As Richard the Third succumbs to death by the hand of Richmond, the old Queen Margaret and her mirror once again appear in a ghostlike fashion. Richard is forced to look at his reflection one last time. Although it seems like it, this is not Margaret’s last appearance. In the final scene of The Hollow Crown, the newly crowned Henry the Seventh gives an inspiring speech to his kingdom; however, his words of peace and togetherness are ultimately overshadowed by Queen Margaret.
The match-dissolve from the battlefield to Henry the Seventh’s coronation transitions us from the horrors of the bloody battlefield to the seemingly safer throne room. Henry sits straight-up and looks ahead unblinkingly as his loyal subjects echo back “God save the King.” As he stands to begin his speech, the background sound shifts from victorious horns to the ominous music a viewer of The Hollow Crown is already familiar with. The camera moves from a side-view of Henry to a front-view of his face. We see the audience’s reaction to his words very minimally: only twice does the camera cut to a close-up of someone else’s face. The subjects we do see in the background stand very formally, with their hands in their laps and all eyes on Henry. Henry’s regal
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Very few faces of the pile of dead can be seen, reminding us that one of those bodies are Richard. The tension in this shot builds as we wonder where we are following the camera to. From the pit, the camera tilts up to reveal the back of a figure. It is Margaret looking out at the field. The camera continues moving close to her as she slowly turns around to face it, looking into it for a split second before she turns her face up to the sky. The camera follows her head movement and shifts to an aerial shot, moving farther and farther away to expose countless bodies strewn across the