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Controversies in new series of The Crown 'are very much of the Royal family’s own making'

Dominic West plays Prince Charles in series five of the Netflix drama series The Crown
Dominic West plays Prince Charles in series five of the Netflix drama series The Crown

The penultimate series of The Crown was always going to make uncomfortable viewing for the Royal family.

As the Netflix drama lurches into the early 1990s, it will dredge over the marriage breakdowns of three of Queen Elizabeth II’s children, the Windsor Castle fire and the now discredited Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

Producers hardly struggled for material. The five-year period covers what one insider acknowledged was the late Queen “at her lowest ebb”.

However, sources insist that the royal scandals it dramatises are very much of the family’s own making.

The controversial content is their own "creative production", one said, adding that if there were "less unpleasant and destructive" storylines, then The Crown would have followed them.

One show insider has acknowledged that the next series “will cause a hell of a fuss”.

But the unfortunate timing of its release, just weeks after the Queen's death, has been branded insensitive and distasteful by critics, while the dramatisation and imagined conversations have only served to fan the flames.

The focus on the breakdown of his marriage could not have come at a worse time for the King, whose popularity has surged since his accession.

There is understood to be concern at both Buckingham Palace and in political circles that, as the series moves closer to the present, it will have the ability to inflict significant damage to the new King and his reputation.

Netflix has denied reports that it considered delaying the series following the Queen’s death. It will be released on November 9.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s relationship with Penny Knatchbull

Jonathan Pryce as the Duke of Edinburgh and Natascha McElhone as Penny Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma in season five of the Netflix drama series The Crown - Keith Bernstein
Jonathan Pryce as the Duke of Edinburgh and Natascha McElhone as Penny Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma in season five of the Netflix drama series The Crown - Keith Bernstein

The series will chart the blossoming friendship between Prince Philip and the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, played by Natascha McElhone.

However, reports that it will show Philip pursuing an affair are wide of the mark. It portrays the relationship as “intellectual” rather than physical, the Telegraph understands.

Rather than showing the pair engage in an illicit liaison, it is used as a vehicle to delve into potential deficits in the Duke and Queen Elizabeth II’s own marriage.

Lady Mountbatten and Prince Philip are shown confiding in each other about how they have grown apart from their respective spouses.

The scenes are juxtaposed with conversations between the Queen and Prince Philip as they discuss their differing views of marriage before heading to separate bedrooms.

The show does suggest that the Queen felt insecure about her husband’s friendship.

At one point, the Duke snaps at her: “It’s friendship, Lilibet. It’s not that sort of companionship. That would just make me even more lonely.”

The monarch is later seen summoning Lady Mountbatten to the stables at Windsor Castle to suggest that people might “jump to the wrong conclusions” if they saw the Duke out and about with a beautiful younger woman. In order to “nip all that in the bud” invited her to accompany her to church that Christmas at Sandringham.

Prince Charles plotting to oust The Queen

Prince Charles is shown summoning John Major, played by Jonny Lee Miller, to Highgrove for a secret meeting in which he suggests he should replace his mother as monarch.

He tells the Prime Minister that when he comes to Balmoral, he should judge for himself “whether this institution is in safe hands”.

He adds: “What makes the Conservative Party successful? Its instinct for renewal and its willingness to make way for someone younger. For almost 60 years my great-great-grandfather Edward VII was kept waiting in the wings. He longed to be given responsibilities but his mother refused. And yet when his time came he proved his doubters wrong and his reign was a triumph.”

Sir John has branded the storyline a "damaging and malicious fiction".

A statement released on his behalf said: “Sir John has not cooperated - in any way - with The Crown.

"Nor has he ever been approached by them to fact-check any script material in this or any other series.

"Discussions between the monarch and prime minister are entirely private and - for Sir John - will always remain so.”

A spokesman said that scenes featuring imagined conversations between the prime minister and the late sovereign were "fiction, pure and simple".

Panorama

Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, proved one of the BBC’s biggest and most damaging controversies.

The Prince of Wales said last year that the interview should “never be aired again”. He said it held no legitimacy and had established a false narrative commercialised by the BBC and others for more than 25 years.

Similarly, he is said to be frustrated by The Crown’s dramatisation of his mother’s interview for financial gain.

A source said Prince William had made his feelings about it “very clear” and that a fictional depiction would be “met in the way you would expect”.

Snippets of the interview will be depicted in the show, as will the “deceitful” manner in which the interview was obtained.

Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC, apologised to the King, Prince William and Prince Harry earlier this year “for the way in which Princess Diana was deceived and the subsequent impact on all their lives.”

Prince Charles, played by Dominic West, is shown in The Crown confronting his wife about her comment that he was “unfit to be king”.

“The expectation, the waiting for it to happen — look how miserable it’s made you,” she replied.

Charles is said to respond: “It’s not the waiting that’s made me miserable. It’s the years spent rotting in a marriage to someone trying to destroy me.”

Mohamed Fayed

Khalid Abdalla, left, as Dodi Fayed and Salim Dau as Mohammed al Fayed in series five of the Netflix drama series The Crown - Keith Bernstein
Khalid Abdalla, left, as Dodi Fayed and Salim Dau as Mohammed al Fayed in series five of the Netflix drama series The Crown - Keith Bernstein

One episode of the fifth series is dedicated to Mohamed Fayed and his son, Dodi.

It purports to show how Fayed was propelled towards Britain, motivated by an obsession with the Royal family and being accepted by high society.

Fayed is depicted as someone who will do anything to get alongside Queen Elizabeth II, buying the Ritz, sponsoring a horse trial and then buying and refurbishing Edward and Wallace Simpson’s French villa.

The episode suggests that Fayed and Diana struck up a friendship through their shared experience of being treated as outsiders.

The Fayed family has declined to comment.