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‘The Crown’ in the U.K.: Britain Reacts to Season 4


LONDON — Asking British people their views on “The Crown” is like asking what they think of the real-life royal family; like them or loathe them, everyone has an opinion.

The release of the fourth season of Netflix’s opulent drama about the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II has sparked an especially large flurry of reactions in the British press and social media, since the season spans not just a tumultuous period for the royal family, but also a divisive time in British politics. It also sees the introduction of two key figures in 20th-century British life: Margaret Thatcher (played by Gillian Anderson) and Diana, Princess of Wales (Emma Corrin).

Below is a roundup of how Britons have been reacting to the new season, including complaints about Prince Charles’s fishing technique and concerns about the impact on the real royal family.

Corrin’s portrayal of Diana has impressed British critics, and those who knew the princess have also voiced their praise. Andrew Morton, who worked with Diana on an explosive 1992 biography, told Vanity Fair, “I think Emma Corrin’s performance is far and away the most accomplished and realistic portrayal of Diana I have seen.”

The Daily Mail published its own fact check. “Princess Diana was dressed as a ‘mad tree’ for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ when she first met Prince Charles: FALSE,” the paper stated, and “Royal Family are bloodthirsty and obsessed with hunting: PARTLY TRUE.”

In a discussion on The Crown: The Official Podcast, the show’s creator Peter Morgan said that a plot point surrounding a critical letter between Lord Mountbatten and Prince Charles, advising the prince to marry Diana and not Camilla Parker Bowles, may not have existed.

By Tuesday, Morgan’s comments were front page news. “Crown writer defends making up scenes,” said a Times of London headline above reports from unnamed sources that Prince Charles was upset by his depiction and had refused to watch the show.

Much has been written about whether such creative license matters. “‘The Crown’’s fake history is as corrosive as fake news” reads the headline on a piece by Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. “‘The Crown’ has taken its liberties by relying on royalty’s well-known — and sensible — reluctance to resort to the courts,” Jenkins wrote. “This is artistic license at its most cowardly as well as casual.”

“This Morning,” a popular daytime talk show on British television, recently broadcast a segment titled “Is ‘The Crown’ now too close to home?” asking whether the fictional aspects of the plot could be harmful to people still alive.

“We all love a good drama,” said Philip Schofield, one of the show’s presenters. “The problem is that the royal family are still people at heart, just people, just a family, who get hurt and stung by things that quite blatantly appear not to be true.”



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