The Royal Family may be facing more intense scrutiny than usual following on from the release of Netflix’s The Crown Season 4.
- A royal correspondent and biographer has claimed that the Royal Family turned down an offer from Netflix to fact-check The Crown (opens in new tab).
- Several people have now voiced their concerns that viewers will mistake the fictional elements of the show for facts.
- In other Royal News (opens in new tab), the Queen leaves her Christmas decorations up for months for this heartbreaking reason (opens in new tab).
With the focus now firmly upon more recent events including Princess Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles, it’s certainly become a talking point. Last week the Clarence House official Twitter account turned off comments on their latest posts after the Duchess of Cornwall faced a barrage of abuse (opens in new tab) from online trolls who believed that the “affair” storyline in The Crown is actually true.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s former press secretary (opens in new tab) also recently spoke out about his belief the show uses "excessive" dramatic license.
Now it has been claimed by a royal commentator that the Royal Family were actually approached by Netflix about The Crown and its facts.
Why did Netflix approach the Royal Family about The Crown?
In a recent discussion on the The Heirpod podcast, royal correspondent and biographer Omid Scobie reportedly shared the surprising revelation that Netflix did in fact approach the royals about The Crown.
The Sun reports that Scobie spoke of how he “always wondered why there wasn’t more collaboration” between Netflix and the Royal Family.
He supposedly added that “Those working on the show did reach out to the palace to see if there was an opportunity for fact-checking.”
However if Netflix were hoping for a collaborative effort, they were seemingly left disappointed as Scobie revealed, “the answer was a firm no.”
Why might the Royal Family wish they’d helped fact-check The Crown?
Given the level of popularity the series has achieved as well as the close-to-home content, particularly in Season 4, it might be that the royals are regretting this alleged previous decision.
“Now we’ve reached these key years, I wonder if any royals are kicking themselves for not taking advantage of that opportunity,” Scobie continued. “Because this narrative is being shaped for many around the world.”
"I wonder, going forward, if they start moving into the modern era of the royals, if they will decide to become more involved," ABC foreign correspondent Maggie Rulli reportedly said on the same podcast.
However it seemed that she wasn’t entirely convinced that the decision would be overturned at any point, stating: "I don't know, it does seem to go against everything the Royal Family stands for, especially the Queen.”
She added: “I can't imagine them actually working with Netflix like this."
How has the factual accuracy of The Crown been questioned?
As Scobie himself pointed out, The Crown is playing a huge part in shaping and redefining how people across the globe view the monarchy and their history.
Speaking about the huge numbers that had been anticipated to view The Crown Season 4, Scobie explained, "They expect 25 million households to view this new season within its first four weeks."
That, as Scobie confirmed, is “25 million people who will have their opinion of the Royal Family shaped by this."
The Royal Family have so far not personally commented on the historical accuracy of this and previous seasons. Though Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer has recently revealed on ITV’s Love Your Weekend that Netflix also approached him about filming at his and Diana’s family home, Althorp House.
He also expressed a concern about people watching The Crown and forgetting “that it is fiction” and has recently called for the show to have a “warning” (opens in new tab) reminding viewers it’s fictional. This suggestion has gained the support of the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden who is expected to write to Netflix to request this.
Whether or not the events it shows are as factual as some viewers might believe, it’s clear that The Crown Season 4 has got everyone talking.
The Crown Season 4 is available on Netflix now.
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