Four Reasons Season 5 Of 'The Crown' Will Have King Charles Shaking In His Boots
It's official. King Charles is freaking out about "The Crown" Season 5. Buckingham Palace sources are briefing the media about the Netflix series for the second time in two weeks. In late September, new clips of "The Crown" unveiled the drama at the heart of Season 5, the conflict between Charles and his then-wife Princess Diana. Almost immediately after the new video dropped, The Telegraph reported a royal insider told them that "The Crown" is "a drama, not a documentary." The royal source threw shade at Netflix, saying the streaming giant had "no qualms about mangling people's reputations" and added, "there are real human beings and real lives at the heart of this."
On October 13, The Sun claimed "The Crown" Season 5 was a "character assassination of Charles." Once again, a royal insider spilled to the outlet how mean the Netflix series is, especially Charles and Camilla. A palace source told The Sun, "There's a sense that Netflix are muckraking over events that took place 30 to 40 years ago but are still raw for those involved ... millions of people around the world will view this series and view it less as a drama and more as a documentary."
One thing the new king shouldn't be upset about? "The Crown" cast hunky Dominic West as Charles in Season 5, bringing a bit of Hollywood to the new monarch. But there are four reasons "The Crown" Season 5 will have Charles shaking in his boots.
Charles cheated on Diana with Camilla
King Charles is right to be worried about Season 5 of "The Crown" because it dives into "The War of the Wales" when the couple's relationship goes sour. Season 4 of "The Crown" follows the beginning of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's relationship and marriage. Charles is portrayed as a cheating husband who is cold to his young wife, driving her into self-destructive behaviors, per Newsweek. Tina Brown's 2011 book, "The Diana Chronicles" (via Vulture), details how Charles treated Diana. For example, days before his wedding to Diana, Prince Charles gave Camilla Parker Bowles a gold bracelet. The book reported that Diana said, "I was devastated ... I couldn't believe how cold everyone was, how I thought one thing but actually another thing was going on."
Not only did Charles cheat, but he was also said to be petty toward his wife. Clive Irving, author of "The Last Queen," said that the Netflix series' portrayal of Charles as petty and jealous of Diana was spot on. Irving told The Standard, "There was a Diana bias in all the coverage from the beginning. 'The Crown' gets this exactly right, without overdoing it — after all, Charles is as complex as any Shakespearean prince."
Princess Diana's 'Panorama' interview takes up one episode in Season 5
Variety reported the upcoming "The Crown" season dedicates one entire episode to Princess Diana's devastating "Panorama" interview. There is a reason the royal family pressured the BBC never to air the "Panorama" interview again, as Diana's infamous interview with host Martin Bashir continues to make headlines. Prince William lashed out at the TV network in 2021, and it is a sore subject for the royals. According to People, in the interview, Bashir asked the Princess of Wales if Camilla Parker-Bowles was one of the reasons her marriage was rocky. Diana famously replied, "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
There were many shocking revelations from the "Panorama" interview, including Diana's confessions about self-harm and bulimia and revealing the royal family's lack of support for her postpartum depression. People reported that in her "Panorama" interview, the Princess of Wales explained why she went public about her situation. "I was at the end of my tether. I was desperate," Diana explained. "I think I was so fed up with being seen as someone who was a basket-case because I am a very strong person."
The fact that "The Crown" is devoting one episode to Panorama is not good news for King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort.
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Charles and Camilla's took advantage of Princess Diana
Many forget Princess Diana was only 19 when she got engaged to Prince Charles. The teenage preschool teacher was no match for the worldly Prince of Wales. When they married, Charles was 12 years older and carried on with his married girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles. Season 4 of "The Crown" told the true story of how Diana moved into Clarence House, and she found a note from Camilla Parker-Bowles on her bed. In Tina Brown's 2011 book, "The Diana Chronicles" (via Time), Camilla's former brother-in-law, Richard Parker Bowles, said that Camilla never saw Diana "as a threat" and "[Camilla] thought Diana was someone whom she could manipulate."
Diana's former bodyguard said that people around the princess downplayed her problems and that Diana was "battered into submission" by the public breakdown of her marriage. In a 2020 interview with The Mirror, Lee Sansum said, "A lot of people said the princess was crazy but I'm trained in various things such as human behaviour. I didn't see any signs of the craziness she was alleged to have. She was just a normal person. Can you imagine being told you're crazy, but you're not? It must be an awful feeling." The former bodyguard added that Diana was a "lovely, caring woman" and a "wonderful mother."
Is King Charles worried Prince Harry told Netflix family secrets?
On October 14, the palace dropped another bombshell. The Daily Beast published a story from an "inside source" saying that King Charles won't invite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to his coronation if Prince Harry spills any dirt about Queen Consort Camilla in his upcoming book. "Almost everything Charles has done over the past twenty years has, in one way or another, been about getting Camilla accepted by the public," a royal insider told the Beast. "It is one thing for Harry to attack Charles, he can take it on the chin, but if Harry forces him to choose by laying into Camilla in his book, I have no doubt he will choose Camilla." Is Prince Charles worried that Prince Harry spilled some family secrets to Netflix? The streaming giant is airing Harry and Meghan's documentary, so perhaps the king is concerned Harry talked about Camilla?
The October 14 Daily Beast story makes royal watchers wonder why Charles and the Queen Consort are so worried about "The Crown" Season 5 and Harry dropping family secrets. The more the king talks about "The Crown" or threatens Harry about "talking about Camilla," the more curious royal watchers become.