Olivia Colman stars as Elizabeth, along with main cast members Tobias Menzies, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Daniels, Jason Watkins, Marion Bailey, Erin Doherty, Jane Lapotaire, Charles Dance, Josh O'Connor, Geraldine Chaplin, Michael Maloney, Emerald Fennell, and Andrew Buchan.

[2] Season three covers the time period between 1964 and 1977, beginning with Harold Wilson's election as prime minister and ending with the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

[3] Events depicted include the unmasking of the Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, Sir Anthony Blunt as a Soviet spy,[4] Harold Wilson and Edward Heath's respective terms as prime minister,[5][1] the Aberfan disaster,[6] the Apollo 11 Moon landing,[7] the 1969 Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales,[8] the death of the Duke of Windsor (the Queen’s uncle and the former King Edward VIII),[9] the death and state funeral of Winston Churchill,[10] and Princess Margaret's affair with Roddy Llewellyn that leads to divorce from Tony Armstrong-Jones.

[14] By January 2018, Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Bettany were in negotiations to portray Princess Margaret and Prince Philip, respectively, for these seasons.

Its critical consensus reads: "Olivia Colman shines, but as The Crown marches on in reliably luxurious fashion through time it finds space for the characters around her, providing ample opportunity for the appealing ensemble to gleam, too.

[36] The Los Angeles Times's Lorraine Ali praised the attention to historical detail and the performances, particularly from Colman and Bonham Carter.

[37] The Guardian's Lucy Mangan praised the "top-notch performances", adding that the season is "so confident and so precision-engineered that you don't notice the defects".

[21] Daniel Fienberg for The Hollywood Reporter judged the cast transition to be a success, adding the series "remains a model for carefully crafted episodic storytelling".

[26] Reviewing for Variety, Caroline Framke thought the series does not always succeed in humanising the royal family, but when it does, it is "as compelling a portrait of how power warps individuals, and the world along with them, as exists on TV".

[42] The Princess did attend a White House dinner, but the details are mostly fictional (such as her carousing with Johnson and kissing him, dirty limericks, and helping secure a US bailout, which in fact had already been negotiated).

[49] The relationship with Princess Alice has also drawn criticism for Prince Philip's depiction as being estranged from his mother and objecting to her visiting London.

Reviews of the episode noted that it ignored more significant events, citing Princess Anne's 1973 wedding to Captain Mark Phillips and her attempted kidnapping in 1974.