Charles and Diana's Portrayal in 'The Crown' Brings Conflict to His Reign

King Charles III's depiction in the new season of the Netflix series The Crown has been criticized by a former British Prime Minister and a "friend" of the new monarch before the show has aired.

Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana and Dominic West, star of The Wire, will be taking on the role of Prince Charles as the show depicts the time during the 1990s when the couple's marriage publicly disintegrated in an era known in the media as the "war of the Waleses."

The show has, however, become engulfed in a backlash with calls for a boycott from U.K. tabloid The Mail on Sunday, the same one famously sued by Meghan Markle over a letter to her father.

The October 16 edition carried the front page headline, "Boycott 'Hurtful' TV Crown Say King's Friends," while the article included a statement from a spokesperson for former British Prime Minister John Major, who is also depicted in the show.

The backlash mirrors past efforts to discredit the series as fictitious, inaccurate and malicious, with similar stories running in the Mail newspapers alongside Season 4 after its release in November 2020.

At the time, a Mail on Sunday headline read: "Prince Charles' friends launch a blistering attack on Netflix's The Crown."

However, a source connected to The Crown told Newsweek scandals of this kind only serve to publicize the new season and those in charge are not afraid of joining other British institutions regularly criticized by the Mail newspapers.

"There are people on The Crown who are rather proud to be classed alongside the BBC and the Metropolitan Police as being worthy of the Daily Mail's ire," the source said.

"They have helped establish The Crown as a great British institution. It's won more awards than any other British show, more international awards and British awards than any other show on British television."

Among criticism, The Mail on Sunday highlighted a plotline in which a poll suggests the British public might support Queen Elizabeth II abdicating the throne for Charles.

The prince is then depicted arranging a meeting with then Prime Minister John Major to discuss whether early succession would be a possibility.

Major's office released a statement reading: "As you will know, discussions between the Monarch and Prime Minister are entirely private and—for Sir John—will always remain so. But not one of the scenes you depict are accurate in any way whatsoever. They are fiction, pure and simple.

"There was never any discussion between Sir John and the then Prince of Wales about any possible abdication of the late Queen Elizabeth II—nor was such an improbable and improper subject ever raised by the then Prince of Wales (or Sir John)."

"Thus, if the scenes you describe are broadcast, they should be seen as nothing other than damaging and malicious fiction," the statement from Major's office continued. "A barrel load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum—and entirely false—dramatic impact."

Meanwhile, David Mellor, a finance minister in Major's government in the 1990s, told Good Morning Britain: "Prince Charles has had a pretty rough ride through his life, I'm not saying some of that is not of his own making. But he's been a controversial character, he's done very well since he's become king.

"I think it's a shame if he is tarnished by this. You could argue the truth is bad enough without the fiction."

Newsweek's source said: "The ire in this case is actually coming from John Major who is actually portrayed as a figure of fun. The person who is portrayed unsympathetically in Season Five is John Major, he is portrayed as a very poor prime minister. The latest controversy is actually him complaining."

However, there is a secondary question about whether the Mail's apparent defence of Charles will help or hinder his reputation.

The newspaper—and others in the British press—wrote similar stories about Season Four complete with intervention from the heart of the government.

Then-Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told The Mail on Sunday in November 2020: "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."

"Without this," he continued, "I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact."

The high profile debate in November 2020 did not, however, stop Charles from experiencing a poll dip.

From June 2020 to December 2020, the month after the show was broadcast, the percentage of British people believing Charles would make a good king dropped from 37 percent to 32 percent.

And some in the TV industry and in the wider media have noted how the backlash has served to promote the new series.

The source said some in the TV industry were of the view that "it couldn't be better for Peter Morgan and the show. All this publicity attracts people to watch and when they watch it they are rather impressed with the care and accuracy."

Meanwhile, some depictions in The Crown may prove to be considerably more subtle than the way they are described in newspapers, including Prince Philip's friendship with Penny Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

A headline in The Sun read: "CROWN PHILIP SLUR: Fury as Netflix to show Prince Philip pursuing an affair in The Crown weeks after the Queen's funeral."

The newspaper quoted Dickie Arbiter, former press secretary to the queen, saying, "this is cruel rubbish," however, Newsweek has been told it is the press, not The Crown, that is depicting an affair.

A source told Newsweek: "When the world sees the episode about Penny Knatchbull's genuine friendship with Prince Philip, it's not The Crown that brings any scandal into it at all.

"It's leapt on by the tabloids as a vehicle for repeating and exaggerating rumors. It explicitly addresses the idea that the world will think ill of this friendship."

The characterization will instead be of a friendship built on "intellectual stimulation" while in real life the queen was comfortable enough with the friendship to invite Knacthbull to Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021, Newsweek was told.

The source said: "That's exactly how The Crown portrays it and it's the rags who exploit it for their sensationalist purposes."

A spokesperson for The Crown told Newsweek: "The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events. Series 5 is a fictional dramatization, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family—one that has already been scrutinized and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians."

Update 10/17/22, 8:42 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from a spokesperson for The Crown.