Downton Abbey is about the aristocrats, but The Crown goes even further up the social ladder, all the way to the very top of British society. In the 1950s, the young Princess Elizabeth assumes that her ascension to the throne is decades away and that she can enjoy her newlywed life with her charming navy officer husband. When her father dies only a few years later, she's thrust onto the throne and into a world of politics and empire that she must quickly learn to manage — even if it's at the expense of her personal relationships. With cast changes every two seasons, the show intends to cover from the beginning of the queen's reign up through the 1990s or 2000s.