During a recent appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, Charles, 9th Earl Spencer discussed the impact that the depiction of his late sister Princess Diana‘s final weeks in the popular Netflix series The Crown had on his family.
This discussion came after a judge ordered the BBC to release numerous emails related to Martin Bashir‘s controversial interview with the late Lady Di, which the author had previously criticized the broadcaster for attempting to withhold. When asked about the show, the Earl, 59, provided his perspective.
“I don’t watch The Crown actually,” Charles clarified while on the program. “The toll is obviously there. I think people now realize more than even three or four years ago how speculative the storylines are of The Crown, so I think people are aware that this is fiction based on, loosely, factual events,” he added.
Charles, 9th Earl Spencer Opens Up About The Dramatization Of His Sister Princess Diana's Death On 'The Crown'
Charles continued, adding: "I think there's something there but yes, it's exhausting and it's always been that way. But I see this as a point of principle. I believe the BBC should be guarded by responsible, senior figures and not hidden behind to protect their careers."
The historical drama television series debuted in 2016, with its final season currently airing.
The Netflix show portrays the late Princess Diana's life and tenure as a working royal family member in two distinct seasons, with Emma Corrin playing her in the fourth season and Elizabeth Debicki portraying Diana in the fifth and sixth seasons.
The fourth season, set during Margaret Thatcher's time as prime minister (from 1979 to 1990), focuses on Diana's turbulent marriage to Prince Charles.
The fifth season depicts the "War of the Waleses," the divorce of now King Charles and Diana and the rise of the Al-Fayed family.
The sixth and final season has two parts, with the first covering 1997 to 2005, depicting Diana's relationship with Dodi Fayed, leading up to her tragic passing and funeral.
Diana's brother Charles made it known in 2021 that he had declined The Crown's producers' request to film at Althorp House, his family's ancestral home.
He said on BBC Breakfast at the time: "They applied. They wanted to shoot here. But I don't really do that stuff."
On Love Your Weekend in 2020, the sibling of Diana also said to Alan Titchmarsh: "The worry for me is that people see a program like [The Crown] and they forget that it is fiction."
He continued: "They assume. Especially foreigners – I find Americans tell me they watch The Crown as if they've taken a history lesson. Well, they haven't."
Charles went on: "It is very hard. There is a lot of conjecture and a lot of invention, isn't there? You can hang it on fact, but the bits in between are not fact." Season six of The Crown delves into the events leading up to the tragic deaths of Diana and Fayed in Paris in August 1997, spanning the course of eight weeks in the first four episodes.
The heavily teased, upcoming second part, set to release on December 14th, will introduce viewers to the blossoming romance between Prince William and Kate Middleton set in the early 2000s.
