Biopics of the House of Windsor

Crisis and Rehabilitation

Bethany Layne, Lucia Boldrini, Michael Lackey, Monica Latham

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798765110911
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: Literature

Explores biopics about moments of crisis for the House of Windsor and how these productions, along with Netflix's long-running series The Crown, both represent and enact the Royal Family's post-crises rehabilitation.

Biopics of the House of Windsor examines screen representations of the British royal family, with an emphasis on the reigning monarch from the abdication to the present. Focusing on high-profile 21st-century productions that intervene in and perpetuate societal perceptions of the Windsors, Bethany Layne explores the nature of the royal biopic's truth contract, its connection to the genres of biography and biofiction, and its fascination with moments of crisis.

Layne argues that the works in question depict The Firm's negotiation of such crises via the twinned strategies of exile and policing. While expulsions ensure the institution's survival, policing safeguards its popularity by reconfiguring the audience's envy and potential class resentment as pity.

Chapters discuss films, plays, and TV productions, asking which versions of the royal family are privileged, and how these differ between a British drama (The King's Speech), a work by a Chilean director (Spencer), and Netflix's transnational The Crown. Ultimately, Biopics of the House of Windsor shows how the genre functions to both represent and enact the family's post-crisis rehabilitation.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Dedication Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: ‘We’ve become … actors!’
• 1. ‘Without interruption or injury’: George VI and the abdication crisis in W.E. (2011), The King’s Speech (2010) and The Crown (2016–19)
• 2. ‘As your Queen, and as a grandmother’: Elizabeth II and ‘Diana week’ in The Queen (2006) and The Crown (2019–23)
• 3. ‘I’d like to be a queen of people’s hearts’: Diana, Bashir and marital breakdown in The Crown (2020–22), Spencer (2021) and The Interview (2023)
• 4. ‘Better thoughtful Prince than King[?]’: Identity crisis in The Crown (2017–23) and constitutional crisis in King Charles III (2017)
• Coda: Spare parts
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Filmography
• Index
• Imprint