The Crown recreates Princess Diana’s funeral procession

If there are two entities royalists hate right now, it’s Meghan Markle and The Crown. Today, they’re really mad about the latter.

The Crown recreated Princess Diana’s funeral procession for season five. Picture by: Dean/Click News And Media/SplashNews.com/Media Mode

Netflix’s popular and highly awarded series The Crown has once again stirred the fury of fierce royalists.

The Emmy-winning show about the British royal family is currently in production on its sixth and final season, which will span between the mid-nineties to the early-2000s. One of the key moments anchoring the drama will be the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

Photos emerged of scenes being filmed which appear to recreate Princess Diana’s funeral procession.

The photos show Princess Diana’s coffin being pulled by a mounted royal guard and flanked by beefeaters. Behind the cortege are the actors portraying the royals including Dominic West as Prince Charles, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip and Rufus Kampa as Prince William.

The potentially controversial scenes were filmed in front of a green screen at, according to the Daily Mail, a disused RAF base.

Royalists have objected to the recreation of the iconic moment. Picture by: Dean/Click News And Media/SplashNews.com/Media Mode

The scene was filmed at a disused RAF base. Picture by: Dean/Click News And Media/SplashNews.com/Media Mode

Actors in The Crown including Dominic West and Jonathan Pryce are featured in the scene. Picture by: Dean/Click News And Media/SplashNews.com/Media Mode

The scene is instantly recognisable as Diana’s funeral procession, which was broadcast to more than two billion people worldwide. The footage and the photos have also been replayed and republished countless times in the 25 years since.

Prince William and Prince Harry have both reflected on their memories of the event in recent years. Prince Harry previously expressed his resentment to biographer Angela Levin, “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.”

Levin, an author with ties to the royal family and has written profiles on Prince Harry and Camilla, Queen Consort, said to the Daily Mail of The Crown’s scenes, “It’s inhuman, beyond any sense of decency, and hurtful”.

While the scene has outraged some, especially royal defenders who have taken offence at many of The Crown’s creative decision in the upcoming seasons, Princess Diana’s funeral procession is a pivotal moment in history of the Windsors, and its omission would have raised as many questions as its inclusion.

Princess Diana’s funeral is an iconic moment in the royal family’s history. Picture: Adam Butler/Pool/AFP

Princess Diana’s funeral was broadcast to more than two billion people.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles during Princess Diana’s funeral procession. Picture: Jeff J. Mitchell/Pool/AFP

The Crown is not the first time Morgan has indulged his fascination with the Windsors. He previously wrote the screenplay for the Helen Mirren movie The Queen.

The Queen dramatised the events around the death of Princess Diana, and the criticism Queen Elizabeth faced for not publicly acknowledging the nation’s grief. It too imagined conversations behind the scenes between Queen Elizabeth and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The Queen used archival news footage of Diana and did the same for her funeral procession. The Queen also dramatised the moments leading to the Paris crash which killed the former royal, cutting out just before the car entered the tunnel.

The discourse surrounding The Queen was overwhelmingly positive. The film has a 96 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it was nominated for six Oscars, with Mirren winning for Best Actress. It also won Best Film at the BAFTAs.

It did not appear to attract the trenchant criticism which has dogged The Crown these past weeks.

Royalists have also hit out at The Crown’s expected storylines involving Charles and Diana’s public and ugly divorce, and an imagined scene between Charles and former PM John Major in which the heir plots to have his mother abdicate.

Major hit out at reports of what the scene will feature, calling it “damaging malicious fiction”.

The Crown has been dogged by criticisms from royalists. Picture: Netflix

The palace is said to be concerned the upcoming season, dropping on November 9, will be damaging to King Charles’ reputation, which he has sought to rehabilitate in the decades since revelations of infidelity during his marriage to Diana.

Perhaps the difference between reactions to The Queen and The Crown is a matter of timing. Some detractors have pointed to the Queen’s recent death, accusing the show of insensitivity, even though the series’ plots and production timelines were already established before Her Majesty’s death.

The Crown actually paused production at the time of the Queen’s death, and on the day of her funeral.

Last week, actor Judi Dench, reportedly a friend of Camilla, Queen Consort, penned an open letter to The Times. She criticised The Crown for being “crude” and “cruel”, demanding Netflix open each episode with a disclaimer that the series is a fictionalisation.

There was a capitulation of sorts from Netflix. When the most recent trailer was released online, the caption under the YouTube video read, “Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign”.

The Crown season five will be available to stream on Netflix from November 9.