The British royal family is not pleased with Netflix’s The Crown for obvious reasons, even more so because the show turns up the heat on Prince Charles amid his disintegrating marriage to Princess Diana. After pushback, Netflix did add a disclaimer to note that this is a “fictionalized” take on the Windsors, which was likely due to a contested subject involving Charles reportedly growing salty about having to wait in line for the throne.
Also at issue? The next season includes plenty of canoodling between Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles after Season 4 heavily went there as well. And the show dives into the infamous “Tampongate” scandal, in which Charles was nonconsensually recorded telling Camilla that he envied her tampon. Gross? Yes. Josh O’Connor reportedly declined to film the scene in Season 4, but Dominic West is apparently doing the honors in Season 5. The actor discussed this wildness with The Guardian and emerged with some perspective. In short, he believes this was a “sweet” gesture:
“My memory of it is that it was sort of filthy and dirty and really embarrassing, but actually, in the playing of it, it was much more like two middle-aged lovers being sweet to each other,” he said.
“If any one of us had our intimate phone conversations reproduced verbatim in every newspaper in the world, imagine what that’s like. Imagine how awful that is. It just strikes you as being a horrible breach of privacy that no one should have to suffer.”
From there, yes, it’s entirely awful that these phone calls made public by newspapers in Britain. That goes right along with the season’s theme of the monarchy enduring not only a constitutional crisis but also one of public reception. Diana and Charles were also living separate lives, and the princess’ side of the under-siege coin led to tragic results. The show will not film the car crash in question for Season 6, but expect tensions to remain high regardless.
Netflix’s The Crown returns with Season 5 on November 9.
(Via The Guardian)