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Anne, in her usual clipped, blunt fashion, says the marriage has no future.
Despite their similar aristocratic backgrounds, Anne says, their personalities come from different planets.
Other times the space between ambition and reality provokes resentment.
Philips frustration with playing second fiddle to Elizabeth on the world stage is one example of that.
In Dianas experience, we see her marriage to a spouse with whom she cant quite identify.
Shes just like us, exclaims one adoring fan in Brisbane duringCharles and Dianas royal tour of Australia.
During the argument sparked by that hug, he makes it clear that he prefers Camilla to her.
In the former, the two are so close that, in Charless mind, they are one person.
Between the latter there is nothing but, to borrow Annes word choice, a chasm.
But the more significant scenes involving Diana and Charles are the ones that speak to this theme most loudly.
Im not here, she says softly, the first words she speaks to Charles.
Then: I was given strict instructions to remain out of sight.
On first viewing, this sounds sweet and charming.
As Diana and Charles talk of Shakespeare, it seems as though they may have something in common.
After all, Charles loved the theater when he was at Cambridge, and even did some Shakespeare himself.
Theres even an homage to a more modern version of Shakespeare in this exchange.
You know, she says.
It is lovely, but also a signifier of how obscured she will always be in Charless view.
History is complicated, and its much more efficient to simplify it.
(Ah, more plant/tree metaphors.)
The visual language in subsequent episodes continues to further the divided versus unified motif in a variety of contexts.
Dianas problem, he tells her, is that you seem to be confused about who that person is.
She joins the massive crowd of posers, but stands alone, almost off to the side.
Sleep in heavenly peace, the singers sing in yuletide prayer, as tears fill Dianas eyes.
Given what Philip has just told her, she knows shes going to have to go it alone.
Sadly, we already know exactly whats going to happen when she does.
