Princess Diana’s Former Butler, Paul Burrell, Claims ‘The Crown’ Recreation of Fateful Crash Is ‘Distasteful’ and ‘Insensitive’
Princess Diana‘s former butler, Paul Burrell, claims a recreation of the fateful crash that killed the Princess of Wales is both “distasteful” and “insensitive.” Burrell shared his thoughts regarding scene stills from The Crown season 6, where the Netflix series will depict moments leading up to the late princess’ death and its aftermath.
‘The Crown’ season 6 will depict Princess Diana’s final days
Season 6 will not bring fans any closer to the present-day condition of the royal family. However, the series will dig deeper into the situations that led to Diana’s death and its aftermath on the House of Windsor, particularly her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Per IndieWire, Netflix has confirmed that the series will only show events before and after the fatal car crash. A spokesperson said, “the exact moment of the crash impact will not be shown.”
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, series star Elizabeth Debicki insisted The Crown aims to handle the tragic incident and aftermath with sensitivity. Debicki told the outlet, “I’ll say that Peter and the entire crew of this job do their utmost to handle everything with such sensitivity, truth, and complexity, as do actors.”
However, Princess Diana’s former bodyguard claims that recreating the crash that took her life in Aug. 1997 is “distasteful” and “insensitive.” He believes the moment could have been handled with more dignity.
Paul Burrell has spoken out against events depicted in ‘The Crown’ season 6
The Daily Mail shared photographs from The Crown set of the final moments of Princess Diana’s life in Paris, France. The image of a recreation of her crushed Mercedes infuriated royalists, including her former butler Paul Burrell.
“I think Netflix has plunged to new depths,” Burrell said to GB News. “Depicting the car crash scene and recreating a replica of the crash car is distasteful, insensitive, and heartless.”
“We all know how the princess died. We don’t need to see it portrayed in graphic detail on TV. It’s sensationalism at its worst,” he continued.
Burrell said, “I thought the depiction of the queen as cold, heartless was bad enough. But this takes the biscuit. They’re not thinking about any sensibility toward family members or people who loved the princess. Revisiting that scene in such graphic detail—had it been your mother, sister, or daughter, would you want to see that recreated on screen?”
Paul Burrell said Princess Diana’s tragic end could have been handled differently during ‘The Crown’ season 6
Paul Burrell believes there were many other options for The Crown to handle the tragic death of Princess Diana’s death sensitively. He shared many of his reasons in the interview.
“There are many ways in which Netflix could have shown you the princess had died. A flash of light, something very simple,” Burrell commented.
“To go into such detail, I think, is disgusting,” he stated. “I would appeal to the producers of The Crown to do the right thing and delete those scenes. They shouldn’t be seen, and they shouldn’t be revisited.”
The Crown season 6 currently does not have a formal release date. However, likely, the final season of the Netflix series won’t premiere until late 2023 or early 2024.
