Queen's friend claims 'The Crown' is 'vicious' and 'would have destroyed' the late monarch
LONDON, UK: One of the Queen's close friends reportedly claimed that the most recent season of 'The Crown' "would have destroyed the Queen" due to how "vicious" the dramatised plotlines were. Reenactments of Princess Diana's funeral and the 1992 Windsor Castle fire were two of the most contentious segments.
The fifth season of the popular drama on Netflix will also feature scenes from 1991, when King Charles, then Prince, lobbied then Prime Minister John Major to compel his mother to abdicate.
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The script has been called "damaging and malicious fiction" and "a barrel-load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum, and entirely false, dramatic impact," according to Major's spokeswoman, as reported in The Daily Mail.
The cruel lies that will be presented as fact when the season premieres on November 9 have now been described as "horrifying" by an unnamed close friend of the late Queen, who spoke to The Sunday Times. The friend said, "I'm horrified by what is going on with Netflix and how they are vilifying the royal family. It is vicious. It's as if they're trying to destroy the royal family. It would have destroyed her." According to the Daily Mail, the friend has signed on to calls for Netflix to include a disclaimer that the show was fiction.
The period from 1990 to 1997 was a notoriously turbulent time for the royal family, which will be the focus of upcoming Season 5. As per the outlet, a Netflix spox said that the show has always dramatised the inner workings of the royal family in a fictional setting. The fifth season of the show "imagines what might have transpired behind closed doors during a critical decade for the royal family, one that has previously been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers, and historians," according to the official synopsis.
The show will follow the courtship of Charles and Queen Consort Camilla, according to the trailer. Dominic West, who plays Charles, and Olivia Williams, who plays Camilla, will be shown having private moments in the series, while they were still married to other people.
Dramatizing Diana's death and the subsequent funeral was a part of the show that could give the royal family the most anxiety. The scenes will show grieving Princes William and Harry, who were then 15 and 12, amid growing outrage over the program's disregard for historical accuracy. Diana's family and friends will be even more horrified to learn that 'The Crown' will be in Paris to reenact her final moments, according to the Daily Mail on Sunday.
Scenes from Diana's final days in Paris with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed will be filmed. Scenes of them leaving the Ritz hotel together will be recreated, even though it was understood that the crash in which they died won't. In light of the Queen's recent death, those close to the royal family denounced the Netflix series as "crude, cruel, and totally insensitive," Daily Mail reported.
"Nothing is sacred to [The Crown author] Peter Morgan," according to William Shawcross, the Queen Mother's official biographer. "He had been very clear about his support for the republic and his disdain for our late Queen. This is a vile series which lies to the public and has been incredibly hurtful to the Royal Family from the Queen and our new King down. Unlike any other family, they cannot sue," Shawcross added.
It is highly unlikely that Morgan and his coworkers on 'The Crown' were unaware of the delicate nature of the day William and Harry lost their mother. Recalling that painful time, the Duke of Sussex had reportedly told royal biographer Angela Levin, "My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television. I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today. No child should lose their mother at such a young age and then have his grief observed by thousands of people."