The entire campaign against The Crown’s Season 4 has been nothing more than a taxpayer-subsidized self-own from Prince Charles. I still don’t really believe that Kensington Palace (Prince William) or Buckingham Palace (the Queen) really care one way or the other. But Clarence House launched a full-blown hate campaign against the series, against Peter Morgan and against anyone who enjoys the show. Even Margaret Thatcher’s family and friends haven’t been as upset as Charles. Charles spent decades carefully rehabilitating his image and Camilla’s image only to see it all destroyed in ten hours of streaming drama. LOL. That still cracks me up. Anyway, just in case you thought maybe Charles and his allies were giving up, they are not!
Oliver Dowden last night demanded that Netflix make clear The Crown is ‘fiction’. In a dramatic intervention, the Culture Secretary added his voice to mounting concern that fabricated scenes in the drama series were so damaging to the Royal Family that viewers should be warned at the start of each episode that it was not ‘fact’.
‘It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction, so as with other TV productions, Netflix should be very clear at the beginning it is just that,’ he told The Mail on Sunday. ‘Without this, I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact.’
Mr Dowden is expected to write to the streaming giant to formally request that it adds what others have called a ‘health warning’ at the start of each episode.
It comes amid deepening concern that fabricated scenes written by screenwriter Peter Morgan are doing lasting damage to the monarchy and Prince Charles in particular. Last night, a friend of the Prince said: ‘It is quite sinister the way that Morgan is clearly using light entertainment to drive a very overt republican agenda and people just don’t see it. They have been lured in over the first few series until they can’t see how they are being manipulated. It is highly sophisticated propaganda.’
The Mail on Sunday has led calls for a disclaimer to be added to the series, amid claims it has already been watched by more people than tuned in for Charles’s real-life wedding to Princess Diana. It was reported last week that 29 million logged on to the streaming service to watch the drama in the week after its release earlier this month – 600,000 more than the British TV audience for the actual wedding in 1981.
I can’t stop laughing. Again, literally no one has claimed that this is a documentary series. Netflix has made no secret of the fact that Peter Morgan is a screenwriter and showrunner. They have actors in bad wigs playing all of the characters. The reason why Charles is so upset is NOT because people think The Crown is 100% accurate. It’s because The Crown got enough of the broad strokes of history correct and Charles simply doesn’t like to be reminded of how poorly he treated Diana. How poorly they ALL treated her. It’s not republican propaganda, for christsake.
Also, in another dramatic self-own, it turns out that The Crown’s British production got £16 million worth of tax breaks from the government because of the show’s contribution to Britain’s “culture and heritage,” two things Charles cares about deeply. So, British taxpayers are subsidizing The Crown through tax breaks/incentives and British taxpayers are also paying the salaries of Charles’ staff, the same staff which orchestrated this ham-fisted hate campaign against The Crown. Perfect.
Photos courtesy of Netflix, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Criticism of Charles is a sinister republican agenda. Oookay.
Charles is as whiny as ever. The truth is far worse.
Deep, royally privileged sigh. All this complaining is actually confirming that Charles is actually what the characterisation portrays him to be. A self centred, self involved, whinny egomaniac whose ego needs constant soothing. Get over yourself mate. The reality is far, far worse. Who would have thought that despite 20 years worth of PR, desecrating Diana’s memory and throwing his son under the bus, it would take a TV show to undo all the ‘good work’ at rehabilitation.
There is so much irony here. It’s odd how this works out. Charles only son available to throw under the bus is Will at this point. HM are not available as cover anymore because the leaks have stopped, public appearances are few and in between.. Sussexit have literally robbed the BRF and BM of unhinged counter programming, which is what Charles wanted. Now the intense spotlight is on him, Charles is crying wolf. He needs to ask Meg for tips on handling this situation. Can’t wait for Keens turn?
I never understood that whinny strategy his advisors allowed him to adopt. He would have gone so much further by taking a repentant attitude. Do a few interviews for one of those Diana specials talking about what you loved about her, what she changed in you and your regrets when she died.
Instead this whinner had his two fave minions (Penny Junor and Lady Campbell) write biographies to take a dead woman down within a year of her death and hasn’t bothered to hide his friendly relationship with them. How is this remotely smart?
And don’t get me started about the whinning about his childhood when his childhood was an indulgent picnic compared to Prince Phillips and Diana’s childhoods. If his childhood explains his choices, shouldn’t their childhoods do the same too? I just can’t with the self entitlement and self pity.
Julie you are making too much sense. As you well know, introspection is the one thing the RF and their courtiers don’t do. Far easier to stick to the playbook of whining and throwing least favoured family members under the bus out of spite and jealousy. I keep saying that for a firm, they have the worst handlers and PR people.
Wow, Julie! You go girl…..👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Love your comment. Also, it is noted that Prince Charles seemed to have absolutely no problems with the first 3 seasons of The Crown. However, bring up Diana and — wham —- he screams foul. Me thinks he doth protest too much. As a great admirer of history (according to his own comments), he should realize that (in this new, electronic, interconnected world) he cannot control history. He does not get to decide what the public thinks or what we know or believe. His PR be dammed, he is fighting a loosing battle. He just needs to own his own actions and behaviors and move on. The world has bigger issues to deal with than his tawdry behavior.
Charles whines. His father did not come off looking great especially in season one but never one sound of complaint from him. And Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg surely would have had some anger over her parents being portrayed as substance abusers and her father abusive to her mother, not one sound. Charles is the only one who starts the whines. Princess Margaret’s and Snowdon’s children have kept quiet after the not so flattering portrait of their parents.
@LowCountryLady: I commented something similar at some point but you said it much better. The underlying issue here, which NONE of the royals seemed to have learned yet, is that they can no longer control their own press.
For decades, they were so used to being able to basically dictate their own narrative, but the internet changed all that — yet they continue to operate in the same way. They’re going to have to come to terms with it at some point — they can no longer control how history views them.
I hadn’t heard anything about Diana’s childhood – do tell?
Julie, I love this comment. He absolutely could have turned it around at least a little.
I haven’t watched it yet as it brings back so much distress. I felt so terribly for Diana, I might not watch at all.
OMG, @Julie — you read my mind. Just one televised interview of Chuckie in which he expressed his regrets for treating Diana poorly, talked about what aspects of her life and personality he most appreciated, maybe stated some gratitude for being the beloved mother of his beloved sons … and all the rancor and disgust with him would be significantly lessened, if not eliminated entirely. But that would require levels of introspection, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and PR savvy that he simply doesn’t possess.
I do think Philip forcing Charles to go to that abusive boarding school was messed up and that his trauma with regards to that place is real. I also think he didn’t have a lot of love in his childhood. Of course other children endured more difficult circumstances and grew into less flawed adults than he did. But people are different. Charles’ flaws (and we all have them) are not the sort that would bear those specific kinds of adversities well.
Two words: Streisand Effect.
He’s an idiot, and deserves what scorn comes his/their way.
(And “Me thinks he doth protest too much”. Sorry.. couldn’t help it lol).
Whatever happened to “Never Complain, Never Explain”??
Jan, don’t be silly! “Never complain” only applies to Harry and Meghan.
Charles had PR spin which included bashing Diana (and even after she died).
I thought it was “Never complain, never explain.”? Except if the bad press is against you. This is what karma looks like.
Prince Charles looks like a very heavy drinker. Perhaps waiting endlessly is causing him to really hit the bottle.
Is that why his cheeks are always so ruddy? They’ve become comically so in the last few months.
The Firm made its own bed: I mean “whatever in love means”, there are footage of this, and don’t get me started with the Tampax stuff. Is this Republican propaganda?
If they were smart they should just shut up.
Yes, this.
I had made my peace with Charles and come to respect him for his environmental work. I hadn’t forgotten how awful he was to Diana but I thought we’d all moved on with our lives. I was even 50/50 on how bad he was to H&M. His ridiculous reaction to S4 has undone all the carefully crafted PR that had largely won me over.
Sometimes the cluelessness of the man shows through. Like the time he thought it appropriate for Camilla to attend the Diana Memorial Service where her presence certainly would have hijacked the event. And I had my doubts about Charles showing up there too.
Yup! I had no interest in watching the show and wouldn’t even have heard about what was in it except for this ludicrous kerfuffle. Like Sarah here, I figured all the main players had made their uneasy peace with the past, and I wouldn’t really have spent much time thinking about what a crap husband he was to Diana if he hadn’t *insisted* on reminding us all.
Yes, these things are in the public record from these people themselves. It’s inevitable they were going to come back into public discourse again and make Charles, Camilla, et al look as bad as they behaved.
Before this the most likely time it would have come up would have been when he’s about to be coronated. So Charles should actually be thanking The Crown. It’s getting talked about now, possibly years before he’s made King, the outrage just might die down by the time Elizabeth passes and be considered “old news” by the time Charles takes the throne.
If he, the palace, and their sycophant’s would just shut up and let it run its course though!!! Instead of the denials and gaslighting perpetuating the awful behavior, making this a talking point for longer.
It’s like they’re the school dunces. Or maybe it’s Charles’ ego being so massive and he just can’t let it pass by quietly. It’s dumb and shortsighted either way on his part to make this fuss and extend this conversation.
This is a joke. A complete and utter joke. If The Crown is propaganda, then it’s royalist/monarchist propaganda tbh.
Was this season harsher on the royals than the previous ones? Yes. But was it as bad as they could go? No. They skipped Charles’ other affairs and focused on Diana’s. They turned Charles and Camilla (for the most part) into star-crossed lovers (even if Camilla was shown to have some reservations). They completely skipped over Jimmy Saville.
Charles had other serious relationships and Diana was one of the possible choices of wife in 1979-80.THe others were Amanda Knatchbull and Anna Wallace. He also had many liaisons including the ill fated Lady Tryon (who is not mentioned) and Janet Jenkins.
I think it was based on Diana in her own words
If anything they have been sympathetic to the BRF in their portrayal in the Crown
Lots of this hoo haa will be to try to direct how the next series is built
Diana, her death and their handling of her divorce etc will be ruinous to them
They are attempting to shift narratives now
Season 5 is supposedly to be even more cutting than season 4 – so I understand why the BRF is worried.
This is the right take. They are working the refs to try and influence the tone of the next season.
He’s just mad that palace propaganda lacks sophistication .
Charles: Now people remember how much I suck!
(pokes out lip and stomps feet)
He is definitely channeling Trump on this. What’s next? It’s a deep state conspiracy?
It’s not a good look for a man who will soon be king.
It’s a TERRIBLE look but as always they just don’t see how they are making it worse. I’m sitting back with my cup of tea and enjoying the show.
The same people who wanted Meghan to adopt a stiff upper lift are apparently incredibly thin-skinned.
and now we are reminded again how much Will takes after his father
Haha! This makes me more sympathetic about the Queen not stepping down.
They really should have just kept their mouths shut. They’re only making it worse.
I hope Peter Morgan goes harder on the royals, especially Charles, next season for bashing the show in this way. I mean really? They want a disclaimer put in the show. I hope they mention all of his other affairs, as well as his interview, aired before Diana’s, where he admits to his infidelity just to stick it to the RF.
I think this is why Charles in particular is throwing a fit, because he knows the writing team are having a breather and he wants to influence the next season by kicking up a stink so they go easy on him for what is arguably the most controversial period of recent BRF history.
I also believe Peter Morgan anticipated this backlash to the Diana years, hence why he took a pause.
Unlucky for Charles the political pendulum in swinging back left, so he cannot lobby his to exert influence on Netflix Stateside.
Further, I don’t really believe the UK Govt want to get involved given the global power players that Netflix have become. Instead notice that it’s mainly the UK culture secretary (Oliver Dowden), and the Royal Reporters who are applying pressure. And from the Press releases it seemed that his arm was twisted as he seems to be requesting what Netflix are already doing i.e. making it clear that it’s dramatised.
Charles is just worried that he looks like the horrible abusive husband he was.
I would love for the disclaimers to mention all of the really horrible things that have gone down and this is just a fluffy, romanticized version of events!
Yes, AmeliaB ….and the disclaimer could be:
DISCLAIMER: “Fiction based on Fact….We Go There, but the Truth is So Much Worse.”
I’m so glad our Princess get another generation of people to love her. I honestly didn’t realize that young people today didn’t know about Diana. How wonderful she was, and how maligned.
Well I believe our girl is an avenging angel. Karma never forgets anyone’s address.
Couldn’t agree more 👏👏👏
I’d like to think fate is bringing Diana back into the public consciousness to support Harry and his family in their time of need. The BRF feared her in the Nineties and her influence is rising again. Charles and the rest (including Willie the Gardener) are reaping what they’ve sown.
Soooo Charles pressured a politician to speak up for his personal reputation and that’s okay? Fascinating how this works!
And once again he is showing how unfit he is for the role. If anything Charles is the one setting himself up.
It also occurs to me that when some politicians came together to defend Meghan against horrific abuse, it was of their own volition. No arms were twisted.
Never complain, never….
What’s that? You only apply that to the biracial women you want to shut up? Ah ok, Got it.
Charles is upset that he is being portrayed as a man child who needed to be coddled and found Cams who placated to his needs and desires. He is upset that it is brought to light how much of an ass he was to a young girl, who believed in the fairy tale and grew up to fight back.
And of course Kaiser, you are correct, Charles is more pissed that the carefully cultivated remaking of history is now being unraveled by Netflix. I will toast to Karma, because she came back swinging.
Omg, another day of tears from Chuck. Your son and DIL lost a baby and you say no comment yet cry and whine about this tv show daily.
Chuck is proving before our eyes that the show got him perfectly. Self obsessed and self pitying. Spot on Peter Morgan.
Totally unnatural for Charles to not say one thing about the miscarriage and earlier to stay quiet while his grandson Archie was likened to a chimp. When it comes to him self HE is outraged.
Whatever happened to “never complain and never explain?”
It died with the gin-soaked racist Queen mother.
LMAO. We have a world wide pandemic killing hundreds of thousands and Charles is saying that a TV show is …bwahahahahaha ahahaha…sorry can’t even finish the thought without laughing.
LOL, as if he would be so shaken and defensive if it actually was pure fiction. Again, these people can’t stop tripping over their own d!cks. Viewers know it’s not a documentary, but the entire world does know how Charles, and the entire family, treated Diana. He’s mad not only because it’s so accurate, but because it’s reminding people of what an ass he was. He tried hard to rehab his image, and it might have worked to some extent, but the love for Diana hasn’t diminished since she died.
It would have served him better to lay low; it’s only big news now because the season JUST dropped, but there was never going to be this much talk about it for an extended period of time. Soon Netflix will release something new and that’s what everyone will be talking about. It would have blown over on its own, but he’s the one dragging it out and making *more* headlines and stories every day. Once again I’m astonished at how wildly inept the PR teams for these people are.
Thanks to the BRF’S reaction I see Netflix Execs scrambling to book in endless Zoom calls to work out how they can do a Diana spin- off.
Diana Content has blown up all over the internet with people trying to verify how much of the Crown is true and people are posting the same comment :
“the reality is actually much worse”. LMFAO
Exactly! The Diana story really resonates with Millennials and Gen Zs. My nephews could not believe she really was a cleaner, albeit to her own sister. She is their real life Cinderella and her treatment has awakened their sense of justice and the need to find out as much information as possible about her.
Oh my god I would love it so much if they did a Diana spin-off! 🤞
Charles is beginning to sound like a paranoid delusional twat. He needs to lay off the gin.
When he was getting away with abusing and terrorizing Diana I’m sure he didn’t anticipate how google, royal documentaries and streaming services would come back to haunt him.
And like someone said above, in twenty years it will be William and Kate in the spotlight for their treatment of Meghan. I am amazed they haven’t figured this out yet.
I love this picture of charles because it’s nice to imagine this will be the look on his face when the UK tells him he’s fired.
Soon, I hope.
Lol the British government is giving tax breaks to Netflix but Harry & Meghan’s deal is traitorous? This is too funny.
This is hilarious. 25 years of PR for Charles and Camilla undone in 10 hours and for a whole new generation.
The worst part is, The Crown was KIND to Charles. It made him seem more sympathetic and like he was pining for his true love, as though that gave him a reason to act the way he did towards Diana.
They thought they were finally rid of the ghost of Diana and her mistreatment and instead she’s still hovering over them. That’s what they’re throwing a tantrum about.
Correct Belli. Unfortunately, regardless if he was pining away for his lost love, Diana was the casualty and THAT will forever haunt them both.
Charles better put his mom in a bubble, because he’d be in REAL trouble if he became king right now. She’s got to make it at least a few more years to get through seasons 5 and 6, plus a couple more for a little distance to start building the goodwill back up. That’s a pretty tall order.
He has an opportunity next spring with the Diana statue and 60 years to say the types of “this family and I made mistakes/I’m sorry” things he’s refused to say all along, but given that he came from the same pot as Prince Andrew, I have zero faith in his PR/interview abilities.
Considering there’s 12-18 mos. between series, and at LEAST 2 more (possibly 4 if they DO decide to go into W & H’s adulthood)…well… Petty Betty has to live at LEAST as long as her mother, and a few more for good measure to help Hapless Charles.
Hope he’s enjoying the swirly while his PR is going down the drain.
Season 5 will first air in 2022!
2022! I’m a fan of the series, so this is disappointing!
I think my favorite scene…even though I do realize it is fictional… was Charles screaming at Diana that she had hurt Camilla by speaking truth to her and thus him. I think the scene – in broad strokes – brought up the major point that —all of them, but mostly Charles and Camilla, thought Diana needed to have accepted her role as the sacrificial lamb to whatever he needed and wanted. That to not do so, to fight it, to fight back was traitorous. He married a young, naive girl with no worldly experience, when what he truly wanted and needed was a mommy. Diana was supposed to spread her legs, birth an heir and a spare, keep her mouth shut, and walk 2 steps blandly behind him as she slowly dissolved as a human being. I thought when she died he behaved well, only for it to have come out in the years since her death that he was afraid he would be blamed for her death and that drove many of his actions around his trip to Paris and her funeral. So, even his actions around her death were mostly about him and his needs and fears.
He lost me totally when he cooperated with Junor on Charles Victim or Villain which was a book that gaslighted his late ex wife and made him and Camilla look like heroes. Junor said he did cooperate and later he and Camilla cooperated with her on The Duchess, the biography of Camilla which also threw
Diana under a bus and said it was not Camilla’s fault the Wales marriage broke up.
The fact that an entire week passed before a word was uttered from the palace, and then only due to the backlash they had begun to receive, was appalling.
And making the young princes walk behind their mother’s funeral carriage, was all to make Charles look better – how utterly repugnant!
I was there.
I watched.
I remember!
This analysis is spot on for me. That scene, while perhaps invented, was an expression of his basic thinking that everyone must respect his surrogate mommy. Camilla’s need to be needed and adored by him, to the hell with the rest of everyone else, is disgusting.
This is a group of emotional trainwrecks. No wonder all these folks are hot messes–raised with no emotional maturity, parenting, or real love. Then you got the poor folks like Diana, Kate, and Megan who have little idea of the reality of what they are getting into. Who would believe it was this bad, they must have told themselves, only to find out it was worse when they saw behind the curtain.
Lol The Crown might be fiction but a lot of people who streamed the series also watched “Diana: In Her Own Words” a documentary of Diana discussing her life, the royal family, and her marriage to Prince Charles which probably help cement the hate people are giving him and Camilla right now! One is fiction but the other one is not….
I was just about to make this point. Folks don’t need to watch The Crown…they just need to watch Diana in her Own Words (sadly leaving Netflix today). It’s far more damning even if you accept that it’s Dian’s point of view and may not be totally unbiased.
Thank you for mentioning that it’s leaving Netflix today! I’ve been meaning to watch it and didn’t know it would be gone so soon.
OMG… I lived through the Diana years, and watching that had me literally crying. THIS IS HER VOICE, LITERALLY, coming out of the grave to tell us just what this pack of petty, petulant, stunted, jealous vipers did to her.
Whatever blow-back they’re getting isn’t near enough.
What really bothers me is that Camilla is now a Duchess, and will be a queen, while her two rivals Diana and Dale Tryon are lying in their graves.
Charles needs to sit down and shut up because hes doing more damage by calling attention to these scenes rather than just being quiet about it. I’ve watched the new season and I actually think he comes off as fairly Sympathetic. There are definitely scenes where he does things that are just not kind and treated Diana poorly, but it seems like his motivation was that he 1st really did love Camilla and 2nd that he and Diana really were of opposite temperaments and just could not understand each other. But I think hes coming off as less sympathetic by bringing attention to it than the actual series portrays him to be.
Exactly, The Crown makes everyone in that batch way more sympathetic than our impressions of them through news stories, file footage, etc. Diana is a doe-eyed innocent who got TRAPPED, the Queen is genuinely concerned about working Britons, Charles is a put-upon mensch, Camilla is a sensible wit, Margaret is a harmless, charming lush… and don’t get me started about Philip.
The RF should count its lucky stars.
That hunting after party scene with Charles telling that silly joke and Camilla giggling, that one scene was enough to make them look ridiculous.
TBH I’ve not watched an episode of it as it struck me as probably just cheesy factionalized light entertainment… but now that I learn he is having a tantrum over it I feel much more interested in the show.
Lol. That’s how most people feel. I have never watched The Crown, but all of the whining has made me consider giving it a try to just stick it to them. Netflix must be loving all of this free PR Charles has been giving them. They’ll be laughing all the way to the Emmys.
Strangely, I don’t find it cheesy at all. And there are a lot of parts that are definitely not light.
What about the scene where Philip hints that it won’t go well for Diana if she leaves the Firm. I would have thought that would feed more of the conspiracies.
What about the scene where Philip hints that it won’t go well for Diana if she leaves the Firm. I would have thought that would feed more of the conspiracies.
I watched a Princess Diana documentary on Netflix yesterday, the one based on her tapes. It was my first time hearing those tapes. It’s even worse than The Crown, especially the ones about Prince Charles. Everything that happened with Meghan now make sense to me. It all happened with Diana before. I wonder why would anyone marry into that family. I would never want that life.
This is how I know Megan didn’t research Harry as her stupid relatives claimed. If she had she would have stumbled on those tapes and known that any positive attention she gets will set a bulls-eye on her back from every other family member. They don’t want another Diana, a superstar who diminishes their shine.
As I was watching it last night, I was dying to know what was running through Meghan’s head as she watched it, which you know she did.
I wonder what the Meghan haters think when they see this? Even they must acknowledge that there is a pattern in how that family treats people. How can they still blindly just blame Meghan for everything?
Meghan haters and Trump lovers are the same, they don’t look at facts, don’t do research and have no empathy. White, bland, lazy, entitled Melania Duchess and PWT do no wrong.
So any criticism of Charles – anything that displays Charles and Camilla’s “love story” in a way that is counter to Charles’ OWN propaganda – is part of a republican anti-monarchist agenda* and must be stopped?!? That’s a little extreme.
And its partly funny, and partly disturbing. The royal family has enough influence to get the cultural minister to lobby a company like Netflix for a “disclaimer”? Saying, what, exactly? “this show is based on real events but is not, in fact, a documentary. We did not follow Charles and Diana around with cameras in the 80s.”
*and what if it is part of a republican agenda?? (its not, but lets pretend) – does that mean that the government needs to rally around to protect the monarchy? If this is because of a TV SHOW, what’s going to happen if the republican movement ever gains more steam in the UK?
^^ When you grow up as Chuck has done (being coddled, someone putting toothpaste on your brush, men allowing you to sleep with their wives), everything else seems like an assault.
Charles has been surrounded by ‘yes men’ for far to long, the way that Bill is now choosing to surround himself with yes men.
The result is a human being who instead of addressing that era of his history just expects a collective amnesia regarding his past sh!tty behaviour. Instead gen Xers and gen Z are shocked at the fact that a man who abused his wife will be the future King.
Gen Xers were around and well aware of the whole C&D&C drama. Heck, many of us remember the royal wedding itself, and all of the Dodi crap and “tampon” crap happened when most of us were legal adults. That Charles and Diana were miserable, and that there were affairs, is exactly zero news to my generation, barring a few super late-borners who may have never watched the news or picked up People as teens or 20-somethings.
Yes but they were teenagers consuming Chuck’s propaganda from the tabloids.
The danger of the Netflix serialisation is that you get to see just how bad that mistreatment played out. Also many commentators are actually saying things were a lot worse an the RR’s knew there was trouble in paradise but didn’;t want to ruin the illusions of the Perfect Prince and his perfect family.
@mingonette, from what I remember as a Gen X’er was no one paid too much attention beyond noting in passing that Diana was on the cover of just about every magazine, until Diana: Her True Story hit. Then we paid attention, and it wasn’t through the lens of Charles’ propaganda by any means.
Charles doth protest too much.
Yep. Streisand effect.
“They have been lured in…until they can’t see how they are being manipulated.” Sort of like the treatment of H&M by the BM.
The irony of the daily mail — the paraders of fiction as fact — leading the charge to have the Crown issue a disclaimer! LOLOLOL!
Yes, I’d love to Prince Charles putting his weight behind a disclaimer being placed under the Daily Mail banner that they write more fiction than fact!
“I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact.”
This is the result they hope for when people read the Fail, Charles is just unhappy that they are now beaten at their own game.
“Mr Dowden is expected to write to the streaming giant to formally request that it adds what others have called a ‘health warning’ at the start of each episode.”
Can you please also insist on a health warning at the start of every Fail and Dim article about the Sussexes.
“It comes amid deepening concern that fabricated scenes written by screenwriter Peter Morgan are doing lasting damage to the monarchy and Prince Charles in particular. Last night, a friend of the Prince said: ‘It is quite sinister the way that Morgan is clearly using light entertainment to drive a very overt republican agenda and people just don’t see it. They have been lured in over the first few series until they can’t see how they are being manipulated. It is highly sophisticated propaganda.’”
I would swear you just wrote the operating strategy of the Royal Family’s relationship with the media and how they take down the married ins.
I can’t believe how many Uk politicians are chiming in on this nonsense in the middle of the pandemic, a recession& when still isn’t a deal with the EU, weeks away from the deadline. There’s a few debates about it too. Remember when Sussexes were called tone deaf for shutting down relations with tabloids in April? Can’t see all this royal whining over a TV drama is better.
If this is really coming from the Firm- I don’t understand why they are reacting. What happened to no complain no explain or does that just apply to the biracial one and her family in midst of press and social media abuse?
I think this is largely press driven as they are threatened by Netflix’s reach and they are used to dictating the Firm’s image. But also clearly the establishment is concerned about Charles image as he is nearer to being king. The sensible thing would have been to acknowledge past hurt and mistakes, brief that Diana& Charles were on better terms before she passed (which I hear is true) & focus on Charles & Camilla’s hard work etc. Instead people are probably even more curious to see this series and research the facts because of this fuss.
Funny thing is the Crown is made by a British production company which I think had BBC funding so I don’t doubt there will be a redemptive ark for the royals. Even before this fuss, the next seasons would probably have more of a negative focus on Diana (ie focus on her interviews, impact on her kids, her affairs& leaking to the media etc ) and the final season will end on a high note for the royals. But how I wish they would actually really take the gloves off!
just hope the series makers aren’t bullied into changing course.
I’ll accept the government request to label this as fiction when they agree to do the same each time Boris is on TV.
Ha! Thanks for the laugh, Sarah!
Just wait until he gets a gander at the documentary (not a dramatized series) about Jimmy Savile and his connection to the royals that Netflix is working on.
Karma.
I watched the first ep of this season last night, and was expecting to binge watch a couple but honestly it bored me. I grew up in Scotland in the 70s and 80s and so was really looking forward to it, but meh…. Hoping it gets better.
Maybe can’t get into yet because I have just finished binging on Borgen – a Danish political drama on Netflix. It was excellent and I can’t recommend it enough.
@Louisa imo the first episode is the weakest of this season. I actually told my aunt, who didn’t start watching until after I had, to start with episode two because I thought it got a lot better. So you might want to give it one more try (:
Yes definitely going to keep watching. Just need to see The Undoing tonight (as I can’t avoid the spoilers anymore!) then I’ll be back to the Crown.
Thanks for Borgen rec. I keep thinking I will give it a try!
You won’t regret it. I’m so upset that I’m finished as I am so invested in all the characters!
I can’t stand the royal family, especially after how they treated Meghan and Harry. I think the Queen is a loveless, selfish machine. But when I watch this show there’s just a teeny part of me that think it’s kind of an icky show, being that so many of the people are still alive and it’s not just their policies but their personal lives being portrayed. I mean, when are they gonna end it? Or will they keep making the show while the people are living it in real time? Don’t get me wrong, they suck and it’s high time they knew it, but at the same time, it’s a bit creepy.
It does illustrate though that Charles PR attempts to have people forget what happened really does not work, people have memories even without watching the Crown.
Yeah, I’m feeling really icky about upcoming seasons too. Diana DIES. All this speculation about if Harry or Will watch, and it’s like, that’s their MOM. And she DIES! As entertainment for the rest of us!!
I’m all for watching the fictionalized drama of relationships on shows like this, but having to relive the worst day of your life, again, while the world watches too and breathlessly discusses it, has got to be excruciating.
I can see that, but people make (and other people watch) movies or tv shows about living people all the time. This is far from the first movie/show about Diana and its not going to be the last. My guess is that William and Harry will not watch the next season, if they watched this season at all.
So basically, Chuck has influence on The Mail on Sunday, and bureaucrats, and used none of this influence to protect his son and DIL. Gotcha. 👍🏾
I think the escorting Meghan down to altar was more for HIS benefit and PR than hers. He never helped her again.
He might have bought himself some goodwill just by sticking up for her more. Then, when everything went down with the Crown, he could at least have had the narrative that he learned from his mistakes and helped his daughter in law. But apparently no one thought of that. He got so much good will from the wedding, then squandered it all when he ignored her abuse. He should have supported her, not even for her sake, but for the sake of his own damn son. The more we see of the royals, the more I feel for Harry. Meghan will be fine either way–she has an adult identity, intelligence, and resilience. She doesn’t need the royal family to give her life meaning the way Kate does. But this is Harry’s family, and he has been thoroughly let down by the people who are supposed to support him.
That was something about Charles and Meghan that really puzzled me. By all accounts, he did/does genuinely like her, and he had to have seen (since the whole world sees) that Harry adores her and she makes him happy. so those things should have been enough for him to have done SOMETHING to defend her in the press.
but that aside – Charles looked better to many people when he seemed to be on Meghan’s side. Walking her down the aisle, exiting the church with Camilla AND doria – those things helped Charles’s public image. Even if he didn’t like Meghan, he’s usually better at PR than this – he could have used Meghan for his own PR and it would have worked. People loved seeing them together at the garden party. He could have invited her to one of his events, I feel like Meghan would have enjoyed a lot of the sustainable farming etc that Charles/the Duchy does – or something.
But instead we got crickets and those weird photo ops with Charles/Camilla and Will and Kate inn January/ February.
Anyway, having goodwill from helping Meghan (which meant they might not have left) would have helped him right now. As it stands, it seems that Margaret’s line in the show still holds true – how many times can the family make the same mistake.
Becks that’s because it’s all performative PR on Charles’ part. He is not sincere and does not truly believe in kindness and goodness. He only believes in wearing the crown and in protecting the monarchy at all costs. If Camilla were to ever turn on him, she too would be out and slandered before you could say Jack Robinson. The crown is his precious.
The rf had no issues promoting Netflix for Attenborough but once Harry and Meghan struck a deal they have been crying rivers over Netflix. They are all so jealous of Harry’s deal and to be honest none of them wanted Harry to be successful on his own. The self pitying by the rf was captured perfectly in The Crown.
And the Cambridge stans expect Harry to “help” his father and stepmother by “renouncing his deal.” THe blame Harry for the Crown. How ridiculous.
what kind of family doesn’t want success for its members? What parent or grandparent actively seeks for their kids to fail at life? Toxic families where one child is elevated over the other by birth order alone, not aptitude, work ethic, or intelligence. the RF has condemned their second and third born kids to mediocrity at best and failure at worst. An unhappy, alcoholic, self-destructive Harry would be more useful to them than a happy, thriving, fulfilled Harry. If your success is predicated on others’ failure, do you even deserve that success? And are the RF really just waiting for Charlotte and Louis to fail at life for the benefit of George?
I’m glad that Harry and Meghan are re-writing their own story. Charles may have done some good in revitalizing the role of the Prince of Wales, but he sure is presenting himself as a lousy father to his grown sons. If his PR people had any sense, they would be playing up his role as a father, and encouraging him to be supportive of Harry and Meghan. Showing that he supports Diana’s children would go a long way in mitigating bad publicity from the Crown.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Well said Lanne.
“An unhappy, alcoholic, self-destructive Harry would be more useful to them than a happy, thriving, fulfilled Harry.”
What I don’t understand is this: Having seen first-hand what being the “spare” did to Princess Margaret — her intense unhappiness at not allowed to marry her first choice of husband; a ruinous marriage to an emotionally abusive cad; a slow spiral into alcoholism and poor health — why, oh why, would anyone want that for Harry? And for what — to embiggen the heir? Assuming you love your child or grandchild, wouldn’t you want to support his efforts to create some meaning and substance for his life? Wouldn’t you want to cheer him on, encourage him? Good gravy, I really have to wonder just how stunted and toxic this family is …
Honestly, I have no more problem with Charles and Camilla than I do with any of that family, in-born or married-in (including Diana). As much as they all make my skin crawl, I’m still weirdly glad two humans who’ve loved each other for so long despite the controls against it managed to get together ultimately.
The thing is they WERE together the whole time, after she got married, and later after he was married. They did not avoid each other’s company. I have no sympathy for them at all. I don’t think it was that great a love since Charles had no wish to marry her when he first met her nor told her to wait for him and he had many women including Lady Tryon (he said she was the only woman who understood him). It had to be rewritten as a Great Love by spin doctors. I don’t see it that way, just something very sordid.
You are so right Tessa. I’m older than Diana but had my two boys at around the same time. I remember distinctly the Charles/Camilla thing being written about in regular newspapers. There is no excuse for those 2. And as for the fiction that they always loved each other, that is not true. She wanted to marry Andrew PB and not Charles, and it was only when her marriage began to go sour that she took up with Charles.
In my opinion, the series is a lot closer to the truth than this idiotic family would care to admit, and that’s why they’re upset. This could well change the continuation of the RF. And as far as the series is concerned, they all come across as totally out of touch and utterly irrelevant.
Old people (I’m middle-aged so hush lol) will never behave accordingly in this age of information. They don’t know how. When most of your life is spent reading newspapers, circulars and dated publishings, and the world at large is much much quieter, day to day life is an exquisite and gentle nudge forward. Today’s opinion floodgates are open wide. Entertainment seasons fall in seconds, and bring a tsunami of global thought police and volatile back and forth both civil and political. There’s no time for preparation only reaction. And if you react poorly, the hole grows lol.
I’m still mad that Hilary Mantel’s novels have no disclaimer that she didn’t use a literal time machine to interview Thomas Cromwell.
I know, so UNREASONABLE of her, right??
What happened to never complain, never explain? And I think it’s ridiculous that Clarence House has got the British Government involved in this attack on the Crown. It shows that they could have got the media to back off Harry and Meghan if they wanted to but they didn’t. The press campaigning on behalf of Charles, has nothing to do with whether the Crown is fictional or not but rather with them trying to protect their turf in the Diana story and to protect themselves from the definite backlash that will come about their role in Diana’s death when the new seasons are released
Yeah, that’s beyond ridiculous.
There is a pandemic going on ffs
The series already has a health warning. It has todo with the episodes that show Diana’s bulimia, which was worsening during stressful times during the marriage to boorish cheating Charles. Why for once can’t be Royal family just stfu about everything. They’re so negative and sick of their whining because they’re not loved enough and viciously attacking other family members who actually do something.
I agree that the Crown has gotten the broad strokes right. The problem for the Firm is even if the Crown didnt get things exactly right, it is entirely believable that it could have occured this way.
Who would have thought last week that Camilla saying she was going to watch this season while drinking wine was going to be seen as the least idiotic response to this show?
She probably ended up drinking the whole bottle.
The biggest thing that people do need to keep in mind, is that although the private conversations had by the real life characters are mostly fiction, the public appearance sections of the show really did happen. The lies portrayed in public did happen. So any private conversations that were had leading up to public events are obviously going to be fabricated by the writers, unless a private convo was said in public by the RF or from sources close to them.
The louder they wail, the more people become curious and tune in. They are scoring their own goals at this point. Netflix has it listed under Drama. Fred needs to chill and focus on the big picture.
He was awful enough to her in public. It’s there in old footage for anyone to see. “Whatever love is” was said during the engagement. That alone was absolutely horrible. It said all we needed to know. So he can stfu.
I am shocked to discover how effective his campaign of smears against Diana was. I left all Royal gossip upon her death. So as far as I knew, she was a beloved public figure for all time.
Over the years I would occasionally run into some nasty comments about her and I was puzzled as to how such negativity toward her could exist. And it kept getting worse and I grew increasingly confused.
I was not aware she was being depicted as having borderline personality disorder and being calculating and manipulative and all sorts of other horrible things. The most absurd message I think that was being sold to millennials was that she contrived to separate suffering soul mates, Charles and Camilla.
What a load of garbage! To my generation and my mother’s, it was well known Charles sent Diana down her own bad path as “the other woman” in how he and his family treated her. It isn’t even something we have to rely on he said-she said for. It’s all there in their public appearances and his coldness and disdain always plastered all over his face. Just like we can see with his son and Kate. At least those of us with eyes to see.
Diana made mistakes. She had problems. She wasn’t perfect. But she was not anything close to the monster I have seen people speak of in recent years. I am so glad The Crown is renewing the perspective we who lived through it had.
As others here have said, the fact Charles could get up off his dead ass and take such extreme action on his own behalf yet do absolutely nothing for Meghan and Harry just proves he has learned and grown not a bit in all these years. That’s sad.
The thing about this show is that it really comes to life. Excellent actors and beautiful scenery. That is why so many are watching it, it’s very believable.
Didn’t Peter Morgan receive a CBE recently? I’m pretty sure they were nothing less than sycophantic about the first three seasons. All of this whining, as others above have commented, just kind of make me interested to tune in again after struggling through the second season and bailing out.
I think Charles should consider himself lucky they didn’t recreate the phone call where he calls himself camilla’s tampon.
I see the “Everyone’s lying” mantle still stands with the RBF. Must be a day ending in y.
We should be thankful to Netflix for creating such a masterpiece that could well lead to the end of the monarchy.
I actually think there might be a lot of people that don’t understand that some stuff on The Crown is fictionalized. I remember the youths losing their minds when they found out that there actually -was- a Titanic, so…. ..
LOL! I was working in a public library at the reference desk when that movie came out. We used to get loads of phone calls (small town, Internet not widely available), mostly from young girls: “Um, you know that movie Titanic? Was that, like, a true story?” My favorite caller was a girl who asked if the movie was, like, for real, and then wanted to know if we had any books about Jack or Rose. Explaining “dramatization” to her was a truly difficult task.
Imagine feeling so self-important that you think that Netflix orchestrated this whole thing not with the aim of making money but as a propaganda tool against you lol
These people are ridiculous. Charles, Camila and Diana’s story played out before the world, it is history. Obviously, The Crown took the narrative set forth by history and created a series.
It is fact that Charles cheated on Diana with Camila, this is not fiction. Charles in his interview admitted as such. Charles and his family treated Diana poorly, Camilla bedded a married man while she too was married.
History speaks for itself.
They’re just drawing more attention to it. I think the show artfully and skillfully portrays Diana’s inner world.
If the royals criticize it, I’m for it. Tell it!
The future king has shut down his future subjects comments? Did he also say let them eat cake?
Basically Charles thinks The Crown is the monarchy’s Great Reset. He loves campaigning for it everywhere but not in his royal yard. That’s privilege in overdrive!