Olivia Colman dons The Crown

N THE 1960S, AS THE BRITISH ECONOMY stagnated and youth movements raged against the establishment, the royal family started to worry. How long could a largely ornamental monarchy keep justifying its tax-supported existence to its broke, disaffected subjects? Queen Elizabeth II dodged these questions by granting a BBC crew limited access to her family in an effort to make the House of aired, in June 1969, the Queen found its “Royals, they’re just like us!” tone humiliating. It hasn’t been screened in full since the ’70s.