Through the Looking Glass - The Crown and Borgen: Between Symbolic and Real Power

In a particularly remarkable episode in the first season of The Crown, we witness Elizabeth's political education when she is only an eleven-year-old royal. Her teacher is none other than the Vice-Provost of Eton, from the most prestigious private school in the Kingdom. ""There are two elements of the Constitution. The efficient and the dignified." Which is the monarch?", her tutor asks her, quoting the greatest English political commentator of the 19th century, Walter Bagehot. The Crown must show dignity, the Prime Minister must show efficiency. 

This quote from Bagehot seems to be the guiding thread, if not the perfect summary, of The Crown and Borgen. They both defend and illustrate the stability of a system that distinguishes symbolic from real power, and does not concentrate these two in the hands of a single holder, as may be the case in democratic countries such as France and the United States. 

The Crown, or symbolic power

The American-British series, which has been shown on Netflix since 2016, is a worldwide success and has won numerous international awards. Everyone who has loved Downton Abbey loves The Crown, although the authors here deem the latter to be far superior to the first, both in its subtlety and in its effectiveness.

Three seasons are already out, with the fourth planned for the end of 2020. Seasons 5 and 6 are also in the works. The title of the series focuses on the institution, "the Crown", although its real purpose is to describe the life of the United Kingdom through that of the Royal Family. In the opening credits - which are reminiscent of those of Game of Thrones - a crown is closely depicted from all angles. The point is clear: the institution takes precedence over the office holder. The monarch serves the Crown and not the other way around. In fact, she can no longer have any personal ambitions or even a private life. She must embody the Crown, but in order to do so, the monarch must put herself aside, whatever the personal cost. Elizabeth I was married to the throne. She remained unmarried all her life. Elizabeth II had a husband she loved, children, grandchildren, and also a close and difficult sister, Margaret. But she is alone in a position of power that magnifies her - her own mother bows down before her - and isolates her even more.

But political, climatic, economic and international affairs regularly give way to familial and intimate moments. We are given an insight into the difficulties of the royal couple - Philip finds it hard to accept his role as prince consort -, Princess Margaret’s escapades, Prince Charles’ education, or the Queen's relationship with her uncle the Duke of Windsor (the former Edward VIII). Each theme is most often joyfully treated, thanks to the remarkable actors. One of the daring but successful bets of the directors is to have given the role of the Queen to two very different actresses, Claire Foy and Olivia Colman, who, both perfectly convincingly play Elizabeth at different ages. This peak into the intimacy of the royal family may feel a bit voyeuristic, but though what we see is sometimes unsettling, there is comfort in the idea that a country that can criticize itself, also has a functioning institutional system. It would be unimaginable to have such a lucid, direct, objective portrayal of the inner workings of power and the private lives of those who embody it in Putin's Russia or Xi Jinping's China, if not in Donald Trump's United States. Perhaps for the latter it is only a matter of time?

At the end of the day, The Crown reinforces Britain's soft power, with or without Brexit.

Borgen, or real power

Borgen is a three-season Danish show, broadcast in France between 2010 and 2013. The subtitle, "A woman in power", highlights the central role played by Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg. The actress, Sidse Babett Knudsen, has become a quasi-star in France, where she also speaks the language. 

It has been described by some as the Scandinavian version of West Wing: both the West Wing of the White House where the Oval Office is located, but also the remarkable political series created and written by the brilliant Aaron Sorkin. This much-talked-about series has shed light on this small Northern European country and its political and media landscape. The fourth season of Borgen was announced on Netflix, for 2022. Let us then take the opportunity to retrace the highlights and personality traits of Birgitte Nyborg, whose return we now await with impatience, this time as Foreign Minister of her country after several years in the opposition. We can only lament the fact that the writers did not imagine her as a European Commissioner, or even at the head of the Commission, like Ursula von der Leyen. It is often said that TV series are one step ahead of politics, but in this case the opposite may be more accurate…

It is said that Birgitte Nyborg’s character has been loosely based on the former Danish minister, Margrethe Vestager, now vice-president of the European Commission. At the beginning of the series, Nyborg is a centrist candidate, which is typical in Scandinavian parliamentary democracies. A moderate, she came to power in 2011 almost by accident, following a scandal-ridden election campaign, and was a Prime Minister until 2015.

During this period, we follow her evolution as female Prime Minister. Regarding politics and gender, her first speech says it all: those who question her accession to power are a hundred years too late... Even in a Northern European country, thought to be far ahead in such matters, the media is obsessed with her role as a mother and her relationship problems, burdened by the lack of privacy. Birgitte Nyborg is often a powerless witness of the tacit sexism that characterizes the Danish political and economic class in the series, a sexism that challenges her and makes her task almost impossible. Yet she chooses to promote equality between men and women, for instance in the management committees and boards of directors of the country's companies, something that will later cost her dearly. From her allies to her opponents, all politicians - including women - are jealous of her, and try to defeat her before she has had a chance to take her first steps.

Each episode starts with a quote or a proverb. Illustrating the serious and sophisticated character of the series, Machiavelli, Churchill, Lenin or Mao are often cited. During the 58-minute episodes, we witness the difficulties that Nyborg is constantly faced with, like an apprentice forced to confront theory with practice. 

How can a country be managed while raising two children? How can she organize family holidays knowing that the press might pay more attention to those than to the situation in the Middle East? How can she stay true to herself while having to make compromises during election season? How can she protect the country when she has lost the trust of the majority of the public? How can she bring together increasingly divided parliamentarians? How can she accompany a small country through the harsh reality of international conflicts? The writers make her pay a high price: she only manages to do so at the cost of her personal life!

Two seasons later, after the dissolution of Parliament, she withdraws from politics and lives a cosmopolitan life, speaking at conferences between Hong Kong and Copenhagen. But when the Danish political class, so narrow-minded in the eyes of the screenwriters, shifts its attention to immigration, she gets involved. A comeback and a third season are in order. 

At the centrist congress, Nyborg does not shy from expressing how much she disagrees with the closure of borders. In an ode to humanity, she reiterates her early commitments and seeks to rely on her past allies who’ve now become ministers or other important figures. But her return fails. Then, personalities from all sides of the political spectrum, from militants to conservatives, join her to form the "New Democrats", a centrist movement opposed to the majority. A new and important figure enters the scene: Nadia Barazani, an economist of Muslim faith, symbol of the multiculturalism promoted by Nyborg, but whose firmness on integration issues no one had suspected. The task is complex, but Nyborg does not give up the importance of the symbol that this woman from the minority embodies as she accompanies her. 

"It's not a bad thing to show your feelings, to be moved, or even to cry," she adds nonetheless. However, with Nyborg, whose humanity is palpable, one cannot help but continually be both seduced and irritated, as with any politician.

With The Crown and Borgen, we open our summer 2020 mini-series on politics and geopolitics seen through the world of TV series. It is not a coincidental exercise. Covid-19 was a revealing and accelerating force also in the audiovisual sector. During the lockdowns, the world has never watched so many shows. We will devote the next "episodes" to TV shows that have dealt with many of our current political realities, even pandemics. 

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