Watch: The Crown is a look into the private life of the newlywed Queen Elizabeth II

“The Crown must win, must always win.” [caption id=“attachment_3024584” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A still from The Crown. Image courtesy: Netflix[/caption] Welcome to the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II. The 25-year-old newlywed (played by Claire Foy) is faced with the daunting task of leading the world’s most famous monarchy as she forges a working relationship with the legendary Prime Minister Winston Churchill (John Lithgow). The historical drama goes behind the monarchy’s private veneer to reveal the personal intrigues, romances and political rivalries of the royals. Victoria Hamilton is the Queen Mother, Jared Harris plays King George VI, Vanessa Kirby is Princess Margaret and Dame Eileen Atkins plays Queen Mary. Netflix’s ambitious project is penned by writer Peter Morgan, who also scripted the film The Queen, which starred Helen Mirren in the titular role of Queen Elizabeth II. The film was a portrait of the British royal family’s crisis following the untimely death of Princess Diana and the public resentment against the royals that followed. Directed by Stephen Daldry and produced Andy Harries; the historical drama is one of Netflix’s more expensive exclusives. The 10-episode series cost Netflix more than $100 million dollars, as reported by Deadline’s coverage of a press conference where Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos spoke. Of the grandiosity of the project he said, “We are looking for stuff that is more brand-defining and tentpole. [The Crown] is produced to a scale that I don’t think many networks could step up to. Because our audience is large and global and the story is incredibly local, we can invest heavily in a project like that.”