“The Crown” will help shape the memory of Queen Elizabeth II

The helmet of hair, the waving hand, the clipped intonation, the corgis: on screen, a few universally recognised tropes instantly evoke Queen Elizabeth II. But for much of her 70-year reign, depictions of her in the arts did not delve far below the familiar surface. Most were superficial or comical; few tried to throw open the doors of the House of Windsor and nose around inside. When, in 1977, the Sex Pistols declared that “our figurehead/Is not what she seems”, the guitars and thrashing drums sounded like a rebellion against her inscrutability. In 2001 Lucian Freud painted her with tellingly pursed lips.