Page Six: The Sussexes think it’s ‘unethical’ to interfere with ‘The Crown’

Britain's Prince Harry speaks on stage during a concert hosted by his charity Sentebale at Hampton Court Palace, in London, Tuesday June 11, 2019. The concert will raise funds and awareness for Sentebale, the charity founded by Prince Harry and Lesotho's

One of the things that I’ve never understood is why Princess Diana’s old friends would ever be okay with using her memory to bash either of her sons. Someone like Jemima Goldsmith can have qualms about how The Crown will approach the “Diana” character, but it seems pretty gross for Jemima to allow herself to be used as a cudgel against Prince Harry. That’s exactly what’s happening this week. Jemima is no longer involved with the Crown or Peter Morgan, and she wants everyone to know that. Fair enough. But people like Dan Wootton and “royal sources” and “industry sources” are using Jemima’s withdrawal of support as something with which to attack Diana’s younger son. Page Six had another one of those stories, entirely with unnamed sources attacking Harry for his Netflix deal:

On the Sussexes not criticizing Netflix: One senior TV industry source, who has worked with Netflix, told us: “To me, their silence is deafening. It might be easier to explain their position, had we seen the fruits of their labor on Netflix, but to date nothing has been released, which is leaving some raised eyebrows in the industry as to what Netflix is exactly getting out of their investment.”

How William feels, specifically about ‘Diana: The Musical’: When asked how Harry’s brother, Prince William, reacted to his mother’s life being recreated, one family source told us, “William has always understood the ongoing interest in his mother. What is never going to be acceptable is the new low that has been reached, the level of exploitation, distracting from the world’s appropriate and respectful legacy,” the source added. “To turn tragedy into disrespectful reverie is never going to be OK.”

The Sussexes aren’t planning on saying anything to Netflix: We’re told that it’s difficult for the couple to do anything until they see “The Crown,” as sources said it would be “unethical” for them to try and stop anything from going ahead. The royal family as a whole have taken a hard line against “The Crown,” Page Six is told, with most declining to watch it.

[From Page Six]

I mean, props to Peter Morgan. He’s got these salty dumbasses working themselves into a lather and the new season hasn’t even wrapped. This is great advanced promotion for The Crown’s Season 5. I find the quote from the industry insider particularly gross: “but to date nothing has been released, which is leaving some raised eyebrows in the industry as to what Netflix is exactly getting out of their investment.” Suggesting that Netflix is, like, paying Harry and Meghan to stay silent on the Crown? Harry and Meghan have put together a production team and they clearly have stuff in the pipeline too. Anyway, as for all of the Harry-bashing this week… I would love to see Jemima Goldsmith pipe up and say “stop attacking Harry for this.” Makes me wonder why she isn’t saying that.

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35 Responses to “Page Six: The Sussexes think it’s ‘unethical’ to interfere with ‘The Crown’”

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  1. ML says:

    William and the rest of the royal family aren’t bashing the BBC. End of.

    • Merricat says:

      Can you imagine the furor if the Sussexes attempted to influence the content of The Crown in any way? Lol, They’re right, it is unethical.

  2. Polo says:

    This is so stupid. Smh. Thanks for the free advertising cause that’s all it is at this point. I’m other news can’t wait for Harry and Meghan’s first Netflix release.

    • MsIam says:

      Which is coming next year so I don’t know what that “TV executive” is babbling about, especially with Hollywood being shutdown due to COVID for almost a year.

      • Krista says:

        @MsIam right?? Do these people think it takes a month or two to bang out a project? Some shows take years to finish.

      • Polo says:

        Exactly! I was just reading about Chrissy teigen her comeback from bullying. They were saying she was one of the top celebrities in terms of popularity/interest in her and the height was around the $10,000 woke bottle and then around the scandals. So now whatever she sells there will be interest.
        These people don’t realize that them constantly talking about Harry and Meghan is only helping them and their projects. They’re a household name because of it. That how Kim Kardashian got to this point. They made fun of her so much in the beginning and she used it to create a billion dollar business

    • BothSidesNow says:

      @ Polo, not only that, but I would LOVE to know who their actual TV insider is? Probably Knauf via Voldemort, which would make sense. Any chance to have an American publication to poor sour milk onto Harry, and his relationship with Netflix at a time they are both in NY is a golden opportunity.

  3. MsIam says:

    I’ll say it again, Diana isn’t the one who looks bad in the Crown, Charles is. I think this is him trying to use Diana as a shield. He already failed at trying to get Netflix to put a disclaimer on the series so now this is his latest tactic. If there was any chance of this making Diana look bad you probably wouldn’t hear a peep. And I don’t know, do the royals not care about shows like The Windsors or Spitting Image or do they figure that those are so over the top no one will take them seriously? Anyway, Netflix thanks you for the free publicity Charles, keep up the good work!

  4. BlueSky says:

    Again like you said, they didn’t have a problem with the first 3 seasons of The Crown. H&M have no control over Netflix’s content. He has had to watch his mother’s so called friends make money off of her through books for decades. Didn’t see much outrage then. The issue I believe is the fact is they are financially independent. The RR need them and they resent they don’t have access.

  5. Amy Bee says:

    Jemima Goldsmith is part of the British establishment. She’s not aristocracy but her family is very rich and her brother is a member of the House of Lords and a close friend of Boris Johnson. She is not going to come out in defence of Harry because the British establishment is against him.

  6. BC says:

    In fairness to Jemima she might not have heard the attacking of Harry, and the articles I’ve read I wouldn’t actually call an attack. I’ll admit I don’t read the more salacious articles. More or less the ones I’ve seen state Harry should speak out to Netflix and express his desire that they not exploit this interview which was Princess Diana being exploited in the first place. Some suggest he end his business deal with them, which honestly seems a bit naive cause I doubt it’s that easy to just do. It is an interesting quandary as much as I love the Crown, it’s definitely a bit soap opera-ey, and the Diana/Bashir interview has been investigated and an apology of wrong doing has recently been issued by the BBC to the royal family and specifically William and Harry. Is it wrong to make this a focal point of the series for this season, which it seems to be from the upcoming promotional material we have? It does seem a bit exploitative. Now I don’t know the answer to that, but obviously Jemima thinks it’s bad as she stopped her working with them. What I think is odd, is I find it hard to believe Harry hasn’t said something to Netflix about this while he signed the contract with Netflix. Obviously, he didn’t say you can’t do this and you must do this my way, but I bet he did let his opinion be known about how he feels about how they portray his mother. I’m not sure why people think he didn’t or how they would know. Just cause he didn’t do a you do it my way or I quit doesn’t mean he didn’t express his opinion to Netflix about it.

    • Sofia says:

      BBC and Bashir were wrong to manipulate Diana but the interview has been public consumption for 25 years now. So to say it shouldn’t be in the show is, quite frankly, ridiculous to me. It was going to be filmed and replicated no matter what. People would be up in arms if they didn’t show it. Also we don’t know how much of the show will focus on the interview. Netflix and The Crown have done no promotion for it beyond pictures released and none of it is the interview. A lot of it is media hype and exaggeration.

      As for Jemima, sorry but she knew what she was getting into. She watched the first 4 seasons (presumably) and had no problem with it and decided to get on the show and talk about Diana. That is exploitive. Morgan may have only pursued her because of that and then dumped her once he got what he wanted so there’s no innocent party.

    • Amy Bee says:

      @BC: Harry has spoken about the Crown. He did it on the James Corden show. He said he much rather watch the Crown than read anything about his family in the papers. He’s OK with the show. It doesn’t seem that he has a problem with Diana doing the interview as William has. He condemned all media for the methods they use to get stories but he has never condemned her for doing it. In fact he alluded to her interview in the Oprah interview when he said at least he and Meghan had each other because Diana was on her own when she did hers.

    • Mac says:

      It would have been completely inappropriate and unprofessional for Harry to discuss another creator’s work with Netflix. He did not discuss The Crown when inking the Netflix deal.

      • BothSidesNow says:

        @ Mac, no. You are right. The deal with Harry and Meghan are two entirely separate entities. Why anyone would even suggest that Harry has the right, position or power to tell Netflix what to do is living under the rock of attack and defame Harry. Just as they did when they found out that Harry and Meghan signed deal with Netflix! Yet, Burger King has been desperate to work with Netflix, yet it’s a constant crickets as it’s brought up. Burger King has been desperate for a contract, no matter how small with Netflix and they keep giving him a no. That’s why the outrage!!! They reject Burger King and happily sign Harry on.

        Why was ZERO backlash for when Burger King discredited his mother’s feelings at the time of the Bashir interview?
        Yet everything negative related to the entire Royal family is Harry’s fault, and his fault alone.

  7. Eurydice says:

    Harry already commented on The Crown in his piece with James Corden – he said it’s fiction, but gives a rough idea of what life is/was like in the monarchy – he also said he’s less concerned with fiction than he is with what’s happening to Meghan and his family in real life.

    As for Diana’s part of the story – what is there to interfere with? Jemima says she objects, but to what specifically? All we know is that she says the storyline isn’t going as she had hoped, but what does that mean? Is Harry supposed to get all upset about something nobody knows anything about? And I can’t imagine anything they could say about Diana in The Crown that would be worse than what the tabloids said about her when she was alive.

  8. Cee says:

    They just keep giving Morgan more material for the next seasons.

  9. Nic919 says:

    Trying to silence a fictional show isn’t the sign of a healthy democracy so trying to attack H and M for not doing anything to stop it isn’t the angle they think it is. They aren’t funding the show or producing it and it had already aired multiple seasons prior to making the deal.

    Going to Netflix and ordering them how to run their business is the sign of a tyrant and while maybe William is fine with that , it’s not something acceptable in a free society. Besides why didn’t the Cambridges shut down the Gary Janetti show that features their own son? That’s a bigger deal than a story about adults, one of whom has been deceased for decades now.

  10. Harper says:

    Has anyone ever seen the movie The Queen with Helen Mirren about the days following Diana’s death before the funeral? That is the most damaging portrayal of HER MAJESTY that I’ve personally watched and yet it’s crickets from William and the BM about that movie being shelved out of respect. Yet the Panorama interview has become the new cultural Voldemort.

    Also, the Senior Members of the British Royal Family attended the James Bond movie premiere as royal work but those movies are also streamed by Netflix and are a revenue stream. But it is up to Harry & Meghan to stop the royal family’s lives and history from being dramatized and to ensure that any corporation that profits from these shows is publicly rejected out of a sense of honor.

    However, there is an exception for The Burger King, who can use these same media outlets for his own egotistical promotional projects because he’s the poster boy for hypocrisy.

    • Sof says:

      You are comparing a movie about his grandmother’s alleged actions with an actual interview his mother gave about personal affairs (not to mention they lied to her), of course the interview is worse for him!
      I’ve seen that movie and it was awful, they made us believe that her accepting the flowers was a big gesture? Or something along those lines, the plot didn’t stuck with me but I clearly remember thinking the queen was the worst.
      Now, maybe the movie is an accurate representation and that’s why it’s not mentioned, you can’t argue with the truth.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      @ Harper, I have seen that movie several times and I would not be surprised that her depiction of TQ was accurate regarding Diana’s death. In fact, I think that Tony Blair was quite frank to her regarding the unfavorable articles being written about her. Tony gave her a little dose of reality in regards to her real time reputation. PP wasn’t depicted very warm or loving towards Diana either, which doesn’t surprise me. The boost that the Royal family received with Diana’s actions and empathy was an enormous boost for The Monarchy, but they still want to rewrite her history.

  11. Eating Popcorn says:

    Didn’t Harry say something about the Crown during his “infamous” Oprah interview? Didn’t he say that the Crown is in fact FICTION and people watching it know that.

  12. Marilee says:

    What does Netflix get out of their investment in H&M?? Apparently, it’s free advertising. Every dang Royal movie they have on their platform gets free press. I could have gone my whole life without knowing about a cheesy Diana musical, but the British press have made it impossible to miss.

  13. Over it says:

    Jemima didn’t remember Diana was her friend when she was giving it up to Peter, so she can just miss me with her oh it’s now suddenly so wrong because he dumped me. She should have remembered her friendship before she had pillow talk. As for these fools expecting Harry and Meghan to object to anything on the crown, hello aren’t these the same people who at this moment has authorized Jason k to try to destroy Meghan? Why the f should Harry and Meghan say or do anything to help protect them from their evil deeds? William BBC says hello you incandescent bald hypocrite.

  14. Rapunzel says:

    Stop f–king Streisand effecting this, RRs. The more you whine about this, the more attention it gets.

    This is not only free advertising for The Crown, but results in more viewers, as increased advertising will do. You are helping spread what you claim Harry should be stopping.

    It’s gotten so bad I’m wondering … is this the plan? Do the RRs want The Crown to become more popular so this stuff comes to everyone’s attention? Are they hoping the show will give them carte blanche to bring up old scandals in the name of chastising Harry/Meghan? And is their buddy Willyboy supporting/encouraging this?

  15. Sof says:

    Just when I thought they couldn’t blame the Sussexes for anything else, in comes the Netflix deal. Please, as if they had control over the platform!
    Side note: Diana the musical sounds really explotative. It must be really upsetting having everyone around the world wanting a piece of your mother, especially when you lost her at such a young age.

  16. S808 says:

    The way they’re still trying to bully M&H out of their Netflix deal…..I’d kill to be a fly on the wall when the news broke.

  17. Becks1 says:

    So much fuss about a season that is still a year away from being released. I’m sure Netflix is LOVING this. I would watch it anyway, but now I’m really dying to watch it because they are so desperate to…..to what, stop it? Do they think if Harry calls 1-800-Netflix and says “please stop making the Crown” the powers that be will say, okay, sure, we’ll stop making one of our biggest shows and the show that wins us all the awards!

  18. Robin Samuels says:

    Jemina gave up the goods on Diana for season five, and then Peter Morgan gave her up! Now she’s screaming foul.
    The Queen should like the Crown; seasons 1-3 showed her as competent, kind, and even somewhat attractive, characteristics IMP she does not possess. They don’t call for Peter Morgan to return his Knighthood or Robert Lacey, who has also served as a consultant. Fergie wanted to consult, but Netflix wasn’t interested. Wasn’t William’s Earshot event on BBC, the station that aired the Martin Bashir interview? Also, William and Kate have a YouTube Channel. YouTube is the home base for hate videos, conspiracy theorists, etc. How many negative videos about Diana are on YouTube – too many.
    Every newsfeed about the Crown takes the Unroyal Family deeper and deeper into the House of Shame.
    Note: not a paragraph about Prince Pedophile.

  19. Jenn says:

    Harry has already made his feelings about the crown clear. If they don’t remember they can watch the Corden interview again.

  20. Over it says:

    Nothing to do with this article but have any of you seen that series the royal family at war? Boy these royal commentators and journalists are such revisionist. Here they are painting Philip as so loyal to the queen, let’s all pretend he didn’t have companions over the years and Fergie Affair was hurtful to Andrew like he is a damm saint . Good lord I really don’t know why I am watching this because it’s all these lying RR clowns talking

  21. L4Frimaire says:

    The second year they demand Harry drop Netflix because of the Crown. This article is so poorly sourced and loose with facts. Harry already commented on the Crown, on James Cordon, and I think he also mentioned it on Armchair Expert Podcast. They have already announced two projects in the works with Netflix, Harry’s Invictus doc and Meghan’s children’s show, as well as many hires for their production team. Does Harry have to comment on everything Netflix from Dave Chappell to Squid Game to the fact they’re already dropping Christmas romance movies( watched one yesterday ). This is why the Sussexes ignore most of these articles. Just more attacks based on BS. The Royals are public figures, they will be analyzed, criticized, lauded, parodied, attacked and fictionalized. If Harry can’t have a say in how the British press and many media entities fictionalize and distort him and his family ( hi Lifetime), why do they think he has a say in a production that has been going on for years? If that show moved to Amazon or Hulu, they’d still be demanding Harry drop his Netflix deal because it represents financial independence and wealth. This is just blowing smoke

  22. Matthew says:

    Jemima Goldsmith is CHIC !! I love how she always has her arm up like that. Rich girl vibe.

  23. blunt talker says:

    The poster above MAC stated best short and simple it would be unprofessional and unfair to a company for Harry to intrude on their artistic freedom-Move on Salty Isle.