Before we are even introduced to the new lineup of top-tier British acting talent playing the royals this time around- we are swept all the way back to 1954, with Claire Foy’s Queen Elizabeth II launching the Royal Yacht Britannia.

That’s by no means the last clunky metaphor across the show’s somewhat uneven fifth season, but you must have some sympathy for the show’s creator, Peter Morgan.

However, the season’s pacing and sense of cohesion isn’t always helped by Morgan’s penchant for taking us on historical diversions, seemingly to offer parallel with the present-day goings-on.

We have seen plenty of explosive arguments between Charles and Diana on the show before, and when the queens intervene in the romantic lives of her family once again to catastrophic ends, it’s easy for it to feel a little repetitive.

Season 5 of The Crown may be controversial – but really, it’s only as messy, contradictory, and darkly fascinating as the family it depicts.