'The Crown' Season 3 Episode 8 'Dangling Man' casts former king Duke of Windsor and king-in-waiting Prince Charles in parallel light
Spoiler alert for 'The Crown' Season 3 Episode 8 'Dangling Man'
'Dangling Man' is the name of a book by Saul Bellow published in 1944. It is also the name of the eighth episode of Season 3 of Netflix's 'The Crown'. In the episode, Prince Charles refers to the book in a conversation with Camilla Shand during a candle-lit dinner.
Charles speaks of how he identifies with the main character, a man living his life waiting to be drafted, much like Charles is waiting to become what he was born for. As of 2019, Prince Charles is the oldest and longest-serving heir apparent in British history. But, as the episode progresses, we realize that "Dangling Man" could also refer to his grand-uncle.
As one man awaits to be the king, on the other side of the English Channel, in France, the Duke of Windsor, a former king, desperately clings to his life as his health deteriorates. Diagnosed with cancer, the Duke meets with other dignitaries and even gives an interview with the BBC.
During the interview, the Duke speaks of how he wanted to redefine the role of Prince of Wales -- something Charles hopes to do as well. While the Duke laments the establishment's resistance to change, he seems to be steeped in tradition as well.
Later, when the Queen visits the Duke on hearing of his ill health (as in real life, when the two met just 10 days before he passed away), the Duke insists on getting ready and even standing and bowing to her. He tells her that he underestimated her -- as did many -- and the two form a reconciliation of sorts.
In these moments, though subtle, it would seem that what the Duke resented most was not that the establishment was against his "reformation", but rather of what was taken away from what he must have felt was rightfully his, the way Prince Charles does at this point on the show, as he writes to the Duke that he will not be denied the way his grand-uncle was.
In a moving letter, Charles writes to the Duke lamenting that the latter would have made a great king in a kinder world. However, this seems to erase the common notion that the Duke was a Nazi sympathizer, and perhaps in hindsight -- and not having lived through the ordeal, the young Charles does not realize the difference that was made when the Duke abdicated as king.
At 71 years of age, Prince Charles is still waiting to take the throne and 'The Crown' sets up Charles to show what he wants to be, what he could be and what shapes him. The Duke believes that Charles would be a great king with the right woman at his side, and with the scandals to follow, one must wonder, who is Charles without the women in his life?
All episodes of Season 3 of 'The Crown' are now streaming on Netflix.