Why 'The Crown' Depicts Charles Telling Queen Her Kids Would Be Taken Away

Prince Charles is depicted in The Crown telling Queen Elizabeth II "if we were an ordinary family and social services came to visit they'd have thrown us into care and you into jail" in a fictional scene that nods to a more mild real-life criticism.

The script may take some viewers by surprise in its bluntness, and the passage of dialogue is not based on any known comments from King Charles III.

However, he did co-operated with journalist Jonathan Dimbleby for a 1994 biography that gave a critical presentation of his royal upbringing by the real-life queen and Prince Philip.

The Crown's Depiction of Charles Criticising the Queen

Dominic West plays Prince Charles in Season Five of the Netflix show and tells Imelda Staunton's the queen he dreams of divorcing Princess Diana during the breakdown of their marriage in the 1990s.

Staunton's queen says: "At my coronation I took an oath that you will one day take at yours—to maintain the laws of God.

"And God's law is that marriage is for life. And while it is expected for the monarch to be married and produce an heir, being happily married is a preference rather than a requirement."

West, as Charles, replies: "Look at the rates of family breakdown out there and look at us. Margaret, divorced. Anne, divorced. Andrew, humiliated and heading for divorce.

"Me, trapped and dreaming of divorce. And you talk about moral examples.

"If we were an ordinary family and social services came to visit they'd have thrown us into care and you into jail."

Staunton, as the queen, replies: "That's enough."

The Real-Life Criticisms Behind The Crown's Depiction of Charles and Queen

King Charles III gave interviews and access to journalist Jonathan Dimbleby for the 1994 tome The Prince of Wales: A Biography.

The 620-page door stop does not quote him directly but the author spoke to him at length and the portrait that resulted did not paint Elizabeth and Prince Philip's parenting in a particularly positive light.

The book reads: "Indeed, he [Prince Philip] often seemed intent not merely on correcting the prince but even mocking him as well, so that he seemed to be foolish and tongue-tied in front of friends as well as family.

"To their distress and embarrassment, the small boy was frequently brought to tears by the banter to which he was subjected and to which he could find no retort.

"On occasion, even his closest friends found the Duke's behaviour inexplicably harsh.

"One remembers that after a paternal reprimand at lunch, 'the tears welled into his eyes with a whole table full of people staying there.... And I thought how could you do that?'"

The biography describes Charles's relationship with his nanny, who was "in extremis willing to administer a smacking," though also "by nature, kind and gentle, quick to comfort and to encourage."

It added: "For Prince Charles, who had already discovered that only in the nursery could he always be assured of a cuddle, Mabel Anderson became 'a haven of security, the great haven' to whom he invariably turned first for comfort and support.

"With parents who were often away, and were not, in any case, given to displays of affection even in private, Mabel Anderson came to assume a vital role in the Prince's life.

"The adoration of the young child for his nurse (who was almost the same age as the Queen) led friends and courtiers to conclude that Mabel Anderson had become in effect 'a surrogate mother,' while to his father it was clear that she was much the most important influence on him."

While Charles did not write the book, the extent of his influence on its contents is made clear in the blurb: "For this remarkable study of the heir to the throne, Jonathan Dimbleby was given unprecedented access to his subject.

"As well as spending many hours in wide-ranging and candid conversation with Prince Charles, the author has interviewed at length scores of people including his personal staff and close friends, most of whom have never talked openly about the prince before.

"He has also drawn freely from the Prince's own archives, including more than 10,000 letters, private journals and diaries, none of which has hitherto been made made public."