garethjones7677 thanks for the reminder of the date. So the comments about his intention to resign puzzled me, as that happened much later than this scene.

So True.