Enter the royal family, Kate Middleton. In the seventh episode of The Crown's ultimate season, titled "Alma Mater," we are formally introduced to the woman destined to capture Prince William's heart—with a little assistance from her resourceful mother, Carole Middleton. In this discussion, Still Watching hosts Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, and Chris Murphy dive into the world of William, Kate, and Carole. Additionally, Murphy engages in a conversation with Ed McVey about the transformative experience of landing the role of Prince William.
Finally, The Crown unfolds the tale of Kate and William's budding romance in this episode. Their journey began during their time at St. Andrews in the early 2000s. However, according to The Crown's narrative, there was a significant third player orchestrating the course of their courtship: Carole Middleton, the entrepreneur mother of Kate, portrayed by Eve Best. "I thought it was so much fun how much they actually paid attention to the calculated nature of Kate’s courtship with William," says Lawson.
Busis points out the cleverly scripted meet-cute between the couple at the episode's outset, set in their teenage years and featuring a brief cameo from Elizabeth Debicki's Princess Diana. As the episode unfolds, it's revealed that Carole played a pivotal role in steering Kate's path—convincing her to take the same gap year trips as Prince William, choosing St. Andrews over the University of Edinburgh, and even advising her to end her college relationship to pursue a connection with the future King of England. "It’s like a conspiracy theory, but the show is bearing out that that is exactly what happened," says Busis. "[Carole] actually did decide, when her daughter was a teenager, [that she was] going to meet William and make him fall in love with her."
Murphy, expressing a fondness for Best's portrayal of Carole, draws a comparison between the meddlesome Middleton mother and Salim Dau's character, Mohamed Al-Fayed, a helicopter parent in the earlier episodes. "We spent so much of the first three or four episodes talking about Mohamed Al-Fayed and his master manipulation plan to get Dodi and Diana together. But he doesn’t hold a candle to Carole," says Murphy. "She made it happen."
Comments
Post a Comment