Do you know your investitures from your coronations? Could you spot an equerry in the halls of Buckingham Palace? And what does a royal private secretary actually do? The world of The Crown is full of titles, unspoken rules and insider references that dictate who is in and who is out. Queen Elizabeth may wear the crown, but on this show, royal vocabulary rules supreme. Ahead of Season 5, refresh your memory on what’s what and learn more regal jargon with this A–Z guide to the world of The Crown. 

Alex Bailey/Netflix

Alex Bailey/Netflix

Ascension 

In Season 1 of The Crown, Princess Elizabeth (Claire Foy) is filming giraffes and elephants from the Kenya treetops when she becomes Queen Elizabeth II — she simply didn’t know it yet. British monarchs ascend the throne the second the previous monarch dies, a fact that is later confirmed by the ceremony known as the coronation. On the show, Elizabeth is informed of her ascension by her private secretary, Martin Charteris (Harry Hadden-Paton), who hears it announced on the radio and races back to tell his new queen before she learns the news from a stranger. With their trip cut short, Elizabeth and her now-consort Philip (Matt Smith) head back to Britain to mourn with the rest of the family. The second Elizabethan Age has begun. 

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Buckingham Palace 

Not all queens live in castles. In the UK the sovereign resides in Buckingham Palace — it’s been the official London residence of the UK’s monarch since 1837, when Queen Victoria reigned. But it’s much more than living quarters. Buckingham Palace also plays host to official events and receptions. On The Crown, we first enter the stately halls of Buckingham Palace in 1947 through the eyes of reigning monarch King George VI (Jared Harris) in the series premiere. When Elizabeth becomes queen, however, she and Philip have no interest in moving into “the house,” as the royals call it. After all, they’d just renovated nearby Clarence House — it’s a pretty substantial home so you can imagine it took some time. But, as so often happens on this show, duty calls and the royal couple takes up residence at Buckingham. At least security will be top-notch? Not quite. In the fifth episode of Season 4, unemployed and dejected laborer Michael Fagan (Tom Brooke) breaks into the palace and awakens the queen in her bedroom for a chat. Somebody ring the bell for tea.

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Commonwealth 

The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 independent countries (with a collective population of roughly 2.5 billion people), many of which are former colonies of the British Empire. We hear about the Commonwealth early in the series, when Elizabeth and Philip are asked to embark on a royal tour, which ends abruptly when her father, the king, dies. Later in Season 1, the queen and Philip take a trip to another Commonwealth nation, Australia — Philip also heads back Down Under in Season 2 to open the 1956 Olympics. But the Commonwealth really takes center stage in Season 4, Episode 8 when, faced with opposition from Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) on the question of South African sanctions, Queen Elizabeth takes a rare stand against her prime minister, siding with the majority of Commonwealth nations who condemn the apartheid.

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Duke 

The most senior rank of the English peerage (marquess, earl, viscount and baron are all beneath it), the title duke is either granted or inherited. Soon after his abdication in December of 1936, the former King Edward VIII was given the title Duke of Windsor. And when Philip Mountbatten married Princess Elizabeth, the king bestowed the title Duke of Edinburgh on him. 

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Equerry

A fancy word for an assistant, an equerry is an officer of the royal household who personally attends to a member of the family. Peter Townsend, the onetime love of Princess Margaret, was equerry to her father, King George VI, and later her sister, Queen Elizabeth II.

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Flying

Season 1, Episode 3  explores the Duke of Edinburgh’s dream of joining the Air Force. When Philip married into the line of succession, his in-laws made him marshal of the Royal Air Force, and — as he jokes with equerry Peter Townsend — he’s “the most senior airman in the country” who “can’t bloody well fly.” To remedy that, Philip enlists Townsend, an experienced air jockey, to give him lessons. Flying is an exhilarating but emotional experience for Philip, whose sister Cecilie died when her plane crashed in fog. Throughout the series, we see Prince Philip get in the cockpit —  flying Prince Charles home from Gordonstoun boarding school in Season 2 and as a co-pilot in Season 3.

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Gordonstoun

Strict Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun is the alma mater of Prince Philip. Although Charles wants to attend Eton, Philip insists on continuing the family tradition. Charles’ muddy experience in the northeast of Scotland is showcased in the Season 2 episode “Paterfamilias.”

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Heir apparent 

The heir apparent (often shortened to heir) to the throne is the person next in line to inherit the crown once the current monarch dies. At the very beginning of the series, Princess Elizabeth is her father, King George VI’s, heir. When she becomes queen, her son Charles, in turn, takes on the role of heir apparent. In Season 3, Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) undergoes his official investiture (see below) as Prince of Wales, a title exclusively reserved for the heir apparent to the British throne. 

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Investiture

While a typical investiture, a formal ceremony where the monarch presents someone with an honor or insignia, happens regularly throughout the year, the investiture of the Prince of Wales is akin to a coronation ceremony. Charles is invested as Prince of Wales in 1969 —  depicted in the Season 3 episode “Tywysog Cymru” — only after he spends a grueling summer learning enough Welsh to participate in said ceremony in the country’s mother tongue. 

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Jewels 

Naturally, jewelry is an essential part of the royal wardrobe. Throughout the series, the queen mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret and the rest of the royal family don a sparkling array of necklaces, brooches, earrings, tiaras and diadems to add some glitz to their outfits. Two of the most significant statement jewels bookend the series so far: In Season 1, King George VI and the queen wear the two-pound Imperial State Crown in preparation for each of their coronation ceremonies. Then, in Season 4, Princess Diana (Emma Corrin) selects her Ceylon sapphire engagement ring from what the queen calls a “rather special box of chocolates” ahead of the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles.

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Kensington

Located in London, Kensington Palace is a royal residence. On the show, we see Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon living there with their family, and Margaret continues to reside at Kensington Palace after the dissolution of their marriage. After Prince Charles and Princess Diana wed, they take up residence in apartments at Kensington Palace, where they raise their children, Princes William and Harry.

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Lilibet

Even queens have nicknames, like this longtime endearment for Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon her during childhood and used by her closest loved ones. But, be warned, this pet name is meant for close family members only — as Peter Townsend (Ben Miles) finds out, to all of our embarrassment, in Season 1, Episode 6.

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Mountbatten (Lord) 

Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma — or, more simply put, “Dickie” — is Philip’s uncle and father figure. Played by Greg Wise in Seasons 1 and 2 and Charles Dance in Seasons 3 and 4, he is often called in to advise Queen Elizabeth and acts as a mentor to Prince Charles. As former viceroy of India, he pines for the might and power of the British Empire, a belief that turns him into a rallying figure for reactionary politics in Season 3. In Season 4, Dickie is assassinated by the Irish Republican Army while out on his boat with his grandson. 

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Norman Hartnell 

Royal dressmaker Norman Hartnell designed many of the royal women’s most iconic looks over the years. His résumé includes some of the most sought-after contracts for any fashion designer, including Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress and coronation gown and Princess Margaret’s wedding dress. Talk about pressure.

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Order of the Garter

The oldest British Order of Chivalry and most senior and exclusive order of knighthood in Britain, the Order of the Garter dates all the way back to the reign of King Edward III in the 1300s. After being crowned queen in Season 1, Episode 5, Elizabeth grants the honor to Winston Churchill (John Lithgow) in 1953.

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Private secretary 

Think of the queen’s private secretary as a watchdog. To get to her, you have to go through him first. Sir Alan “Tommy” Lascelles (Pip Torrens) steps into that formidable role in Season 1, shepherding Queen Elizabeth through the early days of her reign. Upon his retirement, the role is filled by Sir Michael Adeane (played by Will Keen and later David Rintoul) after a power struggle with Martin Charteris (Harry Hadden-Paton and Charles Edwards), the queen’s preferred candidate. Charteris becomes assistant private secretary, confirming the importance of precedence and protocol in the royal household. 

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Queen mother  

The queen mother is the former queen (due to her husband, the king’s, passing) and mother of the reigning monarch. In Season 1, Queen Mary was technically King George VI’s queen mother, but she never assumed the moniker and continued to be called Queen Mary after his ascension. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, King George VI’s wife and queen, becomes the queen mother after his death, when their daughter ascends the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. 

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Royal tour 

In medieval times, royal tours were used to consolidate power in remote parts of the kingdom. The modern version isn’t that different — just think planes and ships instead of horses and lavish litters. The Crown has depicted a number of royal tours over the course of the series, from Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh’s 1954 trip to Australia and New Zealand shortly after her ascension to the throne, to Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s 1983 Australian tour that cemented the latter’s status as a global superstar. 

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Sandringham 

Situated in Norfolk, England, Sandringham Estate serves as the royal family’s Christmas retreat in The Crown. Many emotional scenes take place there, from King George VI’s tear-jerking rendition of a yuletide hymn ahead of his death, to the Season 4 finale, which marks a tense impasse in the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. 

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Thatcher, Margaret 

Gillian Anderson plays Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first woman prime minister — also known as the “Iron Lady.” Elected in 1979, Thatcher presided over a turbulent period of economic and political upheaval known as Thatcherism as well as the Falklands War. She resigned as prime minister after more than a decade in power in 1990, after her leadership of the Conservative Party was challenged by some of her colleagues. 

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United Kingdom 

The United Kingdom is the home base for The Crown, as the sovereign rules over the UK and the Commonwealth. Quick reminder: The UK includes Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and Northern Ireland. When the series begins, Elizabeth and Philip live in Malta as newlyweds, but they return to the UK two years later, with their children Charles and Anne in tow, to support King George VI as he undergoes lung surgery. 

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Video

The royals don’t always thrive when it comes to modern technology. In Season 4, Diana tries to impress her husband by gifting him a video recording of her singing “All I Ask of You” from the musical Phantom of the Opera for their seventh anniversary. Charles barely contains his cringe while watching. A more successful video-adjacent moment can be found in the first ever televised broadcast of the queen’s Christmas address in Season 2, Episode 5. All hail the queen of moving with the times. 

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Winston Churchill

Played by John Lithgow in Seasons 1 and 2, Winston Churchill is best known for leading his country to victory over the Nazis during World War II. He’s still riding that wave of popularity when we meet him in the series premiere during Princess Elizabeth’s 1947 wedding to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In 1951, Churchill is elected for a second time, making him Queen Elizabeth’s first prime minister when she ascends the throne in 1952. Never one to mince words, he acts as the young monarch’s tough mentor in the early days of her reign. 

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(E)xes 

Having lunch with your fiancé’s ex-girlfriend isn’t an item you would normally find on the royal itinerary. But Prince Charles insists his bride-to-be Diana spends time with his ex, Camilla Parker Bowles (Emerald Fennell), while he’s away for the summer. The two ladies share an extremely uncomfortable meal in Season 4, Episode 3, and Diana realizes how little she knows about her husband-to-be. Pass the wine.  

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Your Majesty 

“Your Majesty” is the correct formal address for the queen. After an initial introduction, referring to the queen as “Ma’am” will suffice, thank you very much. For other members of the royal family, the first address is “Your Royal Highness,” followed by “Sir” or “Ma’am.” Watch President Kennedy (Michael C. Hall) and Jackie Kennedy (Jodi Balfour) butcher this in Season 2, Episode 8, “Dear Mrs. Kennedy.”

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Zeitgeist

Over the years, the British public’s attitude toward the royals has fluctuated. Though Prince Philip tries to spearhead the royal family’s public image in the 1960s and ’70s by shaping the media narrative around them, it’s Lady Diana who really captures the people’s hearts and attention when she starts dating Prince Charles in Season 4 of the series. The princess’ influence on the zeitgeist of the ’80s and ’90s is undeniable.