The Royal Family References The Crown Season 3 Stamps

Photo: Sophie Mutevelian/Netflix.

We know Queen Elizabeth II watches The Crown, and we know that she had some strong feelings about season 2, but is the Queen finally giving us the tea on how she feels about the brand new season 3?

The royal family recently posted a series of tweets that relate to the opening scene of The Crown season 3, sharing some history behind the iconic 1952 photographs of the Queen that were featured on official postage from 1953 to 1971, Marie Claire Australia reports. Some of those stamps are on display in The Royal Philatelic Society in London, where the Queen recently visited for its 150th anniversary and an opening of a new building.

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These photographs taken by Dorothy Wilding, of Her Majesty in 1952, were used as the basis of The Queen’s image on postage stamps from 1953 until 1971.
In two sittings, photographer Wilding took 59 images of The Queen.
📷 @RCT pic.twitter.com/9sySYyA5SF
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) November 26, 2019

Those same stamps show up in the opening scene of episode 1 of the third season of the Netflix show on the royal family, with Olivia Coleman’s Queen staring critically at her aging visage.

In September, the Queen’s communication secretary, Donal McCabe, sent a stern statement to The Guardian on the household's view of the dramatised events of the show, indicating that the royal family has had no contact with the show about topics, nor would the family ever comment on the series’ accuracy. But this felt like a small, tacit acknowledgment that perhaps they have seen what happens in the latest season of the show. Or, at the very least, it feels awfully coincidental.

The royal family’s Twitter account continued the thread, providing background on Arnold Machin’s effigy of the Queen, which has been featured on UK stamps since 1967. That image has been “reprinted an estimated 220 billion times, in more than 130 different colours.”

Arnold Machin’s effigy of The Queen, which has featured on UK stamps since 1967, is widely considered to be one of the most reproduced and iconic images in the world.
It has been reprinted an estimated 220 billion times, in more than 130 different colours. pic.twitter.com/v2EHFGQq5N
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) November 26, 2019

While many members of the royal family have expressed interest and even praised The Crown, the Queen has still never offered any opinions directly about the series. Instead, a source states that she was convinced to watch the show’s first season by Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, reports O magazine.