From Princess Diana‘s controversial Panorama interview to a supposed plot to overthrow the Queen, there seems to be no storyline too scandalous when it comes to The Crown. Honestly, we’re not mad about it. But amidst secret tapes for tell-all books and scorching royal affairs, how much of it is ~actually~ true?
It’s a question that many viewers of The Crown will have found themselves asking over the past five seasons, especially given that the show’s creators have maintained that it is a fictionalised retelling of true events – make of that what you will!
“We are creating a work of fiction, albeit based [on] some reality. But ultimately, there’s only so much research you can do,” Josh O’Connor, who played a young Prince Charles in season four, previously told Town & Country. “After a time, you’ve just got to crack on and create something for yourself.”
With that in mind, here’s everything we know about what’s fact and what’s fiction about season five of the royal drama…
What’s fact and what’s fiction about The Crown?
HMY Britannia
Season five of The Crown opens up as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip holiday on HMY Britannia, aka the royal yacht. In the first episode, the Duke of Edinburgh ruminates over the cost of renovating the boat – spoiler: it’s a lot of £££ – and we later learn that the boat has been decommissioned.
As for whether the storyline is true, the answer to that question is yes – although spring chickens born after 1997 (the year HMY Britannia was decommissioned) are unlikely to remember.
The Queen vs Charles
Elsewhere in episode one, we’re introduced to the concept of ‘Queen Victoria Syndrome’, with a Sunday Times article revealing that the public believed the Queen was suffering with it and should abdicate in favour of her son, the then-Prince Charles. Later on in the episode, Charles meets with John Major – who was PM at the time – to discuss encouraging Her Majesty to abdicate based on the findings of the public vote.
Although the Sunday Times vote did actually happen, Major has publicly denied that he and Charles ever conspired to overthrow the Queen, branding the storyline “a barrel-load of nonsense”.
Prince Philip’s affair with Penelope Knatchbull
The rumoured affair between Prince Philip and family friend Penelope Knatchbull is one storyline that faced backlash before The Crown season five was even released. In fact, the Queen’s former spokesperson, Dickie Arbiter, branded the suggestion that Philip had been unfaithful as “cruel rubbish” – but, did it actually happen IRL?
Although there’s no evidence that Prince Philip was ever unfaithful in his marriage to the Queen, over the course of the couple’s seven decade romance, he was often labeled a ‘ladies man’ and was linked (to varying degrees) to many high-profile celebrities.
Princess Diana’s secret tapes
Season five sees the demise of Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage – during which time she secretly records tapes for Andrew Morton’s tell-all book, ‘Diana: Her True Story’.
The storyline is so scandalous that many viewers were left wondering if it was true and, surprisingly, it is.
In a major break from royal protocol, Diana got involved in the writing of Morton’s book, going into detail about her mental health struggles and strained relationship with Charles and his family.
Princess Diana’s affair with Hasnat Khan
Given everything that happened in the nineties, season five of The Crown was always going to be a biggie for Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki. As well as recording tapes for Morton’s book, we also see the former Princess of Wales having an alleged affair with British-Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan, during which she goes out in disguise to avoid any unwanted attention.
We do know that they dated from 1995 to 1997. After her death, Khan opened up about reservations he’d had during their romance, telling police: “My main concern about us getting married was that my life would be hell because of who she was.”
Princess Diana’s broken car brakes
In perhaps season five’s most shocking scene, episode seven shows Princess Diana experiencing car troubles as she is surrounded by paparazzi. In the scene, the royal’s brakes suddenly seem to fail and the car doesn’t slow down as she approaches a set of traffic lights. The ordeal, understandably, spooks Diana so much so that she changes cars, suspecting foul play.
The storyline – which hit close to home, given Diana’s tragic death in a car accident in 1997 – was a hard watch, with many viewers struggling to believe this could have been true. It should come as a relief then to learn that there is no evidence to suggest this happened in real life, although the scene does serve to emphasise Diana’s heightened state of paranoia in the years leading up to her death.
This was corroborated by her former lover, Khan, who said during the 2008 inquest into her death, that she had switched cars because she believed that the brakes had been tampered with.
The Crown season five is available to stream on Netflix now.
Via Cosmopolitan UK