Fury over affair scene in new season of Netflix’s The Crown

Just weeks after the Queen was buried, the Netflix series is set to air a controversial storyline described as “fiction”, and in "bad taste”.

Netflix is to show Prince Philip ­pursuing an affair in The Crown – just weeks after the Queen’s funeral.

He will be shown in intimate scenes with close friend Penny Knatchbull, reports The Sun.

The storyline comes just weeks after the Queen was laid to rest beside her husband in Windsor.

It’s understood Netflix considered stalling the release of the fifth series, but has decided it will go ahead on November 9 as planned.

Viewers will see the Duke of Edinburgh, who died 18 months ago, pursuing an affair with high society beauty Penny, now the Countess Mountbatten of Burma (now known as Myanmar), 69.

They are seen touching hands as he divulges details of his marriage.

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Prince Philip and Penny Knatchbull in 2007. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

It infuriated royal experts, including the Queen’s former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter.

He said: “Coming just weeks after the nation laid Her Majesty to rest next to Prince Philip, this is very distasteful and, quite frankly, cruel rubbish.

“The truth is that Penny was a long-time friend of the whole family. Netflix are not interested in people’s feelings.”

Actress Natascha McElhone will play Penny in season 5. Picture: Joe Maher/Getty Images for Paramount+

Majesty magazine editor Ingrid Seward added: “It’s in exceedingly bad taste.

“This is fiction. There’s no way in a million years he’d discuss his marriage with anybody. The royals probably won’t watch it for their own sanity.”

The Queen and Penny at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May, 2018. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

One episode sees Philip, played by Jonathan Pryce, 75, teaching carriage-riding to Penny, played by Natascha McElhone, 52.

He tells her his marriage has its “problems” as they have “grown in separate directions”.

Philip was close friends with Penny, particularly after 1991 when her daughter Leonora, 5, died of kidney cancer. Penny attended the Queen’s and Philip’s funerals.

He has been portrayed as a flirt in previous episodes of The Crown.

The penultimate series touches on Charles and Andrew’s marital splits, and Diana’s Panorama interview.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Fury over affair scene in new season of Netflix’s The Crown