In a classic case of life imitating art imitating Netflix, fans of the show The Crown are certain Queen Elizabeth II is one of them.
In the Queen's traditional Christmas message on Monday evening, the head of the Commonwealth said: "Sixty years ago today, a young woman spoke about the speed of technological change as she presented the first television broadcast of its kind. She described the moment as a landmark," she said. "Six decades on, the presenter has 'evolved' somewhat, as has the technology she described."
According to reports, the Queen may have been simply referring to her own televised debut, on Christmas 1957, or, as keen viewers of The Crown hoped, a storyline from the second series where the monarchy is criticised for being out of touch with the common people.
In real life, the source of the criticism, Lord Altrincham, wrote a 1957 article in which he criticised the Queen for her speech style, which he described as "priggish schoolgirl".
Despite Lord Altrincham copping a lot of flak for his comments, the Royal Family, whether directly or indirectly as a result of his jibe, began televising the Queen's Christmas address that same year.
According to Digital Spy, fans went into a Twitter frenzy during Monday's address, claiming the Queen had clearly referenced their favourite show.
I'm watching the Queen's speech on TV and she's referring to her first televised speech, that I watched on @TheCrownNetflix this afternoon. #freaky#christmas #QueensSpeech??? Narnia (with a P) ???? (@LikeNarnia) December 25, 2017
Do you think the queen put that wee clip in cause she watched it on #thecrown #QueensSpeech??? Courtney ????. (@Love_itx0) December 25, 2017
Today we watched the first two episodes of The Crown season 2, where the Queen gave her first Christmas speech 60 years ago. Then we watched the real Queen give her actual speech & were delighted when she copied her younger version on the Netflix series! Clever, clever.??? Allen Yeh (@allenlyeh) December 26, 2017
But others were shouting "calm your farm". After all, the Queen doesn't need to reference a show that's based on her own IRL experiences.
To all the numpties out there - the Queen referenced HERSELF - "The Crown" referenced The Queen. Idiots.??? Jonathan (@strangecodex) December 26, 2017
someone said the Queen did it on telly and I was all, I dont think so#TheCrown or something.??? Charlize Theroff (@CharlizeTheroff) December 26, 2017
We may never know for certain whether the Queen is a fan of The Crown, although there have been reports she has watched and likes the show, which stars Claire Foy.
Is the Queen a fan or not? Did she reference the show or not? It might not be a question for the ages, but it's still fun to think about Lillibet and Philip, tucked up in their respective beds, binge-watching Netflix just like the rest of us.
Fairfax Media
