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The fifth season of Netflix's hit drama series The Crown charts the personal and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II and members of her close family throughout the early 1990s.
Though the release of the new season caused controversy in the U.K. with some former political leaders and A-list actors denouncing the show and calling for disclaimers to be added alerting audiences that it is a drama, not a documentary, The Crown has also generated interest among its audience to find out about the truth behind the dramatizations.
One of the new characters introduced in the second episode of the show's fifth season is Dr. James Colthurst, who in the series acts as a go-between for Princess Diana and her biographer Andrew Morton. But who is the real James Colthurst and what role did he play in the publication of one of the biggest-selling biographies of all time?
Who Is Dr. James Colthurst?
James Colthurst is a British medical doctor known for his long-term friendship with Princess Diana.
The pair met when Diana was 17 years old while on a skiing vacation in France.
Colthurst, an ex-student of Eton College, was connected with a number of Diana's friends, with both moving in the same aristocratic circles. On that skiing vacation, Diana had twisted her ankle and Colthurst was given the task of examining it as he was a medical student.
"And so began the friendship she and I maintained for the rest of her short, eventful life," he wrote in a 2021 article for The Daily Telegraph, the year she would have turned 60.
Colthurst graduated, becoming a doctor and eventually working at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, one of the facilities Diana would visit often both publicly and privately.
What Role Did Colthurst Play in the Publication of Diana: Her True Story?
Colthurst knew Diana before she married Prince Charles in 1981 and the pair maintained a close friendship throughout her troubled royal relationship.
It was in the early 1990s that Colthurst met the royal journalist Andrew Morton, a connection that is dramatized in The Crown.
Colthurst is played by actor Oliver Chris and Morton by Andrew Steele.
In the 25th anniversary edition of Diana: Her True Story, the biography that Colthurst, Morton and Diana would collaborate on, the author writes of his relationship with the princess' friend.
"I first met Dr. James Colthurst in October 1986 on a routine royal visit when he escorted Diana after she opened a new CT Scanner in his X-ray department at St. Thomas' hospital in Central London," he recalled.
After briefly speaking, Morton said he thought Colthurst could become "a useful contact."
After a number of squash games and lunches at a nearby Italian restaurant, the doctor and Morton formed a friendship, with Diana being told about her friend's new journalist connection.
"At some point she asked Colthurst: 'Does Andrew want an interview?'" Morton wrote, and the group made a plan to help this happen.
Morton could not be seen at Kensington Palace as a member of the press, so It was agreed that Colthurst would interview the princess and take tapes of her answers back to Morton.
"He was the go-between when Diana needed a confidant to whom she would dictate the story of her marriage," Tina Brown, author of the Diana Chronicles wrote.
Their collaboration yielded hours of audio tapes of Diana delivering a number of bombshells and unburdening herself of years of experiences including her struggles with eating disorders, her attempts at ending her own life, extramarital affairs, post-natal depression and the belief that members of the royal family were against her.
After delivering the audiotapes to Morton, Colthurst continued to help both the author and the princess by delivering manuscripts and also helping with research.
In The Crown, a scene shows Colthurst being knocked off his bike by a suspicious looking van as pressure mounts over the upcoming publication of the book. Though this did not happen, the doctor has spoken of Diana's fears that her friend would be endangered by helping her.
"I helped her by hand-delivering interview tapes," he wrote in The Daily Telegraph, "...she was worried I might be deliberately knocked off my bike and killed. She voiced this fear several times to me. It might sound like paranoia, but I don't think she was paranoid."
In 1992, shortly before the serialization of the book in U.K. newspapers and its eventual publication, Diana wrote to Colthurst:
"Obviously we are preparing for the volcano to erupt and I do feel better equipped to cope with whatever comes our way! Thank you for your belief in me and for taking the trouble to understand this mind—it's such a relief not to be on my own any more and that it's okay to be me."
When the book came out in June, the repercussions were not wholly positive for the princess. The press and public obsessed over proving that she had collaborated to give Morton an inside scoop, despite both the author and Buckingham Palace denying this.
The allegations of adultery against Charles and inside detail about the lives of the royals hastened the breakdown of the couple's marriage and in December, they officially announced their separation.
Diana maintained her friendship with Colthurst for the rest of her life, and her collaboration with Morton was only confirmed by the author after her death at the age of 36 in 1997.
Reflecting on his friendship with the princess in 2021, Colthurst concluded:
"Those of us who were close to her will remember the Diana we knew. What remains with me is her almost infectious laugh, coupled with her serious desire to help others.
"She set a high bar for her sons, who have both inherited her natural way with others. Both have her sensitivity and caring. But they are also gutsy and tough and share their mother's passion for using their roles to do good in the world...
"Diana gave something back in a big way."
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "988" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org
Season 5 of The Crown is available to stream on Netflix now.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more