How Hollywood Captured The Life, Legacy Of Queen Elizabeth II
From film to TV, Queen Elizabeth II has been the subject of an array of Hollywood projects and actor's lives.
LEARN MOREPosted: 10:42 a.m. EST Nov 10, 2022
New season, new cast, new scandals.
Season 5 of "The Crown" follows the royal family through the 1990s. In part, it covers the breakdown of King Charles' marriage to Princess Diana, when he was the Prince of Wales. It covers the late princess's explosive interview with the BBC's Martin Bashir as well, which he used forged bank statements to secure.
And it also follows King Charles' affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, who later became his second wife.
"The 1990s were a nightmarish period to the royal family. There's no doubt that what is to be shown will be embarrassing for King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla," royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said. "All of this being rehashed now will be embarrassing, especially since the queen has so recently passed away and Charles is a new king, or relatively new king, on the throne. Some of these episodes, the fact that they'll be rehashed before an audience, many of whom were not alive at the time, will undoubtedly harm his popularity."
Since it launched in 2016, "The Crown" has been accused of misrepresenting historical events, or even making them up completely.
With season 5 covering events closer to the present day, there's concern that some viewers may struggle to determine what’s fact and what’s fiction.
"I think it can be confusing for people who watch it because I think a lot of mainly younger people think it's serious, and what they watch on TV is for real," a London resident said.
"I think it's fictional, I think people take it for that," another London resident said. "I think people like the royal family. I think there's the fact that they do change in the program, but as long as you believe it's fictional, then I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Because I think people take it on face value. It's a TV series. It's Netflix. No one expects to watch it as a documentary."
"I feel like you could research anything that you wanted to and you can figure out what is and what isn't real from that," a third London resident said. "If you take everything at face value, most things could be believed to be true when they're not. But we live in a day and age when you can research things and know what is more likely to be true."
Netflix has responded to criticism by adding disclaimers to the season 5 trailer, describing it as a "fictional dramatization" and "inspired by real-life events."
But with season 6 already in production, there are likely to be many more scandals included which the royal family might prefer to remain in the past.
