The Queen Mother Explains the Hereditary Principle | The Crown (Helena Bonham Carter, Marion Bailey)

Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) speaks to her mother about the five family members locked away in a mental institution. Queen Mother (Marion Bailey) said they had no choice and explained the hereditary principle behind it.

From Season 4, Episode 7: The Hereditary Principle

The Crown is based on Queen Elizabeth II as a young newlywed faced with leading the world's most famous monarchy while forging a relationship with legendary Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. The British Empire is in decline, and the political world is in disarray, but a new era is dawning. Peter Morgan's masterfully researched scripts reveal the Queen's private journey behind the public façade with daring frankness. Prepare to see into the coveted world of power and privilege behind the locked doors of Westminster and Buckingham Palace.

#TheCrown #TheCrownSeason4 #QueenElizabeth #OliviaColman #TVShow

[CanImperator]

It's interesting how, in shows or movies that portray the royals, it's always the ones who marry into the family that seem to have the highest opinions about it, not the ones born into it.

[The_Fubar]

Funny how Helena Bonham Carter played queen mother in King's Speach

[licmir]

I had a granduncle and grandaunt who were institutionalized in the 1930s and spent the rest of their lives there (until the 1970s). Their parents never visited them. The family did not talk openly about them. It’s as if they didn’t exist. And my family is from Brazil. I’m astonished that people act surprised about what happened in this episode. Pretending not to have disabled relatives and hiding them were the NORM back then for everyone, not just royalty.

[Slowlythinking]

Yet another example of: "The Crown must win. Must. Always. Win."; especially given the mindset of postvictorian era in which "rationality" and "strenght" were so highly valued and interpreted as a sign of good.

[HerpaDerp]

Im so glad my cousin, whose quite mentally disabled, was wanted from the moment he was born. Fucking drunk doctor kept pulling on his head when the cord was very wrapped around it and deprived him of oxygen and did the damage. He is one of the most loving people youd ever meet, and his whole livelihood was robbed from him. Love him with all my heart.

[outinsider]

As a disabled person, this episode really does stick in my ribs. It reminds me that we are only just a century from putting disabled people into aslyums, and why we put them there. We still have the language, and we pretend to be more humane, but we really aren't as advanced as we could be.

[thomasplinguidy]

The Bowes-Lyons' behaviour was appalling. But you have to remember that Elizabeth the mother was probably not so much concerned about some blood purity as she was about her husband and her daughters. It depends on the time. If it had come out in the 1930s that there was mental illness in the Bowes-Lyon family when Edward VIII abdicated, Prince Albert, aka George VI, would probably never have become king, and his daughter Elizabeth would never have become crown princess or queen. Too many people would have remembered that the youngest of the royal brothers, John, was also mentally handicapped and held unter lock and key. The government and half the House of Lords would probably have said that George's daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, had hereditary problems on both sides and therefore could not be considered as crown princess or heir to the throne.

[VenusEvan_]

"that man your perfidious uncle" not even mentioning his name, she really hated Edward VIII.

[YaYa-kezr]

It’s terrible but rather common of that class and generation.. She mentioned Prince John (and there were others) who was hidden away but not institutionalized because he was royal. The Queen Mother knew that her blood line would be scrutinized as the non royal line and she probably didn’t want to be blamed for any unstableness in future generations.

The closest situation in America was Rosemary Kennedy, who was hidden away from her own siblings and mother until her fathers stroke. It wasn’t until after his stroke that the family found out where she was taken to and started visiting her.

[Marist_Chanel]

I realise the only reason I love this clip so much is because of Marion Bailey’s voice and accent. I’d love to hear her read audiobooks, especially a nice English murder mystery in the countryside.

[DrCuriensapprentice]

And the irony is that when the public found out, many were outraged, not because of some fabled purity but because they went through so many measures to keep up the façade that they treated the cousins as a problem

[Caleb-ympq]

That 'purity' is what caused the illnesses and disability.

[bricktam]

They are saints compared to the Kennedys, we all know how Rosemary Kennedy was treated. Thank God her siblings cared for her.

[ross-smithfamily]

Margaret absolutely understood the principles involved as well as any other senior member of the monarchy. She had no reason to be schooled ... it's for the benefit of the audience.

[seanwgo]

Can I just point out that I highly doubt the queen mother in real life saw herself and her family as just minor Scottish aristocrats. In fact, the Bowes-Lyons were much more established and much wealthier than the Windsors (who some even considered more German than British, hence their name-change). While members of the nobility definitely respect the monarchy as an institution, they most likely see the royal family as simply their peers. That’s why she rejected Prince Albert’s proposal twice before finally saying yes.

[irawilliams]

Even after he died, Queen Mother Elizabeth still held such a grudge on Edward VIII that she doesn't want to mention his name.

[joshuakampamba]

What the Queen mon explained filled me with dread🥺

[SapphireZeev]

Ironic. Blood purity and she’s saying it to Carter who played Bellatrix

[Rebecca-ohyh]

This episode annoyed me. It ignores the fact that, unfortunately, it was incredibly common for people to institutionalize children born with disabilities. I remember reading excerpts from a book about Chris Burke, a TV actor in the 90's with Down Syndrome. When he was born, the doctors told his parents that he was a "mongoloid, " that he would probably never learn to talk, and that they recommended that they put him in an institution.

I'm not saying that it was right. I'm saying that the royal family's actions were part of a larger systemic problem with how the society treated people with disabilities.

[nogedoge]

What I found fascinating about this scene is the idea they are self-aware in how absurd the notion is that genetics alone determine royalty.