UK gov’t: ‘The Crown’ should be marked as fiction

LONDON (AP) – Britain’s culture minister thinks the Netflix TV series “The Crown” should come with a disclaimer: it’s a work of fiction.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden weighed in amid criticism of the historical liberties taken by the drama about the British royal family.

“It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction. So as with other TV productions, Netflix should be very clear at the beginning it is just that,” Dowden told the Mail on Sunday. Questions of historical fidelity were not a major issue during earlier seasons of the show, but the current fourth season is set in the 1980s, a divisive decade that many Britons remember vividly. Characters include the late Princess Diana, whose death in a car crash in 1997 traumatized the nation.

Former royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter has called the series a “hatchet job” on Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and his first wife Diana.

AP A man walks past a billboard advertising ‘The Crown’ television series about Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family, in London on Saturday.