From Dame Judi Dench to Tony Blair, people have been criticising Netflix’s The Crown.
Now,Lady Anne Glenconner - who not only served as Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting but was also a maid of honour at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation – has opened up about her feelings towards the award-winning show.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, the 90 year old said, ‘The trouble is that people, especially in America, believe it completely. It’s so irritating. I don’t watch The Crown now because it just makes me so angry. And it’s so unfair on members of the royal family.’
Despite Netflix adding a disclaimer to series five, calling the show a ‘fictional dramatization’, Lady Anne believes that The Crown is incredibly damaging to the reputation of the royal family, especially as King Charles makes his ascension to the throne.
Pointing out one particular scene from series two which portrayed the Duke of Edinburgh as being responsible for his sister Cecilie taking the flight that resulted in her death in a plane crash in 1937, the socialite and author said, ‘That was completely untrue and I think to say something like that about people is terribly hurting. Nobody wants to have their relations trashed like that.’
In reality, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark died travelling to the UK to attend the wedding of Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine, not, as the show made out, to see her younger brother because he had been misbehaving at school.
In an appearance on This Morning to promote her book ‘Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown’, Lady Anne also revealed that Helena Bonham Carter – who played Princess Margaret in the series three and four of The Crown – was seemingly disappointed by the show’s narrative.
Saying that she spoke to the actress after series three’s release, Lady Anne claimed, ‘Afterwards, I said to her, “A bit disappointing, wasn’t it?” And she replied, “Yes, but as an actress, I have to do what’s written.”’
Lady Anne - who was portrayed in an episode of The Crown as attending a pool party with Princess Margaret - concluded, ‘The real thing about the royal family is so interesting. They don’t have to embroider it.’