A barrel load of malicious fiction

... the former PMs blistering condemnation of TV Crown’s ‘damaging’ fake plotlines

FORMER Prime Minister Sir John Major launched a blistering attack on television drama The Crown last night, describing an abdication storyline in the latest series as a ‘barrel load of malicious nonsense’.

In the episode, Charles, who at that stage in the series is the Prince of Wales, is shown trying to draw Sir John into what appears to be a plot to oust the Queen. At the time – 1991 – Sir John had been in Downing Street for less than a year.

But last night the former PM joined other politicians and friends of Charles in dismissing the storyline as baseless fiction.

Another scene to provoke Sir John’s fury depicts a private conversation between him and his wife Norma in their bedroom when staying at Balmoral. Mr Major is shown despairing about the behaviour of individual members of the royal family. Last night he dismissed that exchange too as fiction.

It comes amid deepening concern that fabricated scenes written by screenwriter Peter

‘People need to know events in The Crown are made up’

Morgan are doing lasting damage to the monarchy and King Charles in particular. Sir John’s spokesman told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If the scenes you describe are broadcast, they should be seen as nothing other than damaging and malicious fiction.

‘A barrel load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum – and entirely false – dramatic impact.’

Friends of the King said that Charles has always been acutely aware that because of the monarch’s position within the Church, abdicating would be tantamount to heresy.

The Queen was known to be scarred by the scandal of the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, in 1936, and concerned that if she followed suit, it might devalue the institution and bring about the end of the monarchy itself.

Sir John, an ardent royalist, insists he did not co-operate – in any way – with The Crown. ‘Nor has he ever been approached by them to fact check any script material in this or any other series,’ said his spokesman.

The spokesman added: ‘As you will know, discussions between the monarch and Prime Minister are entirely private and – for Sir John – will always remain so. But not one of the scenes you depict are accurate in any way whatsoever. They are fiction, pure and simple. There was never any discussion between Sir John and the then Prince of

Wales about any abdication of the late Queen Elizabeth II – nor was such an improbable and improper subject ever raised by the then Prince of Wales (or Sir John).’

Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith said: ‘The problem is that the programme is so well produced, so well written that people forget that it is fictional. I give talks all over the US and so many people – welleducated people – believe that absolutely everything in The Crown is real. They need to have an advisory at the start of the programme that it is a fictional adaptation of historical events. People need to know that the things that happen in The Crown are made up.’

Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend of King Charles, said: ‘I gave up watching it years ago but I would say, if you are going to bother watching it, just have a good laugh at how ridiculous it is.’

Sir John, who was Prime Minister between 1990 and 1997, has been close to the Royal Family for decades, and was the only British politician invited to attend Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018. Following the death of Princess Diana in 1997, Mr Major, as he was then, was appointed special guardian to Princes Harry and William.

His appointment was reported to have been made at the suggestion of the princes’ father, who asked the politician to protect the interests of Harry and William in nego

tiations over their mother’s will. When the Queen died last month, Sir John paid tribute to her as ‘selfless and wise, with a wonderful generosity of spirit’.

He wrote: ‘Behind the public figure lay an intensely private woman, dignified and dutiful but blessed with empathy, pragmatism and a delicious sense of humour.’