I eventually caught up with The Crown and it really is as good as everybody says. I think the real Queen should send a note of thanks to Claire Foy for making her seem so human and concerned with her family. I also think the show really showed Prince Philip’s emotional abuse of Prince Charles, basically throughout Charles’ entire childhood. The most sympathy I’ve ever had for Charles was “Paterfamilias,” that episode set at Gordonstoun. But Season 3 of The Crown will skip ahead in time to Charles late teens and early 20s, when he was an awkward Prince of Wales. Then Season 4 will be when he meets Lady Diana Spencer, I think. Anyway, it looks like the real Prince Charles isn’t too happy about what The Crown might reveal:
The Royal Households are going to war with Netflix drama The Crown over paranoia that its portrayal of Charles’s affair will damage his popularity. We understand staff who work for the Prince of Wales restricted invites to stars from the show like Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Colman from an event featuring Charles, William and Harry. Instead, other Netflix stars — Sex Education’s Emma Mackey and Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker — were at the April launch of the streaming service’s Our Planet starring Sir David Attenborough at London’s Natural History Museum.
A royal source said: “Charles’s staff are deeply paranoid about The Crown. They are trying to make him a popular king-in-waiting. But the next few seasons are going to be increasingly focussed on the Prince of Wales’ behaviour, especially around his marriage to Diana and affair with Camilla. The timing couldn’t be any more disastrous in terms of Charles’s bid for popularity. So his staff made it clear he wouldn’t attend the event if Netflix had any The Crown actors there.”
Stories in the global hit are often seen as factual by fans. Josh O’Connor plays Charles and Emerald Fennell is Camilla in season three from November 17. Diana (newcomer Emma Corrin) will be introduced in next year’s fourth series.
A senior Buckingham Palace staffer confirmed that a decision had been made to exclude The Crown stars from the Netflix event — but stressed that Charles was not aware of that decision. The courtier said: “It was discussed by all the relevant Households and event organisers and agreed that it was hard to see the relevance of attendance by The Crown cast and would be a distraction to the ultimate messages of Our Planet. After all, it is a serious documentary about saving the planet not a launch of series three of The Crown. The decision was not one at the request of, instruction of, or direction of any of the members of the Royal Family. There is no blanket ban or boycott of The Crown. Olivia Coleman will be at Buckingham Palace for her CBE at some point. It was officials at the Households working with their Netflix counterparts doing their jobs which was to promote the Our Planet documentary, not The Crown.”
I think it’s a little bit of everything – Charles is probably genuinely worried about what The Crown will show, but… I can’t see him going out of his way to snub the stars of the show at all. For all of the criticism of Meghan being an “actress,” Charles has always loved artists, actors, writers and creators. He would love it if all of The Crown stars came to his events. But yeah, he probably won’t be watching the next few seasons of The Crown.
Something interesting of note: Olivia Colman did go to Buckingham Palace for her CBE honor. She received it from… Princess Anne. Not Charles. *cough*
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Netflix.
Hmmmmm.
so I can kind of see all sides here. For the premiere of Our Planet, if Olivia Colman et al had been invited and attended, it would have definitely been a talking point. “Olivia and the Prince of Wales meet!” or if they didn’t meet- that would have been a talking point as well. So I can see that part of it. (although I do think the bit about how it wasn’t the premiere of season 3 was snide.)
And, I can see the worry about Diana. Charles has worked for 20 years to rehabilitate his image, post Diana, and it seems that for the most part, its worked. Camilla is mostly accepted and liked, people seem happy for them as a couple, etc. I can see him being worried that a show that’s going to rehash his marriage will damage that image.
That said, I think the Crown has done a good job at portraying the royal family as real people, whether or not those portrayals are accurate (meaning, not sure how much the Queen is like the queen Claire Foy portrayed) – and they don’t make anyone look absolutely perfect or absolutely bad. so I don’t think the Charles-Diana marriage will be portrayed as Charles – bad, Diana – good.
Posted in the wrong place.
I’m not convinced Charles cares. The media and British public have been so malicious over the years about it, and he rode the wave. Aren’t we all over it by now? He finally married the love of his life and the Queen loves her.
The idea of Camilla being “the love of his life” is PR, though. She wasn’t even his main mistress when he was married to Diana.
I think it’s cool that Olivia received her CBE from Anne.
More Anne!
If I was awarded a CBE, I would want to receive it from Anne, my favorite Royal.
I get being worried but based on the trailer i think we’ll end up sympathizing with Charles like we have in S1&2 so I don’t think the portrayal of his cheating is going to bring the pitchforks back out and if it does well……you shouldn’t have cheated?
I agree – the slant of previous years was definitely pro-Charles (or at least sympathetic towards him). I think it’ll be fine. Cheating also seems a lot more normalized/acceptable nowadays than in the 90’s.
I do like how the show humanizes the royal family. I actually felt a tiny pinch of pity for all of them.
For me, it’s not so much the cheating, it’s that a guy in his 30s thought it would be fine to marry an extremely naive and inexperienced 20yo and expose her to scrutiny from the international media.
@ GR
As far as i know, it wasn’t Charles idea to marry Diana, he always wanted Camilla.
It was the Queen who chose Diana for him.
Charles still consented to marry Diana so I blame him for that. The look on his face on their wedding day—he didn’t love her. It’s painful to see in retrospect.
@Minx
I know, i just wanted to say that the Queen is also to blame, it was her idea. And you are totally right, in retrospect, to see their interviews together or the wedding is just painful. He answered to the interview question: are you in love? “Yes, whatever that means” awful !
Diana’s grandmother and Charles’s grandmother thought it would be a good idea for them to marry each other.
I don’t think anyone could have predicted she’d become a global superstar. She was kind of mousy, despite being pretty, when she got engaged. When she wore that blue suit she looked kind of…dowdy. I just find it weird that no one in the media thought it was strange that a 31 year old was marrying a 19 year old but maybe people thought this was normal in 1981. Perhaps it was because of her height, but physically she looked like she could marry a 31 year old, I suppose. If she was small like Natalie Portman or Winona Ryder, maybe people would have commented on it more.
Perplexed, I’m old enough to remember the run-up – there were definitely comments at the time (at least in the media out here) about not only the age difference – as one report said when they submitted the stats to the then equivalent of Relationship Australia: ‘He’s 30, she’s 19. He’s a uni graduate, she’s a high school dropout. This couple should have immedate counselling if they are to continue their relationship’ with a strong overtone of *don’t.* It was far from ‘normal’ although of course it happened then and now – the general view was the age difference was unfortunate but it was the only way to ensure the bride didn’t have a string of ex-boyfriend who could potentially blab to the press.
@perplexed, Diana’s grandmother actually discouraged Diana from marrying Charles. She told her that she would have trouble with them because “they’re very different people from us.”
In Tina Brown’s book and other biographies its often mentioned that her grandmother wanted her to marry Charles. I think it’s possible her mother may not have wanted her to marry Charles, but many biographies have stated that both Diana’s and Charles’s grandmothers thought it would make a good match. Everybody has two grandmothers so maybe one grandmother was for it and the other one was against it. I find the mess of their marriage pretty fascinating so I’ve read a lot of books on them and most do seem to point to their grandmothers as kind of…conniving.
I suspect that season three will create sympathy for Charles not being able to be with Camilla. The trailers already hint at it. It’s when they introduce Diana that they will have a hard time making him look good.
Oh yeah, right. Petty Charles had nooooooooooo say in this, had nooooooo idea. Do they also have seafront property in Birmingham to sell me?
(Birmingham is the MOST landlocked city in England lol).
How bizarre would it be to interact with actors portraying generations of your family and your life? Surreal.
Charles has lived his entire life in public, having constant press focused on him.
Tons of magazines, speculation, paps, books, gossip, so-called friends, everyone wants something from BRF, public funerals in which he and his sons walked behind Dianas casket, on foot in front of the press of the world.
How can anyone expect young children who have just lost their Mom to endure that?
I am not a fan of BRF but I will say that I would never marry into that mess.
I’d rather by ordinary, I gotta work to get along with my own family, thats enough.
Sir David is a national treasure. Of course he is invited.
Well, unlike a lot of people here I never was down with the Charles and Camilla reinvent themselves! show. He is a horrible person, he showed himself during his marriage, and the exploitation of Diana’s mental health issues to put shoeshine on him and his awful mistress didn’t work with me. i don’t think she’s “FUN!” because she started hitting the bottle when she got old. I did too. Doesn’t change character. I hope The Crown gives it to them both good. I’ll watch. Where’s my popcorn and bourbon chasers?
Daisy, may I sit with you? I agree with you 100%.
Charles’ Princes’ Trust and walking Meghan dow the aisle aside, I am NOT a fan of him or his mistress/wife who gaslighted a young girl whom he never should’ve married. And yes, I know Diana had her own mental issues (of abandonment, jealousy, insecuities etc.). They both made mistakes, but he went into KNOWING what it all would entail, and that he didn’t love her, and STILL intended to keep on with Camilla (remember this quote, of “I won’t be the first POW to not have a mistress!”?) And let’s not forget how Cam “befriended” a young Diana, while knowingly carrying on with her husband. I don’t care if “that’s the aristocracy”. *&^%^ that! Even if he “physically” stopped with Cam around the time of the wedding, he was still having a BIG TIME EMOTIONAL affair with her all through his first years with Diana. Even on their HONEYMOON! To me, that’s worse; your heart is engaged elsewhere, and NOT with your partner.
And let’s not even start with how many times he threw his sons under the bus, esp. Harry, for his own PR.
I hear they live separate lives these days, so there’s that.
Agreed, Daisysharpe. Sure, he’s happier, but he gaslighted and tortured Diana. She survived it the only way she could at that time, by bucking traditions. Camila was down with being the mistress since one of her earlier relatives was a mistress to another king. That was something celebrated in her family history instead of scorned, like that idiot Mossimo Giannulli taking tuition money from his parents and starting a business with it instead of paying for his semester at USC. Many rich folks are down with keeping coins and power by any means necessary.
Why don’t the courtiers understand that keeping people away from events and saying, “but Charles didn’t demand it” just highlights how sensitive he has been to the people not loving his good works enough? It’s like when Trump’s staff asked that the John McCain ship be covered up before Cheeto had to stand in front of it for a speech. Prince Orange didn’t ask, but he didn’t have to.
The courtiers need to go to to an “Olivia Pope” crisis class. This is just stupid from my armchair PR lack of expertise. Where’s my damn popcorn?!?!
DaisySharp , (TheOG)@Jan90067 , and Christina: I agree with all three of your posts. Charles will never get a pass from me for the treatment of Diana, especially the early years. Nor does Camilla for that matter. The fact she was cheating publicly while married will never sit well with me.
And I believe Charles did in fact ban those actors from attending. He is that shallow and wouldn’t want anyone to tarnish how hard he’s worked to rehab his image.
Charles is definitely that petty. If I was the young woman playing Lady
Di, I would stay far away from anything remotely connected to him.
Please everyone forgive me for being so shallow, but I have a question: Is Harry standing up one step or is he that much taller than Charles?
Harry is that much taller.
Charles is a good Prince of Wales, but he can still go to hell for helping throw Meghan to the wolves.
Yes – very much so.
I NEVA thought I would EVA say this…me…someone who grew up with an OIL PAINTING of QEII Coronation in my house (my Mama…I DO DECLARE!)…
But…
I am SO SICK AND TIRED OF THE ROYALS…ALL OF THEM!!!
(Except…Harry…Meghan…and ALL THE BABIES!)
I second that emotion, Lala.
I find this enormously funny tbh. Also that whole denial from the palace is just way too “the lady doth protest too much.” Okay there.
It’s true, Claire Foy is incredible and a gift to the RBF. I love every second with her on screen. Going to miss her in subsequent seasons, but I enjoy Colman and Menzies and know they’ll carry it.
Charles is petty and I do believe they are orchestrating this image of him as a jolly prince and popular king to be. I have noticed this change over the years and they are doing the same to william. I am no longer fooled by their shenanigans.