5 things Season 6 of 'The Crown' got wrong
Season 6 of 'The Crown' is more about Princess Diana
The first part of the sixth and final season of 'The Crown' was released on Netflix on November 16. The popular series is based on the British royal family and focuses on the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Season 6 deals with more recent events, such as the death of Princess Diana and its aftermath. It also looks at the lives of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the lives of William and Catherine at St Andrew's University in Scotland. The first part of the season comprises four episodes, the remaining six episodes will drop on December 14. Elizabeth Debicki portrays Diana, Imelda Staunton portrays Queen Elizabeth II and Dominic West portrays Prince Charles. Although the series depicts a real-life family, the makers have taken the liberty of dramatizing the historical events. So here are five things 'The Crown' got wrong. Spoiler alert ahead.
Inaccurate timeline of Princess Diana's last summer
The series has omitted several significant events during the last summer before Diana's death on August 31, 1997. The episodes include Diana spending time with sons William and Harry as guests of Mohamed Al-Fayed in Saint Tropez, where her romance with Fayed's son Dodi Al-Fayed started. Then, she traveled to Bosnia and spent time with Dodo in Monte Carlo before going to Paris, where she died. The death of Diana's close friend and fashion designer Gianni Versace, however, is a significant aspect of her life that the filmmakers have chosen to omit. On July 15, 1997, he was shot and killed at his Miami home.
Mohamed Al-Fayed's story
In Season 6, Fayed forces his son into a relationship with Diana to gain popularity. According to the series, he hired photographer Mario Brenna to take pictures of Diana kissing Dodi on his yacht in the Mediterranean. These photos were sold for £250,000 ($310,412.50). However, this story was never confirmed and it seems that the makers invented it for the series.
Mohammed Al-Fayed's visit to the crash site
(Netflix)
After Diana's death, Fayed traveled to Paris to bring Dodi's body home. In 'The Crown' he asks to be taken to the scene of the accident and he goes very close to the scene of the accident. However, this seems like a dramatic exaggeration, because in reality, the possibility of this happening is extremely remote, as the roads would not have been cleared after the high-profile accident.
The exact time of Princess Diana's death
According to reports, Dodi and the driver, Henri Paul, died at the scene of the accident. Diana was taken to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries at 4.53 am. In Episode 4, the doctor who treated Diana comes out of the hospital room and informs the impatiently waiting hospital staff of her death. However, the clock indicates that it's just after 4 am, so the exact time of her death is imprecise.
How Prince Harry was informed of his mother's death
Prince Harry wrote in his autobiography 'Spare' that he was at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when his father, Prince Charles, informed him of Diana's tragic death. He noted that his father was not particularly good at showing emotion and he placed his hand on his knee just once. In Episode 4, however, this event is portrayed differently. In the series, Prince William was in Harry's room when Charles woke him up and broke the news. Contrary to Harry's account, Charles pats him on the back several times.