Close friend of the Queen accuses ‘The Crown’ of ‘trying to destroy the royal family’

A close friend of Queen Elizabeth II has joined the slew of complaints aimed towards the hit drama series The Crown, accusing the show of vilifying the Royal Family.

Speaking to The Times, a family friend of the Royal Family has criticised Netflix for how they’ve chosen to depict events that have occurred during the Queen’s Annus Horribilis.

“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,” she said.

She went on to add that plot lines for season five of  The Crown “would have destroyed” the Queen.

 

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The forthcoming season, which is scheduled to premiere on November 9, will cover events that have taken place from 1990 to 1997 in what is arguably the Royal Family’s most tumultuous time.

While season five will focus on the crumbling marriage of Charles and Diana, it is understood to also showcase Charles’ affair with Camilla as well as his alleged plan to have the Queen abdicated, and imply that the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, had an affair with family friend Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

After dropping their trailer for the upcoming season, critics were left fuming, with one royal expert accusing The Crown of having “perverted the facts” and for being “consistently dishonest” with his storytelling since day one.

More recently, acclaimed actress Dame Judi Dench penned an open letter to The Times, lashing out at The Crown creators for their “inaccurate and harmful account of history”.

“The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism,” Dench wrote.

Dench’s letter had also called out the streaming giants for opting out of using a disclaimer stating that The Crown is a fictionalised drama.

Netflix has since added a “fictional dramatisation” disclaimer to the show’s season five trailer as the shows creator, Peter Mogan, doubles down on defending the series, saying that while “history will be unkind” to Charles and the Royal Family, his show isn’t.

“I have enormous sympathy for a man in his position — indeed, a family in their position,” he has previously said.

Despite the countless negative responses, Netflix is showing no signs of slowing down the production of its massive hit drama series as filming of the show’s sixth and final season is currently underway.