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Netflix says ‘exact moment’ of Diana crash will not feature in The Crown

Events leading up to royal’s death will feature in final season

Isobel Lewis
Monday 17 October 2022 10:59 EDT
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The Crown season 5: First teaser released

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Netflix has said that The Crown will not depict the “exact moment” of Princess Diana’s death.

The fifth season of the historical drama is released next month and will see the series enter the Nineties with a new cast of actors playing the royal family.

Filming is currently underway for the sixth and final season of the historical drama, which will chart the final months of Princess Diana’s (Elizabeth Debicki) life before her death in 1997.

However, reports emerged last week claiming that the cast and crew had been “on edge” while filming season six.

Other reports had suggested that The Crown would show the crash that killed Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed 25 years ago in Paris.

A source told The Sun: “To be going back to Paris and turning Diana’s final days and hours into a drama feels very uncomfortable.”

However, Netflix denied the claims, telling the publication: “The exact moment of the crash impact will not be shown.”

The comments come after John Major described the forthcoming season, in which he will be played by Jonny Lee Miller, as “damaging, malicious fiction”.

Debicki as Princess Diana in ‘The Crown’
Debicki as Princess Diana in ‘The Crown’ (Netflix)

The former prime minister’s representatives said that he had “not co-operated in any way with The Crown” or been asked to “fact-check” season five, which is expected to show Charles (Dominic West) cutting short a holiday with Diana to host a secret meeting with Major at Highgrove in 1991.

However, Netflix defended the series in response to Major’s criticism, saying: “The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events.

“Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”

The Crown season five comes to Netflix on Wednesday 9 November.

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