Viola, the teen Queen Netf lix chiefs hope will heal The Crown’s rift with Royals
THE CROWN is set to soften its approach to the Royal Family with a final series celebrating the life of the Queen.
In a series of flashbacks, teenage actress Viola Prettejohn will play the young Princess Elizabeth, including scenes portraying her devoted wartime service.
The plot may help to mollify the Royal Family and its supporters, after Netflix caused outrage for featuring storylines that deviate from the truth.
Sources say that 19-year-old Miss Prettejohn will get more airtime than initially intended because the streaming service wants the sixth series to become a ‘love-in’ to the Queen following her death on September 8.
The actress, who attended £30,000a-year St Paul’s Girls’ School in West London, is currently filming scenes set in London around the end of the Second World War, when the Queen was serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
One source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Netflix has come under so much scrutiny for not just avoiding the truth but also causing upset from retelling hurtful events such as Princess Diana’s funeral.
‘They always wanted to go back and show the Queen as a younger woman but now there will be more of it.
‘Producers know their older audience in particular enjoyed watching the early days of the Queen, so putting a bit more of that in and taking some of the nasty stuff out might make a big difference and allow the show to end on a high.
‘By having these flashback scenes, it is hoped that things will end in a much warmer tone, portraying happier times for the Queen.’
Miss Prettejohn is tipped to become one of the UK’s most indemand actresses on the back of her appearances in The Crown, and has signed up with the same public relations team that helped make a star of Emma Corrin, who played Princess Diana in series four.
The daughter of Lloyds TSB chairman Nick Prettejohn, Viola grew up
in a £3.8million townhouse in Kensington with her older sister Claudia and mother Claire, a lawyer.
She is a golf obsessive and motor racing fan and began her acting career while studying for her A-levels. She made her name in Sky Atlantic series The Nevers and previously had a small role in Netflix’s fantasy drama The Witcher.
No release date for the sixth and final series of The Crown has yet been announced.