Is The Crown Season 5 factually correct? Royal author reveals shocking details
2 min read . Updated: 12 Nov 2022, 03:25 PM IST
PremiumRoyal biographer Sally Bedell Smith has revealed the factual correctness of Netflix's The Crown Season 5.
Former British prime minister John Major and others have already criticised Netflix’s The Crown Season 5 for a sequence in the first episode where Prince Charles pushes to take The Queen’s place on the throne. The episode makes reference to a newspaper poll showing Charles' popularity soaring and The Queen's dropping.
There are many controversial scenes in the Netflix series that have drawn strong responses from various corners. USA TODAY spoke with Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith to find out if there is historical accuracy about some of such scenes in the show.
Smith spoke about a scene in the first episode where Prince Charles has a discussion with Major after a poll gets published on The Sunday Times. As per Smith, the said incident in January 1990, as shown in the series, never took place. However, the poll did take place.
As per the survey, half of people believed that The Queen should eventually think about stepping down. The poll also revealed significant levels of support for the monarchy and Prince Charles. There was no indication of a drop in The Queen's popularity at the time or in the years that followed, as per Smith.
Dodi Fayed, with whom Diana later developed a romantic relationship, was present in her fatal 1997 motor accident. Dodi’s father Mohamed al-Fayed is the subject of an episode in Season 5 of the show. Mohamed employed the former butler of the Duke of Windsor, Queen Elizabeth's uncle who abdicated the British crown in 1936, as per the show. Smith has confirmed to the publication that the employment is factually correct.
The Crown Season 5 also shows that Lady Diana cooperated with Andrew Morton when the latter wrote her biography, Diana: Her True Story. As per the Royal biographer, this part is also factually correct. Diana did in fact covertly record her story in order to respond to inquiries, and those scenes are fairly accurate, Smith told the publication.
Another controversial incident that did take place in reality has become a part of the show. It is the controversial phone-call between Prince Charles and Camilla, now The Queen Consort, whom Charles had an affair with while he was married to Diana. In December 1989, their phone call was unlawfully taped. In fact, The Sunday Mirror published the full transcription of the Camillagate (aka Tampongate) conversation in the middle of January 1993.
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