Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

gel·ig·nite ˈjeləɡˌnīt/ noun a high explosive made from a gel of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose in a base of wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate, used particularly for rock blasting. So QEII is finally crowned and we now get to the juicy part of the series, the revelation of Princess Margaret’s relationship with Group Captain Peter Townsend. A reporter at one of the tabloids is working on a story speculating on the relationship between the two. See, he saw the Princess pick a piece of fluff of the Captain’s uniform at the coronation. The editor is not sold, but the reporter insists that where there is smoke, there is fire. Actually he calls the article 'gelignite' since it seems that the name of the episode has to be referenced at least once. Picking the fluff off a man is a gesture even more intimate than a kiss because it suggests that the kissing has already happened. When the owner of the paper is appalled that the editor is planning on running the sto...

This episode was all about the Great Smog of 1952 which I had never heard, but was apparently a really big thing.  Having experienced a little bit of London Fog in my lifetime, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have to deal with the vat of pea soup that was served up in 1952.  I’m not going to lie, this episode felt like a bit of a placeholder, as if the writers wanted to hold off getting to the coronation as long as possible. I wasn’t sure where they were going with it.  What we got was a bit of a deeper glimpse at some of our main characters, particularly Sir Winston Churchill who does not come off very well in this episode. We learn at the beginning of the episode that the whole thing could have been prevented.  Churchill was apparently warned by UK scientists that a great smog was a possibility. Instead, Churchill ignored the warnings by recommending that people continue to burn coal for fuel in an effort to boost the economy. Good intenti...

This episode was slightly different from the previous two episodes with a focus on the Duke of Windsor.  We get a flashback to Edward VIII signing the act of abdication on December 10, 1936 with Wallis Simpson looking over his shoulder and then giving his radio broadcast to the nation. The Duke is played by Alex Jennings who played Prince Charles in the film The Queen (also written by Peter Morgan), as well as Anthony Eden in Churchill’s Secret. He does an excellent job of portraying a man who still acts like a small child even in middle-age, but it also shows some sympathy towards him, cut off from his family. He strikes a rather sad and pathetic figure. Historically, Wallis was not with the Duke when he made his radio broadcast, she’d decamped to the south of France to keep out of the line of fire. There are some lovely moments between the Wallis and Edward in this episode, and the actress playing the role is dressed divinely.  Meanwhile the young Princess Elizabeth ...