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The psychological lesson we learn from Prince Phillip's mid-life crisis on Netflix's The Crown

In-depth analysis of how the writers of The Crown show us the best way to deal with self-improvement through Prince Phillip's mid-life crisis

By Landon GirodPublished 4 years ago 7 min read
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Oh, by the way, this is the queen.

(SPOILERS AHEAD) So if you haven't watched the entire 3rd season of the Crown yet, stop reading this right now. I don't know what episode you're on, but I'm not taking any chances with your lively hood, or mine. If you haven't watched it, stop reading now and go read about Trump, dating advice, or whatever you read. I don't want to be "that guy" who spoils shows for people. Thank you, please enjoy the show- I mean blog post.

Anyways…

For the holidays, I visited my family in San Antonio, Texas. While spending time with my mom, I was inevitably exposed to one of her favorite shows, The Crown on Netflix. A well made drama about Queen Elizabeth II and her journey as a monarch through modern history. Despite being a 23-year-old man who watches football regularly, I became absolutely fascinated with the show. Good storytelling is good storytelling, regardless of the genre. One episode, in particular, stuck out more than the others. The 45-minute masterpiece was about Prince Phillip, the Queen's husband, and his unique midlife crisis.

The life he's living is becoming monotonous. The royal duties he is forced to participate in are giving him FOMO. Especially when the Nationally televised moon landings of 1969 begin to grace the national airways. Prince Phillip's FOMO only manifested upon itself. He, in other words, was having a mid-life crisis. Watching astronauts fly around space will inevitably cause a longing of that magnitude to any wistful wannabe adventurer. He is trapped by his royalty, and the many responsibilities that with the Crown. At least that's what Prince Phillip believes.

SPACE INVADERS

The episode's main plot is set in motion when the church the Royal family attends needs a new priest (the current clergyman is shown to be so old he can't even remember his own sermon, and that's a pretty big part of the job you know). So the Queen hires a new, much younger priest, for the job. Prince Phillip takes no role in the hiring process. He's shown at this part in the episode to be against the attendance of church in general, believing it to be a waste of valuable time better spent on useful, active work. Later on in the episode, while everyone's at church, Phillip is out exercising with polo equipment.

All this clearly shows how adamant Phillip's belief in living a life of action is. This strong adamancy leads to a strong disagreement with the priest the Queen has recently hired. One day, the new priest comes to the Prince asking for funds to create a retreat space for confused and burnt out clergy looking for rest and reflection. Phillip, in response, gives him an almost hostile speech contrary to the priests idea of rest and reflection being a solution to the priests weariness. The royal explains that the idea of sitting around thinking and talking is waste of time compared to actively doing work. Saying, moreover, that the kind of resolution the priests are looking for can be found by going out and working in the communities they already serve. The Prince, despite the disagreement, permits the priest to build the program anyway. The priest graciously invites him to join if he likes; Phillip, of course, declines the offer and goes back to watching adventure porn in the form of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon.

This genius piece of filmmaking goes on to exemplify the introverted mindset and humble the extroverted way of thinking; Not to say that there's anything wrong with extroverts or the way they think. I wouldn't be writing these blog posts or have the motivation to be self-employed if I didn't, or couldn't think like one. We still need to take action at times. People, on the other hand, especially if they're introverted, still need time to think up solutions within their minds. In this regard, I disagree almost entirely with Prince Phillip on his stance, and, eventually, so does Phillip.

EXTOVERSION INTROVERSION AT WAR

When Phillip meets with the burnt-out priests at the retreat center, he helped found. During a reflective meeting, where the priests shared their feelings regarding their troubles, Phillip interrupts and gives them his two cents. Essentially, he tells them they're wasting their time trying to solve their problems in this meeting. Going on to say that they should be out helping their communities. Though he means well, his two cents feel more like daggers.

As I watched this scene, I honestly thought he kind of a douche towards the priests. You can't blame him, though. Taking action is all he knows and understands. It's his schema: a foundational belief you hold about life, a filter that you view the world through. For example, a democrat will see current events much differently than a republican will.

Phillip's schema regarding work forces him to believe that self-reflection is nothing more than idleness. For the Prince, this type of work does not come easily. For some, however, performing this act of inner searching is easy. These people are called introverts. There's an aspect of introversion and extroversion people don't talk about as much as the social aspect: The work preference. When people think of extroverts, they typically picture a loud talkative person who brings life to any party. While introverts are confined to the corner, all alone; avoiding, or quietly listening to the loud extrovert telling a story about something the introvert would never dream of doing. At the end of the day, it's all about energy. You probably don't think about how differently introverts and extroverts prefer to work. Extroverts get their energy from working externally, versus introspectively obtaining them. They're the humans who get agitated or depressed just lying around. They have to be doing something at all times. Introverts, on the other hand, prefer internal work. Virtually all this means is introverts prefer thinking, and extroverts prefer doing. Therefore, when you prefer something, you often hold a strong bias towards said preference. Prince Phillip is clearly an extrovert. He shows it when he ignorantly preaches his view on the best way to get something done. And the introverted priest argues the opposite point—that looking within one's mind can yield the answers the holy men need to continue their work.

A VISIT FROM OUTER SPACE

Everything changed, however, when the Prince had the privilege of meeting the astronauts in person. In this schema pulverizing scene, the three astronauts sit across from Phillip, and the Prince asks them questions about their space voyage. Much to his highness's surprise, and disappointment, the astronauts only tell him how meticulous the trip was. The Prince's fantasy of flying through space gazing at the earth from afar is shattered. The astronauts only tell stories them spending most of their time following protocol, and rarely having a moment to look outside the window at planet earth. If these guys' lives weren't exciting enough, would he ever find a lifestyle epically sufficient for his adventurous spirit? The answer is provided to Phillip through a series of questions thrown at him from the astronauts, who seem equally intrigued by the life he lives as a Prince of the British Royal Crown. They ask him how many rooms are in the palace, how many servants attend him, and other inquiries about what it's like to be royalty. The questions make Phillip realize he's already living a pretty extraordinary life, a life that manages to amaze astronauts.

THE WORK PREFERENCE TREATY

To be fair, I'm not arguing that introverts are better than extroverts.

The lesson Prince Phillip learned goes beyond finding an introspective solution to an extroverted induced problem. It's about getting out of your comfort zone. If you're an extrovert, you might need to chill out and meditate on your issues. On the other hand, if you're an introvert, you might have to leave your secret cave and take some action. Neither of these thinking preferences is better than the other. And sometimes we need both to become the best we can be as human beings.

In one of the final scenes of the episode, his understanding is broadened. The Prince attends another meeting and shared what he learned from his talk with the astronauts, then graciously apologizes to the priests he scolded at the beginning of the episode. Phillip stands corrected but walks away as a better person for it. Learning a valuable life lesson: That looking within yourself, in the now, in the present, you can find the answers you need to move forward.

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About the Creator

Landon Girod

Hi I'm Landon Girod. I've had two books not make the New York Times bestseller list. And most of articles and short stories have yet to win any awards.

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