The Queen has ‘limited intelligence’ and the Royal Family is ‘deranged’ claims writer of Netflix hit The Crown

THE Queen has been branded "a countryside woman of limited intelligence" by the screenwriter behind the hit Netflix series dramatising her life.

Vocal republican Peter Morgan, who writes royal series The Crown, claimed the beloved monarch "would have much preferred looking after her horses to being queen".

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, Mr Morgan said: "If you had told me I would be doing this, I would have told you it was mad, hallucinogenic conjecture.

"I wouldn’t have guessed there would be anything more to say about this countryside woman of limited intelligence who would have much preferred looking after her dogs and breeding horses to being Queen."

The Golden Globe winning show is not Mr Morgan's first creative venture into the lives of the royal family, having previously written The Queen - for which Helen Mirren won the Oscar for Best Actress - and the 2013 play The Audience.

However, it seems the writer is less than impressed by the family he's spent so much of his career focusing on - which he compared to a "virus".

He said: "They’re survival organisms, like a mutating virus. Look at how many prime ministers are wheeled out in coffins, on stretchers, having made fools of themselves: Downing Street is full of sick people.

"And yet she [the Queen] survives. It is clearly a deranged institution and a completely insane system, but perhaps it’s the insanity that makes it work."

The Crown will return for a second series on December 8, with Claire Foy and Matt Smith reprising their roles as The Queen and Prince Philip.

After the first series followed their lives before and after Queen Elizabeth's coronation, the upcoming episodes will be set between 1957 and 1964.

The second season, which will feature President Kennedy and wife Jackie, will be Claire Foy's last, with Broadchurch star Olivia Colman lined up to take over the role in series three and four.

Of her new role, Olivia said: "I’m so thrilled to be part

"I think Claire Foy is an absolute genius - she’s an incredibly hard act to follow.

"I’m basically going to re-watch every episode and copy her."