Robert Lacey isn’t the only royal-commentator with an advisor gig for The Crown. For Season 5, Andrew Morton also advised Peter Morgan on the show, particularly around Princess Diana’s storylines, and the book Diana: Her True Story. That’s one of the reasons why Morton comes across so well in The Crown – he was an advisor! Which isn’t to say that they were making things up – Diana is seen recording her story and getting the tapes to Morton through an intermediary, her friend James Colthurst. Morton previously spoke to the Royalist column in the Daily Beast, and now he’s speaking to Vanity Fair. He spoke about The Crown, the real Diana, plus the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s moves. Some highlights:
Working on Diana: Her True Story: “It was like the royal version of All the President’s Men, where danger lurked in shadows. One scene I’m surprised they didn’t do was James letting me listen to the first tape in a working-man’s café in Ruislip in North London. All these working men were sitting around eating their eggs and bacon. I put the headphones on and I was transported to another world, a world of bulimia, Camilla, and things which I’d never heard of. It was literally like entering a parallel universe where you had a secret and that secret was quite dangerous.”
Every reason to be paranoid: “Looking back, I think we had every right to be paranoid given what happened with [the leaked royal phone calls] Squidgygate and Camillagate,” says Morton, adding that the real-life experience was occasionally “even spookier” than depicted in the episodes. “It was a time where you didn’t know if you were being followed, where you didn’t know if you were being watched. Diana was worried about her phones being tapped.”
Morton is shady about The Crown’s portrait of Charles: “I don’t know if [series creator] Peter Morgan wants his peerage but Charles is an intelligent, questioning, courageous, positive character in this depiction, so it makes me laugh when everybody’s getting up in arms about [the new season]. King Charles, if he ever sits down and watches, will be quite pleased with his character…it’s done [him] a big favor.”
On the Sussexit: “The big difference between Diana and Charles and Harry and Meghan is that Diana was trapped in a loveless marriage, whereas these two seem extremely happy together. That’s a huge difference. Secondly, Diana gave it 10 years before she rebelled and helped me [on the book]. They didn’t even give it 10 months. He was meeting with Oprah in November 2018, which was six months after they married, to discuss a tell-all [interview]. So it seems that they headed for the exit door fairly rapidly. Prince Harry’s made it perfectly clear that he found the royal world suffocating and difficult to cope with. In Meghan, I think he saw a pathway out.”
On the Sussexes’ Oprah interview: “My reaction was quite frankly bafflement. So many of [Harry and Meghan’s] statements just didn’t add up to me. So it was very different to the Diana interview, which came from her heart and came at a point when she’d already discussed much of it for Diana: Her True Story. You’ve also got to remember that Diana and Charles are more important people for the monarchy and for the nation than Prince Harry or Meghan will ever be because of their position. They were future king and queen. When you’ve got the future queen saying that the future king is not fit for the job, then that is something that you have to take very seriously. Harry’s allegations of racism, given what’s going on with reparations for the slave trade and so on, did strike a chord. [But] everything is about context, and there was no context for those allegations…. Harry and Meghan always mistook popularity for position. Harry will never be king. As every year passes, he becomes less relevant to the monarchy. Just like Prince Andrew, who was once second in line to the throne.”
On Harry’s memoir: “The fact that he’s called it Spare means that he’s going to deal with his relationship with his brother. It’s going to be a Cain and Abel saga. It will have a biblical resonance.” The author notes that Princess Diana would likely be heartbroken to learn that one of her sons had turned on the other. “Where she would part company [with Harry] is if he puts the boot into his brother. She wanted Harry to be William’s wingman, not a hitman.”
“They didn’t even give it 10 months. He was meeting with Oprah in November 2018, which was six months after they married, to discuss a tell-all…” What in the world is he talking about? The early meetings Harry had with Oprah in 2018 and 2019 were about the series which would become The Me You Can’t See. It was a long-gestating project which Harry started before the Sussexit. Then they organized the 2021 Oprah interview to coincide with the one-year anniversary of their “stepping down” as working royals. Honestly, what Morton says about the Sussexes is so… odd. You need “context” for very specific stories about racism and questioning what color Meghan and Harry’s children would be? The whole “wingman” thing is so tired too. “Wingman” doesn’t mean “William is allowed to smear and destroy Harry and his wife just because Peg is the heir!”
The thing about Peter Morgan going easy on Charles… that’s very true.
Photos courtesy of Netflix/The Crown, Instar.
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This is completely stupid but it really bothers me that Chuck’s eyes aren’t blue.
Charles’ physical vibe -even when championing his causes- has always been kind of a pompous, restrained underdog; which Dominic’s aggressive acting minus the large ears failed to capture. Debicki’s portrayal of Diana was one-note and relied heavily on two or three of her most photographed gestures. Also lacked two of Diana’s key physical features: Her smile and her athletic build, which played a big part on her overall appeal. And is Anne so theatrical irl? People are judging these seasons harder bc we were actually alive by the time these events happened and have a vivid recollection of them and of people involved.
Charles should’ve seen they cast Dominic West to play him and known they were trying to help him out in ways he never deserved
Truly, I had to stop watching because Dominic West’s version of Charles is so absurdly opposite of reality.
In fact this season was poorly cast in almost every role. They couldn’t find a single tall, handsome older British actor to play Prince Philip? Really? Not to mention Dolores Umbridge in a queen wig.
Absolutely. The New Yorker just reviewed this season and calls it “practically pro-Charles Propaganda.”
I have a question—does Charles bite his lip and shift his jaw as much as Dominic West does as Charles? It’s incredibly annoying.
Come to think of it, yes he does.
I believe Diana would have been disappointed in WILLIAM turning on Harry, not the other way around. Try as she had, she wasn’t able to counteract the Windsor Viper Pit from consuming her eldest.
I do like Morton’s take that for once doesn’t blame Meghan as a steamroller, yanking poor Harry away from all he knew because reasons. Instead he repeats what we’ve all known. Harry was looking for a way out long before Meghan.
Too bad he then dove headfirst into “Oprah interview bad, eternal doormat and whipping boy good” puddle.
This. William had already been putting the boot into Harry. Diana likely would have been upset to see William briefing the tabloids against his brother. Why Morton doesn’t clarify this, I don’t understand. Is the heir just allowed to do whether he wants regardless of whether it’s sticking a knife in his brother? Apparently so. And apparently the spare is just supposed to sit back. Hopefully, Harry’s book says a hell no to that bullshit. Abolish the monarchy.
“Quite pleased” read that as we completely caved and King Charles can now go forward still being a complete jerk. We won’t clear that up. Thanks for the big ratings tho.
Maybe the scrapped a few things after the uproar, this season was the perfect time to show how rotten Charles was to Diana in the 90s.
People tend to forget that Morton makes his living writing about the royals. And his new book is a biography of Elizabeth. So he’s a royalist at heart. His survival as a writer depends on it.
I’d say he’s also salty he didn’t get the H&M interview.
Morton’s biography of Meghan is pretty bad. He tries to have it both ways, depicting her as a social climber and an actress/activist who fell in love with a prince. However, he couldn’t find any dirt on her, and unlike Tom Bower, he didn’t interview her sister and her father, who both have axes to grind. He also didn’t make stuff up as Bower does.
While I get that, these writers could still make bank chronicling the fall of the monarchy. Imagine how the players might be more willing to spill as the ship goes down.
Real journalists would jump in to cover the actual fall of the British monarchy if/when that happens. All these “royal correspondents” would never be able to compete with actual international correspondents. Then everyone would move on and royal reporters would be out of work permanently. They opt for the status quo.
Morgan must want a peerage. That’s how easy he went on Charles. Charles has bad moments in Season 5 but it’s a positive, sympathetic portrayal overall. It’s way more than he deserves. And though Dominic West is a fine actor who does some good work with the role (credit where credit is due), he’s just too good-looking* and charming to play Charles. He can’t keep his naturally confident bearing and easy smile contained enough to portray this awkward, thin-skinned man.
As to Harry and Meghan, he clearly didn’t do his research. He was right about Harry wanting out but just plain wrong about the Oprah thing. He nailed one part of the interview and totally botched the other out of sheer ignorance.
*YMMV about West’s looks. He’s a smug cheater but I do think he’s handsome and has a very good smile. Charles does NOT have a good smile, which might explain why he uses it so little.
Morgan must want a peerage. That’s how easy he went on Charles. Charles has bad moments in Season 5 but it’s a positive, sympathetic portrayal overall. It’s way more than he deserves. And though Dominic West is a fine actor who does some good work with the role (credit where credit is due), he’s just too good-looking* and charming to play Charles. He can’t keep his naturally confident bearing and easy smile contained enough to portray this awkward, thin-skinned man.
I have a feeling that next season they’re going to pin the whole tone-deaf initial response to Diana’s death on Elizabeth and let Charles off the hook.
As to Harry and Meghan, he clearly didn’t do his research. I feel like he nailed one part of the interview and totally botched the other out of sheer ignorance.
*YMMV about West’s looks. He’s a smug cheater but I do think he’s handsome and has a very good smile. Charles does NOT have a good smile, which might explain why he uses it so little.
So the talking point, again, is that the Sussexes were always planning to peace out of the family. That they were immediately planning tell alls and an escape from the BRF.
If so, then why did they offer part in/out? Why would they have bothered moving from KP to BP to make their lives as royals easier? There’s so much about this theory that makes no sense.
Morton doesn’t really add anything to the conversation. We can all see Charlie’s 90s behaviour was soft-pedalled, going hand in hand with the “soulmates” BS.
I hardly think Diana would have turned on Harry. If it came to it she’d probably be having words with William. But in reality if she was still alive, it probably wouldn’t have come to this.
Whatever, Morton. Everything he said about Harry and Meghan is off base.
Diana would have sided with harry and Meghan. She was more or less treated the same way. I think she would be horrified at how William turned out.
If Diana was still alive this would all be moot. Kitty and CarolE would never have been allowed near William, for one thing, and Chuckles and That Ridiculous Old Whore would never have been married.
I agree TESSA. 💯
Why does this royal brown nosing has been think that just because he got Diana to work with him to write his one book , that that somehow makes him the voice and authority figure on Harry and Meghan and their thoughts and feelings ans anything going on in their lives? He knows absolutely nothing about them . Also to sit there and say that Diana would want a lifetime of unhappiness for Harry Just so that pegg-a- lot can sit on the big chair , is completely ridiculous. Diana loved Harry and I would love to think that after everything she went through. She would move heaven and earth to see her son happy.
Bottom line, Andrew Morton is a first rate asshole who thinks it would have been better for Harry to stay and Meghan to end her own life , Than to stop being willy whipping boy.
There was a moment where I felt like Diana’s story was being overdone, what with Kristen Stewart, the crown and the different documentaries. But now I don’t think that at all. Especially with how the crown is ignoring and glossing over details. In fact, now I think a mini series going into everything the crown skipped over is a necessity. I know there have been versions but I want another even more detailed account to counter the paranoia narrative that’s being amplified by William and Charles.
I’ve watched all the episodes in Series 5 now and quite frankly, it’s not lived up to all the hype. Charles comes across quite well in it as does Camilla. It has done Diana’s image no favours which was surprising. Someone in an earlier post mentioned the awful casting and I have to agree. Dominic West is too handsome to play Charles. Elizabeth Debicki became quite irritating with the constant lowering of her head and bashful looks which were more reminiscent of Diana in the 1980s not at this stage of her life. Having Mrs Boggle from Agatha Raisin playing the queen mother was too much for me 🤣🤣
That’s where I know her from! She’s good at doddering old ladies!
Morton has blinders on because saying that Harry confuses popularity with position is exactly what William is doing. He assumes he is more popular because of his position. Harry has never sought to be future king and we see the obvious difference between his rejection of the royal nonsense as opposed to Andrew clinging to it to this day.
And the interview was them talking about racist comments, being unable to correct false stories put out by Kate and Meghan being suicidal and being refused treatment. None of this related to rank but treating them as human beings. Most importantly Harry spoke of the invisible contract with the media in a way that was never discussed by any other royal including Diana.
Nic919, Morton first says earlier in the article, “Prince Harry’s made it perfectly clear that he found the royal world suffocating and difficult to cope with.” But then he says that Harry was mistaking popularity with position? No, I think everyone knows that Harry would NEVER want to be King. Heck, he didn’t want a position within the working royal family. What is Morton hoping to get with this part fairytale he’s writing? He survived after it came out that he had tapes of Diana for his book. If that didn’t stop him from making a living, why in the world would he play this game?
…Yeah, frankly this season rather sucked up to Charles, especially in the Tampongate episode. Like, maybe he did say inspiring things privately for all I know, but ending that episode on focusing on the Prince’s Trust? Dude, who cares? (Seriously, royal charities are the boringest thing to ever, ever read about in any biography.) I wonder if any changes were made after the Queen died on that one because it was imperative to suck up a bit.
i’m going to meet Andrew Morton tomorrow night so I’ll have to ask him what he thinks of the Crown.
amyb, well, he did say he thought they had gone soft on Chuck. I think it would be more interesting to find out why he writes about H&M this way. I really believe there’s something that he gets out of it. There is absolutely no way anyone could live in the UK and see the bm’s coverage and (the brf’s actions) and not have an understanding of what’s going on. He also is deliberately putting out disinformation regarding Harry & Oprah working on a Mental Health series for Apple+ with the Oprah interview. This, IMO, was deliberate.
I read a post above that the New Yorker said the Crown season 5 was Charles propaganda. I LUV that.
I don’t think C&C come off well at all. It was heartbreaking to see his cruelty toward Diana when he went to see her after the divorce. And Camilla is a big turn-off in her willingness to sabotage Diana with her affair. What a charade these folks have going.