FOUR crucial errors were made in the latest season of The Crown and its portrayal of Diana’s car scene takes “dramatic licence to the extreme”, a royal expert says.
The Netflix show’s controversial fifth season was released today.
And Dickie Arbiter, the Queen‘s former press secretary, has been quick to critique the way The Crown recreates the Royal Family‘s lives in the 1990s.
The period is arguably one of the most controversial decades for the royals following a number of events including the breakdown of now-King Charles and Princess Diana‘s marriage and the Queen’s ‘annus horribilis‘.
Dickie exclusively told The Sun Online four crucial errors have been shown in the episodes.
The royal expert, who worked for her Majesty during the era The Crown is portraying, claimed they were: Prince Philip having a relationship with Penny Knatchbull, Philip talking to Diana about the Andrew Morton tapes, Charles wanting the Queen to stand down, and the Queen hugging Philip at the ruins of the Windsor Castle fire.
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He also called the sequence of Diana in her car when the breaks fail “absolute nonsense”.
Dickie told The Sun Online: “She did mention in the Martin Bashir interview that somebody might tamper with her breaks.
“But Netflix have gone dramatic licence bonkers.
“She is driving in what looks like Belgravia and she’s swerving all over the place and eventually stops. It just didn’t happen.
“They’ve taken dramatic licence to the extreme.”
Speaking of how Prince Philip’s relationship with Penny Knatchbull is portrayed, Dickie called it “absolute nonsense”.
He said: “There was a 30-year age gap between the two of them.
“She had just lost her daughter and was feeling the effects of that.
“She showed Prince Philip an old carriage in one of the garages and he came up with the idea of renovating it.
“There’s no proof that they got into the carriage – or that they went to her home.
“To suggest there was a relationship is just nonsense.”
He also dubbed the portrayal of the then-Prince Charles wanting the Queen to stand down nonsense, adding: “He wouldn’t have done it.
“He would never have even suggested it.
“The monarchy itself was very popular. And the Queen herself was very popular.”
The former press secretary said the scene where Philip confronts Diana about the tapes for Andrew Morton’s book “certainly didn’t happen”.
He added: “He did read the book after it was published but he never confronted Diana about it.”
And, the emotional moment when Philip is holding the Queen in St George’s Hall following the Windsor Castle fire didn’t happen, Dickie says.
He said: “It’s probably pretty impossible given Prince Philip was in Buenos Aires in a meeting – and he wasn’t back until the following week. So that’s a bit rich.
“Plus the fact that they never would have allowed the Queen to go into the building anyway because it was unsafe.
“I was there for three days.”
Speaking of the latest season generally, Dickie said: “They’re just making things up. And a lot of things are made up.
“The audience will look at it and say ‘oh did that really happen, how could the British people put up with people like that?’
“That’s when it rebounds on the Royal Family and the people of the nation.”
He added: “We’ve already had four series of it. The thing is now it’s heading more towards the present day.
“It’s in everybody’s mind – they remember certain issues.
“Buckingham Palace certainly won’t respond. I feel a sort of sense of anger because I was there at the time. It’s just a lie.”
