Top 10 Best The Crown Episodes So Far

This season one episode explores Queen Elizabeth’s controversial relationship with her friend Lord "Porchey" Porchester as tensions rise between her and her husband, Philip. While that storyline is certainly juicy, the one that makes this episode so memorable focuses on Winston Churchill’s final days as Prime Minister. It depicts his 80th birthday celebrations, which include a portrait being painted of him for the occasion. Confronted with his own aging, he decides to step down to make room for a new head of the country. The episode includes some of actor John Lithgow's best work.

Any episode of “The Crown” where American viewers get to see their own country’s historical figures depicted is an exciting one. In season two, the Queen hosts John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy at Buckingham Palace. Elizabeth is offended when she hears that the First Lady was bad-mouthing her behind her back. These petty concerns fall to the wayside later in the episode, however, when Elizabeth learns of JFK’s assassination and a period of mourning falls upon the palace. The ending where Elizabeth writes to Jackie to express her condolences is surely a memorable one.

Fans of the show anxiously awaited the fourth season because it was set to cover Charles and Diana’s relationship and marriage. The royal family is known to retreat to their home in Balmoral, Scotland for rest and relaxation, but the location is also used as a test of sorts to judge whether people meet their high standards. While Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher undoubtedly fails the test because she’s ill-prepared for outdoor activities and doesn’t thrive during game night, Diana has quite the opposite experience. She manages to pass the “Balmoral test” with flying colors, largely due to her role spotting the stag that the family had been stalking for days.

In the season four finale, several storylines come to a head. We see Margaret Thatcher stepping down from her position as Prime Minister and having a surprisingly emotional encounter with the Queen, which isn’t exactly to be expected between two famously stoic women. The drama of this episode, however, comes from Charles and Diana’s marriage troubles. Charles is hellbent on ending their relationship, but he gets a stern talking-to from his mom, who basically tells him to get his act together and suck it up. We all know where this storyline is headed, but can’t help but be on the edge of our seats.

Season three saw a new set of cast members take over, with Olivia Coleman at the show’s helm. This episode, partway through the season, puts Charles in the central role as he heads to Wales to absorb the culture and learn the language of the region of which he is Prince. This departure to focus on Elizabeth’s heir makes viewers sympathize with someone who has long been a polarizing figure. We see him ingratiating himself to a Welsh nationalist, and making a political statement in support of a movement that will surely anger his mother. Seeing a spark of personality in Charles is what makes this episode well worth a watch.

The series premiere of “The Crown” is somewhat dour, with King George VI ill and Elizabeth about to rise to power. It’s the second episode, however, where the show stretches its legs and brings viewers on a tour of the Commonwealth with Elizabeth and Philip. This is the episode where the King succumbs to his illness and Elizabeth is crowned Queen, meaning it’s the beginning of her story as a monarch. We get to know the show’s primary character a little better, with the creators providing insight into one of the world’s most well-known living figures.

Charles and Diana’s tempestuous relationship is at the center of “The Crown’s” fourth season, and this episode, which focuses on the couple’s tour of Australia, features a number of ups and downs. The couple finally has it out about their troubled marriage and seems to come to a conclusion about how to fix it. Viewers get to see them experience some moments of genuine joy, playing with baby William in the outback and dancing up a storm. But the attention paid to Diana by the public is a thorn in Charles’s side that won’t let up even when things seem to be going well.

Most viewers understand that while “The Crown” is based on real events, certain liberties are taken with history to make it more compelling. One storyline that many may have believed to be fabricated was the one involving an intruder making his way into the Queen’s bedroom. In fact, however, Michael Fagan really did manage to break into Buckingham Palace in 1982. While the conversation we see between them is largely a fabrication, it provides an answer to the question that many have had for years: what in the world did those two talk about?

While every episode of “The Crown” focuses on the royal family, some focus more on their personal tribulations while others explore a major event in British history. “Aberfan,” is of the latter category, showing the tragic events of the Aberfan disaster. Many current viewers may not be familiar with this particularly dark moment of Elizabeth’s reign, so it’s certainly an eye-opening sequence. She doesn’t act quickly enough to show her support for the victims of the tragedy, causing her subjects to question what kind of sovereign they have.

The abdication of King Edward VIII is what ultimately made Elizabeth Queen of England, and while he isn’t a primary character in the show’s second season, this episode deals with one of the most shocking occurrences in British history. Edward wants to rejoin royal life after being absent for a long period of time, but information comes out about his ties to Germany’s Nazi party. Elizabeth is torn between her religious beliefs, which encourage her to forgive mistakes of the past, and her role as a monarch who wants the best for her country. It’s a tense and dramatic episode that will surely go down as one of the best of all time.