The Crown tells the love story of the Queen and Prince Philip right from the very start, but while it’s rumoured Her Majesty herself has watched the hit Netflix TV show in the past – her husband reportedly isn’t a fan of its controversial interpretation of his life.
The outspoken 97-year-old Duke of Edinburgh is known for his witty humour, brutal comebacks and controversial jokes, and he hasn’t let his speedy responses slip at all in recent years.
In fact according to the Mirror, actor Matt Smith – who played Philip in the first two series of the show – has now recalled the moment one of his friends previously enjoyed dinner with the Queen’s husband and apparently got a very blunt response when he asked him if he watches The Crown.
Matt reportedly said: “He [Philip] turned around to him and went, ‘Don’t be ridiculous’.
“Apparently the Queen has but we don’t know. I’m pretty sure some [royals] have.”
The show famously hinted at Philip having affairs in the early years of his marriage, something that has never been confirmed or proven. Asked about the infidelity claims, Matt is said to have added: “[The Crown] creator Peter Morgan is adamant they’re common knowledge but I never really know. I made a choice about it when we made the show.”
It comes after actress Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret in the series, previously claimed a friend had overheard Princess Eugenie saying her grandmother the Queen enjoyed the show.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Kirby previously said: “A friend of mine was at a party and didn’t know anyone, so he sidled up to this group who were talking about The Crown.
“One girl said, ‘Well, my granny watches it and really likes it’. It slowly dawned on him that the girl was Eugenie and her granny was the Queen.”
Meanwhile, last year the show’s director Stephen Daldry surprised fans when he told The Sun that he “sincerely hopes they [the royals] don’t watch it”.
“I think enough people in the palace have watched it to reassure the family that were not doing a hack job, and that we are deeply respectful, but we are exploring issues of the family and their relationships both with internally to that family and their relationship to the government of the day,” he said.
“So there will be issues that are controversial for the family and its why i think they don’t should watch it. It is an imagined history – as well researched as it is, it is our interpretation of those events. It’s not a documentary.”