Diana returns... as a ghost
The Crown gets an eerie finale as its farewell series shows Princess coming back after her death to comfort tearful Charles
THE Royal Family are bracing themselves for ‘painful’ scenes showing Princess Diana appearing as a ghost in the forthcoming final series of The Crown.
In the episode following her death in Paris, the late princess, played by Elizabeth Debicki, has an emotional reconciliation with a grieving Prince Charles, played by Dominic West in the controversial Netflix series, which will air from next month.
She tells him how ‘ handsome’ he is and reminds him how much she loved him as he weeps with regret, moments after he is shown sobbing over her body in a hospital mortuary.
Diana also appears to the late Queen as she discusses plans for a state funeral with Prince Charles – and the two women even hold hands.
Buckingham Palace has refused to comment on the series, which has attracted both com
‘Reduced to seizing on gimmicks’
mercial success but also criticism for its historical inaccuracies and fictional liberties.
However, royal insiders suggested the latest instalment will likely be considered in poor taste, particularly as ‘deeply painful memories for members of the family are reduced to sensationalism’.
One source told the Mail it seemed the makers had ‘jumped the shark’, the description of a creative work which has exhausted itself and is reduced to seizing on gimmicks.
Another likened it to the ‘Bobby Ewing shower scene’ where the popular star of the 1980s soap Dallas was killed off, only for his wife to realise it was a dream when he walked out of the shower at the end of the series.
The imagined scene involving King Charles – then Prince of Wales – has a ghostly Diana telling him: ‘Thank you for how you were in the hospital. So raw, broken – and handsome. I’ll take that with me.
‘You know I loved you so much. So deeply, so painfully too. That’s over now... It will be easier
for everyone with me gone.’ Diana also reduces Queen Elizabeth to what looks like tears, with the late monarch telling Diana she has started a ‘revolution’ with the public mourning her in the streets.
The princess tells her: ‘I know it must be terrifying... As long as anyone can remember you’ve taught us what it means to be British. Maybe it’s time to show you’re ready to learn too.’ The episode suggests this is why the Queen changed her mind about travelling from Balmoral to London and famously addressing the nation. The drama will air in two parts, with four episodes up to Diana’s funeral streaming from November 16.
The second part, consisting of the final six shows and concluding with the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, will stream from December 14. As the show has moved towards the current era, it has been increasingly hit by charges of wholesale reinterpretation of events.
In the last series, Prince Charles was seen apparently plotting against his mother with prime minister John Major, leading to furious condemnation by Sir John.
Last autumn Netflix bowed to pressure and started to preface the show with a disclaimer saying: ‘Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.’
Show creator Peter Morgan admitted to ‘unavoidable accuracy blips’ but claimed: ‘I’m absolutely fastidious about there being an underlying truth.’ Executives insisted at the Edinburgh TV festival this year that the depiction of Diana’s death had been done with the utmost sensitivity.
The moment of the fatal crash in a Paris tunnel is not shown.
Producer Suzanne Mackie said: ‘The audience will judge it, in the end. But I think it’s been delicately, thoughtfully recreated. ‘
Morgan is understood to be considering ideas for a prequel series or film series which would begin with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.