The Crown: One Princess Diana scene has left viewers ‘disappointed’

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

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One particular scene from The Crown’s newest season has left viewers “disappointed”.

Season five of the fan-favourite historical drama – released on 9 November – sees the timeline closer approaching the present day, with Elizabeth Debicki taking over for Emma Corrin as Princess Diana now in the 1990s.

The 10-episode series focuses on the crumbling marriage between the Princess of Wales and King Charles III, and the final scandals leading up to Diana’s untimely death.

In episode five, titled “The Way Ahead”, the show attempts to tackle the “Revenge Dress”, which was based on real-life events when Diana attended dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in 1994 wearing a black Christina Stambolian dress, shortly after Charles had seemingly confirmed his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, Queen Consort.

The scenes show Debicki’s Diana selecting the dress and making her grand entrance, interwoven with scenes of the Royal Family reacting to Charles’ interview.

While many viewers appreciated the inclusion of the iconic moment, several felt it was glossed over and deserved more screen time.

“The fact that The Crown did not dedicate an entire episode to ‘The Revenge Dress’ is a travesty, there I’ve said it,” one tweeted.

“Finished episode five of #TheCrown and the word disappointment would be an understatement of what I am feeling right now,” a second responded. “Barely touched the surface, there were absolutely no emotions, where is Diana’s POV, what led to their separation, the emotions behind the famous revenge dress?”

“The revenge dress was such a non-event on The Crown,” a third lamented, with a fourth adding: “I thought I would see the ‘Revenge Dress’ scene in #TheCrown, but I guess not.”

“The Crown really butchered the revenge dress scene it was on for like barely five seconds,” another argued.

In an earlier interview with British Vogue, Debicki spoke about what the Revenge Dress scene meant to her.

“I let the fittings happen around me while I thought about what the dress meant. Why this dress? She’d had it for two or three years. It was super risqué at the time.

“She was claiming the space. The way she walked out of that car, the luminosity, the strength of her as that car door opened, she was so fast and so forward. It’s an extraordinary thing to watch. To decide what you’re saying about yourself through fashion… it was a currency. An incredibly powerful currency.”

Read The Independent’s two-star review of season five here.

The Crown is available to stream on Netflix.