The Crown (© Netflix, Robert Viglasky)

The Crown

The wildly popular Netflix Original series <em>The Crown</em> follows the young Queen Elizabeth II from the 1940s through to modern times. The first two series starred Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth and Matt Smith as Prince Philip, while the third and fourth series spanned the years 1964–1990 with Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies at the helm. The fifth series, which lands on Netflix on 9 November, covers the royals in the 1990s. Here we explore the real history behind the show...

The Crown S4 cast: which real historical figures feature in season four of Netflix’s royal drama – and what did they really look like?

Floral tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales, outside Kensington Palace. (Photo by Liba Taylor/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Princess Diana's death: when grief gripped a nation

King George VI and his eldest daughter, Elizabeth

The death of King George VI: what happened?

Left: Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their wedding day, 29 July 1981. Right: Prince William and Catherine Middleton on their wedding day, 29 April 2011. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The 8 most famous royal weddings in British history

John Profumo in October 1962

Sex, lies and spies: the real history of the Profumo Affair

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. When Edward became king in January 1936, he was the darling of the nation. Yet when he abdicated in December 1936, few believed he was making the wrong decision. (Photo by Getty Images)

Love before duty: the story of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson

Members of the royal family: Prince Louis; Prince George; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Princess Charlotte; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince Charles, Prince of Wales; Princess Anne, Princess Royal; and Queen Elizabeth II during the Queen's annual birthday parade on 8 June 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

From The Crown to Queen Elizabeth’s corgis: 24 history questions about the royal family for your home pub quiz

Princess Elizabeth 1939

The young Elizabeth II: life before she was Queen

Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret: why did their marriage break down?

The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill

The death of Sir Winston Churchill and the top-secret plans for his funeral

Princess Margaret wearing a fur coat

The Queen's "rebel sister": 13 facts about Princess Margaret

Queen Victoria with Prince Albert and their children in 1846. After a painting by F Winterhalter. Victoria’s husband, Albert, “carved out for the crown a moral kind of authority as the nation’s first and model family,” says Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Retaining the royals: why has the British monarchy survived – and thrived?

American socialite Wallis Simpson

The vilification of Wallis Simpson: how Edward VIII's mistress was savaged by society

Lord Mountbatten at a desk

Lord Mountbatten: Did Prince Philip’s uncle attempt to lead a coup against Harold Wilson’s government?

The Mountbattens: success and scandal. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Princess Margaret wearing a fur coat

Princess Margaret: from glamorous royal to a slide into tragedy

The queen's visit to the Welsh village of Aberfan

“No match for reality”: the missing history in The Crown series three

The 1969 documentary was made amid a feeling that there was an increasing awareness of a need to ‘sell’ the monarchy to the people, writes historian Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

‘Royal Family’: the fly-on-the-wall documentary the Palace doesn’t want you to see

Queen Elizabeth II invests her eldest son, Prince Charles

Charles, The Prince of Wales’s 1969 investiture at Caernarfon Castle, 50 years on

The newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II

Why has the British monarchy survived?

Sir Anthony Blunt, British art historian and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures

Who was Sir Anthony Blunt and the Cambridge Five? Plus 4 others who spied for the Soviets

Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and her fiance, Philip Mountbatten at Buckingham Palace, after their engagement was announced, 10th July 1947. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Prince Philip as consort: a life of duty and devotion

Britain in the early 80s. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

1st May 1975: Three documents, for and against, published for the referendum on the Common Market

Britain decides: the first European referendum

Princess Margaret and her husband, Lord Snowdon, in San Francisco during a visit to America, November 1965. (Photo by Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images)

“Cheap men and expensive bottles”: Princess Margaret’s love affairs

Margaret Thatcher surrounded by British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Hampshire Regiment, during a surprise visit to the Falkland Islands, January 1983. Britain has "ceased to be a nation in retreat," declared the prime minister in the wake of the victory over Argentine forces.

How the Falklands War fired up Britain

On 20 July 1969, Lunar Module 'Eagle' touched down gently on the Sea of Tranquility on the moon. (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers via Getty Images)

From ‘moon-germs’ to motion sickness: health and safety on NASA’s 1969 lunar landing mission

Prince Charles, Lady Diana Spencer and Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace

The fall and rise of the Windsors

Kendrick Oliver explores the space race that led to the 1969 moon landing and considers the legacy of the momentous events of July 1969. (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images)

The race to the moon. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark. The BBC television drama is putting Cornwall’s coastline at risk of "over-tourism” as visitors flock to the area to visit the show's scenic filming locations, tourism chiefs have warned. (Photo by BBC/Mammoth Screen/Mike Hogan)

Poldark, Peaky Blinders and 6 other historical TV shows that have tourists flocking to Britain