5 Things ‘The Crown’ Got Wrong In Season 5, Plus 6 They Got Right
The Crown Season 5 is tackling one of the toughest decades in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II — the 1990s. It was a difficult time for the royal family, and the Netflix series didn’t shy away from dramatizing the biggest scandals of the era. But, how much of it was actually true? Here are five things The Crown got wrong in season 5, plus six they got right.
5 things Season 5 of ‘The Crown’ got wrong
1. Prince Charles never attempted to persuade the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The very first episode of season 5 features a scene where then-Prince Charles (Dominic West) tries to convince the UK prime minister John Major (Jonny Lee Miller) to persuade Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) to abdicate the throne.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Major called the episode “damaging and malicious fiction” and a “barrel load of nonsense.” The former PM insisted that the conversation never happened, and suggested it was written “for no other reason than to provide maximum — and entirely false — dramatic impact.”
2. Princess Diana did not tell Queen Elizabeth about her ‘Panorama’ interview
Diana’s (Elizabeth Debicki) infamous interview with Martin Bashir (Prasanna Puwanarajah) on the BBC documentary series Panorama was a big part of The Crown Season 5. And while the dramatization of that interview was spot on, they did get one thing wrong.
The Princess of Wales never got the courage to warn the queen in advance that she’d given the interview. Instead, she gave that job to her private secretary Patrick Jephson, per E! News.
“I know it was made up because I was there,” he said, “and I can tell you that the Princess absolutely failed to summon up the necessary courage and delegated the job to me.”
3. There wasn’t a Sunday Times Poll for Charles to get angry about
The first episode “Queen Victoria Syndrome” portrayed Charles getting angry during a luxurious vacation in Italy with Diana, William, and Harry in 1991. It was a reaction to a Sunday Times poll that claimed half of Britain wanted Queen Elizabeth to abdicate and for Charles to become king.
But, there was never a poll like that published in The Sunday Times. Amid the outlet’s archives from that time, there is only a positive article that stated “the Royal Family enters the 1990s as a remarkably popular part of British life.” There was also a poll attached that found nine out of 10 people favored the queen.
4. Princess Diana’s phones weren’t bugged
During the final years of her life, Princess Diana was definitely convinced that the phones in her Kensington Palace apartment were bugged. However, there is no evidence that actually happened — despite the clicking noises heard on the phone calls throughout the season.
In 2007, her former private secretary Michael Gibbins told The Guardian that Diana “clearly” thought her calls were being recorded.
“Her actions were such, in terms of changing her telephone number, that it was clear that that was a concern to her, yes,” Gibbins said.
5. Charles and Diana didn’t have a friendly meeting after their divorce was finalized
The season 5 episode titled “Couple 31” featured a scene after Charles and Diana signed their divorce papers that saw him randomly show up at her Kensington Palace apartment. They briefly reminisce about their tumultuous marriage and how they were a bad match before it all goes sour and Charles leaves with Diana in tears.
While it’s true that Diana and Charles had a somewhat amicable relationship after their split, there is no evidence that the post-divorce meeting depicted in The Crown actually happened.
6 things ‘The Crown’ got right in Season 5
1. Yes, Prince Philip was passionate about carriage driving
In the second episode of season 5, Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce) is forced to give up one of his favorite hobbies, polo. But, he quickly picks up another competitive equestrian event that became his passion: carriage driving.
This is absolutely true. And in a 2017 interview, the late Duke of Edinburgh revealed that he stumbled upon carriage driving by accident.
“I was looking ’round to see what next, I didn’t know what there was available,” Philip told ITV. “And I suddenly thought, ‘Well, we’ve got horses and carriages so why don’t I have a go?'”
2. Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the Duke of Windsor’s French estate
The third episode of season 5 highlights Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw) — the father of the late Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla), who died in the 1997 Paris car crash with Princess Diana.
The episode shows Al-Fayed buying the French estate located in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne that belonged to the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) and Wallis Simpson. He also hired the duke’s valet Sydney Johnson (Jude Akuwudike).
All of this is absolutely true, with Mohamed telling People Magazine in 1990 that the home was “like a mausoleum.”
“It sometimes gives you the creeps—both of them having died here. But it’s still a happy place, a great fantasy which I love to live in,” he said at the time. Al-Fayed still owns the property today.
3. Charles and Camilla’s Tampongate was a real thing
That phone call between Charles and his then-mistress Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams) actually happened in 1989 — true story. Four years later, the transcripts were leaked to the British press after Charles and Diana separated.
The reason the scandal was called Tampongate is that, during the call, Charles joked he wanted to be reincarnated as a tampon so he could “live inside” Camilla’s trousers.
4. Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend did briefly reunite in the 1990s
As portrayed in The Crown Season 5, Princess Margaret (Lesley Manville) did reunite with Group Captain Peter Townsend (Timothy Dalton) in the 1990s — nearly 40 years after their relationship ended. They both attended a reunion of HMS Vanguard crew members, but there’s no evidence he wrote her a letter beforehand.
5. King George V refused to help Tsar Nicholas II
The focus of the sixth episode of season 5 was the UK and Russian relations, and it opened with a flashback to the WWI era. King George V (Richard Dillane) received a letter from the British prime minister suggesting they should help his Russian relatives, the Romanovs after Tsar Nicholas was overthrown in the Russian Revolution.
Despite their strong relationship — and the fact that George and Nicholas were first cousins — George refused to help Nicholas. Which leads to the massacre of the entire Romanov family.
6. Queen Elizabeth absolutely loved the Britannia
Season 5 of The Crown was framed around Her Majesty’s yacht Britannia, as it began with a flashback scene showing the official launch in 1953. And it ended with the queen on the vessel for a final time before it was officially decommissioned in 1997.
Throughout the season, Her Majesty insists that the yacht needs refurbishment at taxpayer expense. And doesn’t understand why the request isn’t automatically approved. All of this is true, as the queen absolutely loved Britannia. During the official decommissioning ceremony, the queen publicly showed emotion by wiping a tear from her eye.
All five seasons of The Crown are now streaming on Netflix.
