Netflix’s The Crown to devote entire episode to an incident that Prince William never wanted to see again
THE new series of The Crown is set to dredge up every painful detail of King Charles’s marriage to the late Princess Diana — just as the nation rallies around the new monarch.
It rakes over some of the most intimate aspects of their crumbling marriage in the early 1990s and portrays the then Prince of Wales as petty, cold and deceitful.
The fifth series, which starts on streaming giant Netflix next month, is also likely to upset Prince William who is seen, along with brother Prince Harry, being caught in a psychological tug of war between their royal parents.
A TV insider said: “This couldn’t have come at a more delicate time for the new King and his Queen Consort, particularly as they’re riding high in the minds of the public."
Prince William has already said he believes the controversial Panorama interview in which his late mother featured in 1995 should never be aired again.
But Netflix has devoted an entire episode to it.
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The TV insider added: “There’s a sense that Netflix are muckraking over events that took place 30 to 40 years ago, but are still raw for those involved.
“The worst element for the royals is that millions of people around the world will view this series and view it less as a drama and more as a documentary.
“And attention on the Windsors couldn’t be higher as it’s been just a few weeks since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and is in the run-up to the King’s coronation.”
Netflix had considered delaying the launch date of series five out of respect for the Queen following her death last month but decided to press ahead. It covers the years 1990 to 1997. The sixth and final series is being filmed now and is due to stream next year.
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Series five will see Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, divulging details of her rocky marriage. She does so via tape recordings, which featured in the tell-all book on her life by Andrew Morton, Diana: Her True Story.
The author sent her a series of questions and the responses formed the basis of the biography, which shocked the nation when it was published in 1992. The couple separated in the same year and they divorced in 1996. A year later, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris with her lover Dodi Al Fayed.
The Crown will be uncomfortable viewing for the whole Royal Family as it paints the late Queen in a cold light and sees Prince William and his brother Prince Harry as collateral between their warring parents Charles and Diana.
News of the bombshell scenes featuring the then Prince and Princess of Wales comes after The Sun revealed that the programme will suggest that Prince Philip pursued an affair behind the Queen’s back.
In scenes to be shown in series five, which starts on November 9, he touches hands with high society friend Penny Knatchbull as they go carriage-riding together.
Philip, who died 18 months ago, shares intimate details of his marriage with her, saying that he and the Queen had problems and had “grown in separate directions”.
But the claims were dismissed by royal experts who insisted they were just close friends, adding that the insinuations in The Crown were “cruel and distasteful”.
The new series’ character assassination of Charles, played by Dominic West, is a continuation of the negative light he was shown in during series four of the royal drama, which covered most of the late 1970s and 1980s. The then Prince of Wales was seen continuing his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles despite the fact they had both married other people.
And as Princess Diana’s fame and popularity grew, he became wildly jealous and resentful and she fell deeper into despair.
The scenes caused observers to warn that the Royal Family was at risk of being smeared by a drama presenting itself as a documentary.
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TV presenter and royal biographer Andrew Marr previously said: “If they announced ‘This is drama, it’s fiction, it’s entertainment’, you would say it’s brilliant.
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“But when you start to say, ‘This is the truth about these people’s lives’, it’s grossly unfair and really quite sadistic. It’s so convincingly acted that people may think it’s the truth — and it isn’t.”