The chorus of disapproving voices declaiming The Crown's approach to royal storytelling are angling for the biographers' holy grail and seeking to protect their own lucrative market share.
In this new season of The Crown, Queen Elizabeth has two rivals for centre stage: Margaret Thatcher, played dazzlingly well by Gillian Anderson, and Diana Spencer.
If we're ever to move past outmoded values of gender, race and class, we need to wish Prince Harry and Meghan Markle well — and challenge those who would prefer everything remains the same.
A tour guide holds up a flag with the faces of Britain’s Prince Harry and his fiancee, Meghan Markle.
AP Photo/Alastair Grant
Royal weddings have shaped how Americans imagine their own dream weddings. Unfortunately, they don't come cheap – which might explain why fewer and fewer are tying the knot.
Edmund Dulac’s 1910 illustration of Sleeping Beauty.
Wikimedia images
Fairy tales can be brutal, violent, sexual and laden with taboo. But they are are excellent narratives with which to think through a range of human experiences: from disappointment, and fear to envy and grief.
The princess of Wales is pictured in Bonn, Germany in 1987.
AP Photo/Herman Knippertz
The contentious book documenting Nelson Mandela’s last days that was pulled of the shelves left many unanswered questions. Judgement must be suspended until it's content is made public.
The Queen Mother, Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Harry ride in their carriage from Buckingham Palace in 1992.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters