Prince William's School Has Something To Say To Producers Of The Crown
It's safe to say that the royal family has mixed emotions about "The Crown." Princess Eugenie has said she felt "very proud" while watching it (per Daily Mail), while Prince Harry has admitted that he's more comfortable with how he's portrayed on the show versus what the media reports on him and his wife, Meghan Markle.
"It gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that," he said on "The Late Late Show With James Corden" in February 2021 (per US Weekly).
But other members of the monarchy — including Queen Elizabeth — have had issues with the way the Netflix drama has portrayed certain family members.
"The queen realizes that many who watch 'The Crown' take it as an accurate portrayal of the royal family and she cannot change that," a senior royal courtier told Express. "But I can convey that she was upset by the way Prince Philip is depicted as being a father insensitive to his son's wellbeing."
The source mentioned one scene, in particular, that the queen disliked: Philip and Charles are in an airplane together, and the latter shows no sympathy for his son, who is plainly upset about his experiences at boarding school. "That simply did not happen," the courtier said.
And, in December 2021, it was reported that Prince William was "frustrated" with the BBC for allowing "The Crown" to film scenes about Princess Diana's infamous 1995 interview with journalist Martin Bashir at the TV network's offices.
Now, William's school has something to say to the producers of "The Crown."
Eton College will not allow The Crown to film at the school
Prince William will be relieved to know that his alma mater has his back. Eton College, which William and Prince Harry attended, has refused to allow the Netflix drama "The Crown" to film on its grounds.
The show's upcoming season will reportedly cover William's reaction to the demise of his parents' marriage. "Eton didn't want anything to do with 'The Crown,'" a source told the Daily Mail. "It's very much aware of the criticism of the series."
But the streaming service denies that it even approached the school about utilizing its campus for the show. "Netflix did not approach Eton and always intended to use Winchester College as a location," a spokesperson told Express.
Buckingham Palace and Althorp, the estate owned by Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, have also denied the show's requests to film. "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."