Who is Penny Knatchbull? Outrage after Netflix plans to show Prince Philip's 'affair' in 'The Crown'
Only a few weeks after the Queen's funeral, Netflix is set to premiere an episode of 'The Crown' that features Prince Philip having an affair. According to The Sun, he will appear in private moments with a close friend named Penny Knatchbull, the 69-year-old Countess Mountbatten of Burma. Netflix reportedly considered delaying the fifth season's debut, but eventually opted to proceed as scheduled on November 9.
The assumption is that Penny and Philip will 'touch hands' while Philip speaks about his marriage, a gesture that the late Queen's former press secretary Dickie Arbiter called "cruel rubbish."
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“Coming just weeks after the nation laid Her Majesty to rest next to Prince Philip, this is very distasteful and, quite frankly, cruel rubbish. The truth is that Penny was a long-time friend of the whole family. Netflix are not interested in people’s feelings,” Arbiter said.
The friendship between Prince Philip and Penny Knatchbull lasted for many years after they discovered they shared a passion for carriage riding.
“It’s in exceedingly bad taste. This is fiction. There’s no way in a million years he’d discuss his marriage with anybody. The royals probably won’t watch it for their own sanity," said Majesty magazine editor Ingrid Seward.
According to a Netflix source, information on the upcoming season's content is "pure speculation." In one episode, Penny, played by Natascha McElhone, 52, learns carriage riding from Philip, played by Jonathan Pryce. Philip claims to Penny that his marriage has "problems" because they have "grown in separate directions." Philip and Penny grew closer after the latter's 5-year-old daughter Leonora passed away from renal cancer in 1991.
Penny, who was also known as Lady Romsey and Lady Brabourne, frequented Wood Farm, the Norfolk cottage on the outskirts of the Sandringham Estate where the Prince spent a lot of his time after stepping down from public life in August 2017. The fact that she was the only non-family member invited to the Duke's private 30-person burial last year shows how significant a place she had in the Duke's life.
In fact, the Countess and the Queen and Philip were so close that the Palace staff is said to have given her the nickname "and also" since no guest list was ever considered complete without her. Another indication of Penny's close ties to the royal family is her attendance at the Queen's burial last month.