Venerated British actress Olivia Colman nabbed the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role a few weeks ago, upsetting favorite and seven-time nominee Glenn Close, for her turn as Queen Anne in The Favourite. Her speech garnered over 5.5 million views on YouTube, and her performance– one of my favorites this awards season–was widely acclaimed.

Moving onto another royal role, Colman is set to premiere as Queen Elizabeth II later this year in The Crown, Netflix’s popular and costly drama. During the first two seasons, the role was played by Claire Foy, making her a star in America. Now, as the Queen ages in the timeline of the show, the actress must also age, and the entire cast is replaced as such. Colman, already a massive star in the UK because of her work on television in the comedy Peep Show and her dramatic role opposite David Tennant in the detective series Broadchurch, could not be anything closer to the perfect fit for the role.

Playing two different monarchs is an honor in itself, but there is one more honor that should be bestowed upon Olivia Colman. Let’s just make her the Queen of England already! The idea of the divine right of kings is a political and religious doctrine to determine the political and royal legitimacy of a leader. Based on the idea of divine right, a person has the right to hold the position of monarch because God intended.

A decorative, gilded crown on a wrought iron fence outside London’s National Portrait Gallery with a wood panel door in the background.

Maybe that sounds irrelevant. Hear me out.

I don’t know if you believe in God or anything like that. That’s up to your own beliefs. Totally cool. However, I guess I would say we all tend to agree that things tend to work out in ways that we cannot always control. The universe, man.

Let’s review the facts that led me to the conclusion that, by the doctrine of divine right, Olivia Colman should be the next queen of England:

  1. Her given name is Sarah Caroline Olivia Colman. She has 4 names, just like how members of the royal family have a million names.
  2. She lives in London. The Queen lives in London. I do not think this is a coincidence.
  3. She has two BAFTA Awards, and Prince William is the person who is technically in charge of BAFTA.
  4. She’s already played the Queen two times, meaning she basically already knows what the gig is going to be like. There can’t be too many surprises after that. Plus, since she’s playing Elizabeth in The Crown, she’ll already be up to date on her current events surrounding the royals.
  5. Now that she’s broken into the American spotlight, she’ll start to understand American anglophilia in the same way that it applies to the royals. We love British crap.
  6. She’s got a bunch of kids. Royal people always have a bunch of babies. (Except Queen Anne, I guess. Watch The Favourite.)
  7. She’s won 51 different awards, meaning she is no stranger to bling. If you’ve ever seen the crown jewels, it’s something like that.
  8. Nobody wants that dude Charles to be the King. Princess Di fans only on this page.

Because all of these factors have come together in Olivia Colman’s favor, the idea of divine right does not seem so far off. All of these things have already come into fruition–maybe some as a result of a 20 year long career, some of it otherwise–in her life, so the logical next step to me says that she be the next monarch crowned on live television in Westminster Abbey. A reprisal of her role as Queen Elizabeth II, if you will.

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  • Kate

    Usually writing or playing trivia games. Pop culture junkie. Hasn't seen Pulp Fiction.

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