The following contains spoilers for The Crown Season 5, now streaming on Netflix.
Unlike previous seasons, the penultimate season of Netflix's The Crown struggled to find its focus, especially with multiple characters fighting for the spotlight. But one thing The Crown’s fifth season did accomplish is ironically mirroring the turbulent family of House of the Dragon, and possibly their downfall.
When comparing The Crown to House of the Dragon, it’s important to remember that the former -- despite its eerie similarities to real life -- is still a work of fiction. The comparisons drawn are between the fictional Targaryen family and the fictional(ish) version of the British royal family. How much creator Peter Morgan has fictionalized about the royal family is between Morgan and public knowledge. Yet there’s no denying that there are common threads between the two royal families.
Charles and Rhaenyra Both Struggle for Change
The fifth season takes place in the late 1980s and 1990s when Prince Charles’ dirty laundry was slowly being exposed to the public. Being as self-absorbed as he is, Charles believes the public wants him as king and possibly for Elizabeth to abdicate the throne in her old age. This isn’t a complete fabrication in his mind, as he builds an entire team preparing for him to inherit the throne and turn the monarchy upside down, but a poll in the final episode indicates the people are still in favor of a monarchy.
The results of these polls take Charles by surprise -- almost similar to how Rhaenyra Targaryen reacted when she learned nobody wanted her as queen. For nearly 20 years, Rhaenyra experienced what it meant to be a woman in the realm, and not just any woman: the future Queen of Westeros. Despite their oaths, many of the lords and ladies of Westeros opposed her claim. More importantly, the people made her a laughingstock in crude plays. Rhaenyra was foolish to think it’d be easy to sit on a throne and call herself queen, but even more foolish to be surprised that the small council plotted for Aegon to be king for years. Charles and Rhaenyra may have pushed for progression, but tradition is still favored by many in their respective countries.
Rhaenyra and Diana Found Love In Unexpected Places
This is not to say that Rhaenyra is the Charles of Westeros. She also shares qualities with the people’s princess, Diana Spencer. Season 5 is less of the Queen's show and more of Diana’s. It depicts her separation from Charles, their divorce, and her growing paranoia as the royal family closes in on her. The show spends a great deal of time on her unhappy moments in her final months of life. But the rare sparks of happiness are those she spends with her children and the men she meets and mingles with.
William and Harry are the greatest loves of Diana's life -- as is Rhaenyra’s children to hers -- and where she couldn’t find comfort with Charles, she found with other men. One of these men is Dr. Hasnat Khan, whom she met at a hospital. While their meet-cute wasn’t exactly appropriate (Diana was fawning over Dr. Khan while her friend worries over her husband in surgery), they later became an unlikely couple that Diana found normalcy with. Similarly, Rhaenyra did the same with Ser Harwin Strong because she wasn’t exactly her husband’s type.
The Rulers Were Stubborn to Change Their Ways
Viserys and Elizabeth’s titles may come with privilege that only lower-class people could ever dream of, but in their eyes, they’ve earned it without question. It’s this mindset that even Charles scoffs at, and it more or less sends the monarchies into potential downfall. Of course, the British royal family is still as prosperous as ever in 2022, but there was some worried in the 1990s that the end was near for them. From refusing to buy a cable box to asking the government to fund her unessential yacht, Elizabeth proved she was stuck in the past. Thanks to her grandson and others, she finally gave in to moving with the modern world, but she’s still of the Victorian era.
In House of the Dragon, Viserys had the same problem, but for opposite reasons. After his death, Viserys was known as “Viserys the Peaceful” because he had a laid back method of ruling that allowed Alicent and Otto to take the wheel and cause chaos. From Viserys' passive ruling to Rhaenyra’s struggle to take power, it wouldn’t be preposterous to assume that George R. R. Martin might have had the British royal family in mind when writing the history of the Targaryens.
The Crown Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. House of the Dragon Season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max.