Disclaimer: I do not own "The Crown" or its characters. They are property of Netflix and its affiliates.
Plot: In a dream, Phillip faces the consequences of his forcing of Charles to attend Gordonstoun over Eton College.
Cast:
Matt Smith as Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Jared Harris as King George VI
Eilleen Atikins as Queen Mary
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as King Henry VII
Michael Gambon as King George V
Clair Foy as Queen Elizabeth II
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"Sins of the Father"
Written by Jeff Snyder (TwilightSparkle3562)
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Philip had gone to sleep that night seemingly hating himself for what he did to his eldest son, Charles. Over the strong objections of his wife, Queen Elizabeth II and the Lord Mountbatten, he firmly decided to send Charles, who would one day succeed his mother as King, to his own childhood school in Scotland over the recommendation of Eton College.
Now, he was going to pay the consequences for his actions.
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Opening his eyes, Philip found himself in a classroom similar to Gordonstoun, but he found that there were no other pupils sitting around him. Then, he looked down and saw that his wrists and ankles had been shackled to the desk.
"Christ…what's going on here?" Philip cried as he struggled against his bonds. "Get me out of here! Somebody help!"
The Duke of Edinburgh struggled in vain as the door to the classroom opened and in stepped his father-in-law, the late King George VI with a look of disappointment on his face.
"Bertie, Bertie release me!" Philip pleaded. "Release me for Christ's Sakes!'
But he didn't and not long after, his mother Queen Mary entered the classroom followed by his grandfather in law, King George V and finally, much to his shock was King Henry VII of the house of Tudors. All the royals surrounded the duke and this made Philip uncomfortable.
"What do you all want with me?" Philip pleaded, continuing to struggle while his fellow royals continued to look down at him. "Answer me, please!"
"Stop struggling!" King George V demanded in a loud voice. "And shut up for once! Do you know why you are here, Duke of Edinburgh?"
"Is this about Charles?" the Duke scoffed. "Oh bloody hell, you are all going to object to my decision too? Well, my answer is final and…"
"SILENCE!" shouted George V, taking his hand and slapping Philip across the face. While the Prince recoiled in pain, George VI stepped forward next.
"Bertie, you agree with me?" he asked, trying to get at least one of the royals on his side. "Say that Charles needed to go to Gordonstoun, to learn how to be a man."
Sighing, the stammering father-in-law and sat down in the desk next to his son-in-law, the man who took the Queen's hand in marriage five years before he died.
"Come on, don't you agree with me?"
"Philip," said the departed George VI. "We are all really, seriously disappointed in you."
"It was for his own good, Bertie. Charles needs to learn to be a man if he wants to be king. Christ's sakes, aren't you all strong minded because of what you went through? England needs to survive if one day Lillibet should not be there! Gordonstoun made me into who I am and…"
"What you are doing, Philip Mountbatten, is setting him up for trouble in life," explained Queen Mary. "You see, in English Royal Law, we raise our children with a firm but gentle hand. You did not."
Philip could only struggle to protest his accusations.
"I have been raising Charles and my other children with a firm but gentle hand. The outside world doesn't work in the same way that goes on in the inside world. Eton College would have only made him a weak man and an even weaker king."
"But by forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do, you may have scarred him for life," said George VI, walking around the desk like a vulture flying over a carcass. "My grandson may never been the same innocent soul again, no thanks to you!"
Philip could only feel powerless to respond to the surrounding royals.
"Don't you all see? Don't you all get it? Gordonstoun helped me overcome the shame my family had endured, it helped me get over the loss of my sister. For Christ's sake, I would not have become who I am if it weren't for Gordonstoun. Eton College would just turn Charles into a weak king!"
"But tell me something," said Henry VIII, standing at the head of the classroom. "Who is more in the wrong here, you or Charles? In a way, you are showing Charles that you are a cowardly man more than anything! I now have to live with my consequences for eternity."
Taking the chalk, Henry VIII drew what appeared to be a picture of each of his wives.
"What…what are you doing?" Philip cried. "Who are all those women?"
"These were my wives, all queens of England," Henry VIII explained. "Like you, Philip, I wanted the world's course to run in my favor. I wanted each and every one of my wives to bear me sons, not daughters. But, I ended up receiving daughters and I couldn't accept them for who they are because they weren't boys. To those who couldn't bear me sons, I either divorced or had them killed. God punished me for my actions and as a result, I am one of the few English kings to not gain entry into paradise while my daughter, Elizabeth I, ended up being one of the greatest Queens England has ever had."
A sense of fear began to befall on Philip. In his mind, could he be setting himself for a one way trip to be with Satan? It seemed likely.
"For you see, young Philip," added King George V. "As of this moment, you have been chosen to go to the land of eternal damnation. And why? Because of the emotional damage you inflicted on your own son."
"What?" he gasped. "Says who? Does trying to be a good father cause me to end up with this consequence? To end up being with the devil? I am not a coward! I am a man who wants to raise his children as he sees fit!"
"And by doing so," King George V continued in a sharp tone, slamming his hand down on the desk. "You may have doomed not only Charles, but also our kingdom as well. If one something were to happen to him, the blame won't be on Lillibet, it will be on you, Duke of Edinburgh!"
Just then, the classroom door opened and a devil stepped in holding what appeared to be a pair of chains.
"As you can see, the preparations for what's to happen to you are already being undertaken," King George VI said. "Unless you think about what is best for your son, those chains will grow longer and longer. Despite everything that you have ever accomplished in life, Philip, you will have sealed your own fate because of your grave errors on a future king!"
Philip then heard loud screams coming from outside the classroom and to him, the screams were familiar.
"My sister, my mother!" he cried. "What's happening to them?"
"They are with the devil and his fallen angels because of their own actions in their Earthly life," said Queen Mary. "Your sisters marrying Nazis, men and women who killed people different from them."
Panicked, Philip wanted to help them, but he couldn't.
"Help them! Help them, please!" he begged.
"We cannot help them," said King George VI. "Unless if you help yourself by deciding what is best for Philip. The longer he stays at the hellish institution, the longer your family stays with Satan and the longer your own fate will be sealed. What is your choice, Philip?"
As the demonic sounds grew louder, Philip struggled deeply against his bonds and a few moments later, he found himself awake and sweating profusely.
"Philip, what is it?" Elizabeth asked as she sleepfully moaned. Philip wanted to confess, but he couldn't.
"It's nothing," he whispered, falling back asleep. "It's nothing."
All Philip could do was remember what the kings and queen of the past had told him. The longer Charles stayed at Gordonstoun, the more confirmed that Philip would be to spending the rest of his days in hell, not just for himself, but for his own family as well.
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Five years later, he would make the decision that would save his soul and that of his own family: he pulled Charles out of Gordonstoun. It seemed at least, Philip's spot in heaven was earned, but was it too late for Charles?
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THE END
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