Netflix is facing critisism over its upcoming series depicting a dramatised death of Princess Diana and deliberately inventing a storyline that Prince Charles plotted to oust the Queen.
It is claimed the hit series will dramatise the days and hours before the royal’s tragic death during her ill-fated trip to the French capital in August 1997.
The new series of the royal drama, which has repeatedly been accused of blurring the lines between fact and fiction, is due to be released next month – just weeks after the death of the Queen.
The show is already facing criticism over other scenes set to feature in the new series, including depicting King Charles as a disloyal schemer who plotted against his own mother and Prince Philip ‘pursuing an affair’ with his close friend Penny Knatchbull.
Last night, Netflix risked adding fuel to the fire by refusing to add a disclaimer to the series stating the scenes, that have been branded ‘malicious’ by one royal expert, are fiction.
Meanwhile, according to sources, even crew members are concerned in relation to the scenes depicting the lead up to Diana’s death, with one reportedly saying: ‘It feels as though a line is being crossed’.
And one source close to Prince William last night told the paper that they expect the Prince of Wales will be angered by Netflix’s move to reproduce his mother’s final days for entertainment purposes.
Netflix insists that Diana’s death, in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in central Paris, will not be recreated during the new series.
However Buckingham Palace has not formally commented on the row as it is believed officials want to rise above the fray with dignity.
A spokesman for the series said: ‘The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events.
Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the Royal Family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.’
The new series, set in the 1990s, opens with Charles – then the Prince of Wales – lobbying Prime Minister John Major in a bizarre attempt to force the Queen’s abdication.
The prince, played by Dominic West, actively briefs against the Queen, whom he believes is out of touch.
