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Season 4 of The Crown returned to Netflix over the weekend and has already generated quite a stir.
The show tells the story of the royal family under the reign of Queen Elizabeth, with each series covering roughly a decade.
The fourth season covers the years 1977-1990. It documents Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister, as well as Prince Charles’s relationship with Princess Diana.
Notably, this season also covers aspects of The Troubles in Northern Ireland and beyond. While major historical events like the hunger strikes and the Brighton bombing (which attempted to kill Margaret Thatcher in 1984) are not explicitly covered, many other events are.
Here’s how this season of The Crown describes the events that took place during the Troubles:
The assassination of Lord Mountbatten
The first episode of The Crown focuses on the murder of Lord Mountbatten, who was Prince Philip’s uncle and second cousin, once retired, to Queen Elizabeth II.
The murder occurred off the coast of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, where Mountbatten was vacationing at his summer home at Classiebawn Castle.
It took place on August 27, while Mountbatten was fishing for lobsters on his ship Shadow V. A member of the IRA (later revealed to be Thomas MacMahon) had boarded the ship unguarded that night and planted a radio-controlled bomb.
The bomb was detonated while the ship was a few hundred meters from shore. Historical reports say this happened fifteen minutes after he left port.
News reports at the time also indicated that Mountbatten was pulled alive from the water by nearby fishermen, but had died from his injuries before being brought ashore.
The other members on board the ship were Mountbatten’s daughter, Lady Brabourne’s husband, Lord Brabourne; his twin sons Nicholas and Timothy Knatchbull; Lord Brabourne’s mother, Doreen; and Paul Maxwell, a young member of the Enniskillen crew.
Nicholas (14 years old) and Paul (15 years old) also died from the explosion. Doreen, the widow Lady Brabourne (83 years old), died of her injuries the next day.
The Warrenpoint Ambush
Although not shown in The crown , Warrenpoint Ambush is referenced multiple times in the first episode.
In a call between Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth after Lord Mountbatten’s death, Thatcher says: “Our condolences to you and your family, and of course to the military men killed at Warrenpoint.”
The Warrenpoint ambush took place on the same day as Lord Mountbatten’s assassination. The IRA detonated two bombs, killing 18 soldiers who were part of a British army convoy. It was the deadliest attack on the British Army by the Provisional IRA.
The Warrenpoint attack is also mentioned by an IRA voiceover later in the first episode of The Crown.
The man speaking the voice-over says: “13 dead but not forgotten, we have 18 and Mountbatten.”
This refers to the 13 people killed by the British Army on Bloody Sunday. The slogan was scribed on the walls of Belfast after these two attacks.
Thatcher’s security policy in Northern Ireland
While The Crown does not delve into Margaret Thatcher’s policy on Northern Ireland, her attitude towards the problems and towards Northern Ireland is emphasized from the beginning of the series.
In a call with Queen Elizabeth about the Mountbatten assassination, she says: “I am sick and tired of those who seek to rationalize and make excuses for the atrocities committed by the IRA.”
“There is no political assassination or political bombing or political violence, there is only criminal murder, criminal bombing or political violence.
“And I give you my word, I will wage a war against the Irish Republican Army with relentless determination and without mercy, until the war is won.”
Thatcher’s comments about viewing the IRA attacks as criminals rather than political were going to have ramifications for many of her policies in Northern Ireland.
In particular, the 1981 hunger strikes pitted Ms. Thatcher against Republican paramilitaries who wanted to be given political status, rather than viewed as criminals.
Despite the momentum of the hunger strikes, Thatcher was relentless in her views, saying of them: “We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crimes.”
She also added: “Crime is crime is crime, it is not political” – a quote the writers of The Crown may well have been referencing in Thatcher’s conversation with Queen Elizabeth.
Images of Bloody Sunday, republican and loyalist paramilitaries and hunger strikes
The first episode of The Crown contains dozens of archive clips of all the troubles. These clips appear at the beginning of the episode and while Lord Mountbatten’s funeral is taking place.
The footage is accompanied by the IRA voiceover, which talks about the Mountbatten assassination and the Warrenpoint ambush.
However, the images are collected from different years, before and after Mountbatten’s murder, which occurred in 1979.
There are images of Bishop Edward Daly holding a white handkerchief during Bloody Sunday, images from the March for Civil Rights, images of the British Embassy fire in Dublin, images of people holding posters related to Bobby Sands and other hunger strikes, and videos depicting republican and loyalist paramilitaries.
The voiceover used on the show was not the actual statement the IRA gave at the time. His royal statement read:
“The IRA claims responsibility for the execution of Lord Louis Mountbatten. This operation is one of the discriminatory ways in which we can draw the attention of the English people to the continuing occupation of our country.
“Mountbatten’s death and the tributes paid to him will stand in stark contrast to the apathy of the British government and the English people at the death of over three hundred British soldiers and the deaths of Irish men, women and children at the hands of their forces. “
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