The Crown has royals privately fuming over ‘dangerously wrong’ details

Season four of The Crown has created a PR disaster for the royal family – and behind closed doors, there are reportedly calls for action.

Netflix’s hit British royal drama series The Crown continues to draw controversy.

Now, there are suspicions over inconsistent details between the script and real life as season four of The Crown features the introduction of Princess Diana, portrayed by newcomer Emma Corrin. The worries are shared by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and many close to the royal family.

Speaking to the UK Daily Mail on Sunday, Mr Dowden said: “It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction, so as with other TV productions, Netflix should be very clear at the beginning it is just that.” In the article, historian Hugo Vickers points out that much of the fiction is “severely, dangerously wrong”.

“Without this,” Mr Dowden said, “I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact.” Mr Dowden has proposed a “health warning” to accompany the series, which he accuses of potentially damaging the monarchy and Prince Charles’ legacy.

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The Crown season four details the unhappy marriage of Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) and Princess Diana (Emma Corrin). Picture: Netflix

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One source close to the Prince also told the Mail, “It is quite sinister the way that [writer Peter] Morgan is clearly using light entertainment to drive a very overt republican agenda and people just don’t see it. They have been lured in over the first few series until they can’t see how they are being manipulated. It is highly sophisticated propaganda.”

The main controversial aspects that have sparked concern include the timeline of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles’ affair during his marriage to Diana, as well as portrayals of verbal abuse toward Diana, which prompted even Earl Spencer to chime in.

The brother of the late Princess Diana warned Netflix viewers to watch the new season of the British royal drama series with scepticism. During an interview on Love Your Weekend With Alan Titchmarsh, Spencer said Americans tend to believe The Crown to be fact, which he won’t support now that Diana is a main character in the show.

Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the monarchy are weathering a PR storm. Picture: Chris Jackson/WPA Pool/Getty

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The Crown’s production team had requested to film part of the fourth instalment at the Spencer family’s ancestral home in Northamptonshire, England and Spencer turned them down.

“It would help The Crown an enormous amount if at the beginning of each episode it stated that, ‘This isn’t true but is based around some real events.’ Because then everyone would understand it’s drama for drama’s sake,” Spencer said.

Even Emma Corrin told Harper’s Bazaar earlier this month: “The series that we’re in is fictionalised to a great extent.”

This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission.