Princess Diana’s Brother Rejected ‘The Crown’ Filming Request: It’s Full of ‘Conjecture and Invention’
Zack Sharf
Earl Charles Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, is warning Netflix viewers to watch the new season of the British royal drama series “The Crown” with a skeptical eye. The newly-released fourth season of “The Crown” features the introduction of Diana, where she’s played by newcomer Emma Corrin.
During an interview on “Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh” (via Today), Spencer said Americans have a tendency to take “The Crown” as fact, which he won’t stand by now that Diana is a prominent character. Spencer also rejected “The Crown” team’s request to film part of the new season at the Spencer family’s ancestral home in Northamptonshire, England.
“‘The Crown’ asked if they could film at Althorp and I said obviously not,” Spencer said. “The worry for me is that people see a program like that and they forget that it is fiction. They assume, especially foreigners, I find Americans tell me they have watched ‘The Crown’ as if they have taken a history lesson. Well, they haven’t. There is a lot of conjecture and a lot of invention, isn’t there? You can hang it on fact but the bits in between are not fact.”
“I feel it is my duty to stand up for her when I can,” Spencer continued about his late sister. “She left me, for instance, as guardian of her sons…so I feel there was a trust passed on. And we grew up together, you know if you grow up with somebody they are still that person, it doesn’t matter what happens to them later. So yeah, I feel very passionately that I have a role to honor her memory.”
“The Crown” Season 4 depicts the turbulent marriage between Charles and Diana and has led to reported backlash amid the royal family. Several scenes focus on Charles verbally abusing Diana, while one widely-disputed moment finds Diana confronting Charles on the night of their wedding rehearsal about his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.
The Mail on Sunday reported earlier this month Prince William is displeased with the depiction of his parents in “The Crown” Season 4. A friend close to the Duke of Cambridge told the publication William is upset that “his parents are being exploited and presented in a false, simplistic way to make money.”
“The Crown” Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
