Is The Crown's Portrayal Of Princess Diana And Prince Charles' Relationship Accurate?

In season 4 of Netflix's The Crown, we're finally getting to see the story of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the fairy tale that captivated the world back in the early '80s but soon turned into a tabloid-fueled nightmare that makes Megxit pale by comparison. How much of what we're seeing on TV, however, reflects the truth of what was actually going on at the time, and how much was embellished in order to make for a better story?

In order to get some answers, we turned to Dr. Joanna Drell, the professor who heads up the history department at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Although her specialty is medieval and Renaissance European history, she's also an enthusiast on the modern British royal family. As a historian who remembers well those turbulent times (she confesses to a slight royalty "obsession" back then) she was able to supply us with some very detailed insights into the truth behind the TV drama.

Drell says that there's a darker side of some of the scenes we see, particularly in hindsight as we 21^st century viewers know how everything turned out. She mentions details that "speak to larger issues about the relationship between Diana and Charles," and says that "many of them [are] foreshadowing/hinting at problems that arose in their troubled marriage." One particular scene that caught her eye was one in which Diana is appearing in a school play, since Diana merely plays a tree in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream, a play with which her "high culture" adult husband-to-be was not only familiar, but had "a detailed knowledge of the characters" (except, perhaps, for any trees, rock, boulders, or other assorted filler material inserted to give every student a role). Some implied contrast there, no doubt, as is a scene where Diana is dancing to loud pop music in her flat but then later doesn't seem to "get" Charles' emotional connection to opera.

Drell reveals that the episode at the polo match where Diana reaches out with sympathy after the death of Lord Mountbatten is true to life in that Charles was an avid polo player in his younger days. She also notes the "cute touch that Diana is wearing overalls in the scene," something she tells is was "one of her fashion choices at the time." (It was the '70s, okay? Everyone made fashion faux pas back then.)

Certain scenes in The Crown Season 4, Drell tells us, "generally dramatize events that only the participants could have known about." She cites as examples Prince Charles discussing his marriage with The Queen, Charles and Diana fighting, and arguments involving a courtier that revolved around a royal trip to Australia and New Zealand that would have kept Diana away from a young Prince William for a very long time. "Overall," Drell says, "these scenes served to highlight established rumors about the royal marriage."

Drell says that while specific words and details can't be corroborated, the ideas these scenes reinforce are all too true. She mentions the series' depictions of Charles accusing Diana of manipulating him by using the press to garner public sympathy, of palace courtiers siding with Charles by scheduling Diana for events without her knowledge, and of the Queen essentially forcing Charles to stay in a marriage even though, as Drell points out, "it was already clear how ill-suited Charles and Diana were." She feels that much of what is depicted unfortunately does jibe all too well with what we know to be true about that very unhappy, and very public, marriage.