Along with millions around the world, our team loves The Crown, and admittedly have been binge-watching the new series this past week. As with any new series of the show, we question what is fact and what is fiction, turning to the internet for more information, and we weren’t the only ones. The 30 main characters’ Wikipedia pages saw a traffic increase over 5000%, but who’s on-screen appearances sparked the most intrigue? We’ve found out just that.
Biggest increase: the intruder, the Thatcher’s and the private secretary
The people have spoken and it’s clear, they love a bit of drama. The top four increases in traffic are all characters who were involved in major controversy then, and now, including Michael Fagan, the Thatchers, Edward Adean, and Lord Mountbatten.
Michael Fagan, the man who managed to break into Buckingham Palace not once, but twice, had an increase of over 78,000% daily page visits. With a daily average of 208 visits in 2020 leading up to the series premier, to over 163,000 average daily visits this past week.
Viewers were also very interested in the drama surrounding the Prime Minister and her family. Her children Mark and Carol, although not featured much in the show, their story lines were dramatic, piquing the interest of viewers. From Mark’s disappearance to Margaret’s disdain for Carol, their Wikipedia pages grew the second and third most, with an increase of over 18,000% and 10,500%, respectively. The Prime Minister’s husband, Denis, ranked sixth, with an increase of almost 4,500%, and Margaret seventh, with an increase of 4200%.
Edward Adean, Prince Charles’ Private Secretary is at the centre of controversy after the series’ premier, regarding how negative his relationship with Princess Diana has been portrayed. Is it true? It seems others are curious to know more as well, as his Wikipedia page has had an increase of over 5600%, the fourth largest increase in traffic.
Characters with the biggest increase in traffic
Comparing traffic before and after the series premier
Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana hold the top two most visited pages
The Iron Lady beat out the People’s Princess as the most visited Wikipedia page of all characters in the fourth series. These two women led very tumultuous lives during this series, constantly surrounded by controversy, which viewers clearly wanted to learn more about, as they both had just under 3 million visits each in the first week.
The fourth most visited page came as a surprise with Lord Mountbatten (2,170,000 visits), as he only featured in the first episode of the series. His presence was brief, but important. Inspiring Prince Charles to pursue Lady Diana and his assassination are both key pieces of British history, so it’s understandable why the world would want to learn more about Uncle Dickie, including if he really wrote that letter to Charles ahead of his death.
Other members of the royal family filled out the rest of the top ten, including Queen Elizabeth II (3rd, 2.2 million visits), Princess Margaret (5th, 2 million visits), Prince Charles (6th, 1.7 million visits) his sister Anne (7th, 1.3 million visits), Prince Phillip (8th, 1.2 million visits) and The Duchess of Cornwall (10th, 1.1 million visits) as well as the man who broke into Buckingham Palace, Michael Fagan (9th, 1.1 million visits).
Character pages with the most traffic
Which of the top 10 royals had the most traffic
The Crown inspires viewers to learn more
The Wikipedia pages of the 30 most popular characters of The Crown have increased by an average of 5238%, which goes to show that viewers want more information and context. The Crown has given viewers perspective of the drama, but people clearly want more details about who has been included in the story line. Even locations and events depicted in the series saw an increase, including the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (3055% increase), the Falklands War (1471% increase) and the IRA (610% increase).
