Yesterday, the Telegraph tried to make the premiere of The Crown’s Season 6 all about Prince Harry. No matter how many times Harry says that he really doesn’t care and he has nothing to do with The Crown, people still try to attach him to the show or make it sound like he’s secretly providing scripts or what have you. Harry has said he’s watched some of it – probably the early seasons – but there’s no indication that he’s watched more recent episodes. This is what the Telegraph’s Victoria Ward reported:
The Duke of Sussex is expected to watch his final conversation with his mother dramatised in the final series of The Crown, but his brother, the Prince of Wales, will not tune in. The first four episodes of the sixth series will strike a devastatingly personal note for both Princes William and Harry, being almost wholly concerned with Diana, Princess of Wales’s final weeks, her death and its immediate aftermath. The drama depicts the final time Diana saw her sons and imagines their final conversation on the telephone.
Despite the decision by writer Peter Morgan to devote the best part of four episodes to the build up and aftermath of the tragedy, Harry is still likely to watch the show. Prince Harry, 39, has admitted that he watches and fact checks the Netflix series.
However, one source close to him said they may watch it first in order to save him from anything he may not wish to see.
His elder brother, meanwhile, has never watched it and is not expected to watch this series, sources close to him confirm. Prince William was also said to have been “frustrated” that the show raked over the circumstances surrounding his mother’s Panorama interview with the disgraced BBC journalist Martin Bashir, which he has said holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. Some close to him have expressed surprise that The Crown has edged so far towards the present day, depicting events that many acutely remember.
The stuff about William having never watched it is a blatant lie – all of the royals watched the early seasons and they had really positive things to say about Matt Smith and Claire Foy’s performances. The problems only began for the royals when the show entered the Diana years. Suddenly, they despised the show and wanted everyone to know that the whole thing was fiction! Well, anyway, would it surprise you to know that the Telegraph has zero knowledge of what Harry thinks about the Crown?
Prince Harry has distanced himself from a report that claimed he would watch his mother’s last moments in the final season of The Crown on Netflix.
A source close to the Duke of Sussex told Deadline that he would not stream the final season of Peter Morgan’s show due to the “sensitive nature” of its content.
Deadline understands that Prince Harry has no ill feelings towards The Crown’s creators or Netflix about the direction of Season 6. He was not consulted over the show and had no advanced sight of episodes.
Earlier on Thursday, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Prince Harry would be tuning in having viewed previous seasons of The Crown.
I’m sure there will be Sussex squad folks screaming about not believing unnamed sources in either direction, but my guess is that Harry didn’t believe the Telegraph’s false report rose to the level of denying something on the record, so he had some Archewell comms person send a quick email denial to a trade paper and there you go. The fact that Deadline reported this is fascinating to me too – it shows that Harry is perfectly capable of using the American media as a way to fact-check the lies in the British media.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Netflix.
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- Prince Harry speaking during the Invictus Games opening ceremony at the Merkur Spiel-Arena. Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 09 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Deadline is (one of the) the right outlet to deny a tv-related rumor to Hollywood folks, who might be in business with the Duke or with whom he hopes to do business in the future while not offending anyone. This is one off-the-record denial that makes sense.
Actually most of us in the industry have serious side eye for deadline after they specifically hired someone for royal stories…who worked for the Daily Mail for years.
Remember ALL of these promo/statement/gossip articles are paid for.
edit: do you have to do is read between the lines of the wording, where it says “a source close to the duke” not a statement released by their team. Shoddy reporting by Deadline, tbh
Harry may have no feelings of ill will towards the creators of the crown but whew I sure do. Don’t even get me started on season 6. Pretty sure that discussion is for another post so I’ll stop there.
I think the story was done better in a lifetime film about the tragedy.
I also have feelings about it and don’t plan to watch this. Lifetime Movie of the Week with a bigger budget. That’s all this is. I don’t for a second believe that William has never watched it. Charles should be paying Netflix $$ for how good they have made him look. I do not like Elizabeth Debecki as Diana at all. She’s painfully thin playing Diana at a time when she was healthy. Emma Corin was a great young Diana.
I had immediate concerns as I watched the first episode. The writers depicted princess Margaret at Camilla 50th birthday party . For one thing Margaret did not attend and it was well known she could not stand Camilla. I watched the first two episodes and will watch the last two tonight. The actress playing Diana was great despite the writing for her. So sad watching the scenario play out and events leading up to it.
So? Whichever way PH feels about it is his private business. Is this supposed to make PW seem superior because he won’t watch it or just petulant? I can imagine Cam watching, gin in hand, toasting to good times when she triumphed over Diana. Probably what she’s doing in her separate wing instead of “reading companionably”.
Camilla thinks she triumphed. Charles probably is watching intently to see how he is presented this season
The reviews are not that great. Has anyone watched? I stopped after S4
S5 was awful but so far S6 is bringing the drama. That’s the problem, though. The first few seasons provided something of an interesting historical record, covering eras that predate the birth of most viewers with historical events non- Brits might not even know about. From the minute Diana was introduced, the show turned a corner, became a night time soap. The very first episode her character is in is full of dark foreshadowing and that never lets up. Did I watch all four new episodes last night, though? Yes, I did.
I stopped watching after S2, (I was late to the Crown train). I couldn’t take the propaganda and praise for the Royal Family which at the same time was smearing Meghan.
I binged watched the first four episodes last night and the writers have definitely been “got at.” KCIII is now being accredited with Tony Blair’s role in persuading the family to acknowledge how popular Diana was! They also made it look as if he was more comforting to the grieving boys than he was. They also make it quite clear that Diana and Dodi were not engaged and that she had no intentions of marrying him. I felt there may have been an element of truth in this portrayal as I believe the stories that she was still carrying a torch for Hasnet Khan and she was using Dodi to make him jealous.
Over all I felt the episodes were a disappointing whitewash of recent history and is probably why we haven’t had the usual ‘outrage’ from CH and BP.
Diana s close friend Rosa monckton indicated Diana was not ready to rush into a second marriage.
I’ve always been a big fan of the show and was so looking forward to it, but it’s so so bad this season. Myself and my mother were shocked by it last night, it was like watching a different show. I won’t say more and save it for the inevitable discussion post here.
I can’t stand the Crown. I never watch it before. It was my first time. I went directly to season 6 episode 1. I stopped it at the 15 minutes mark.I didn’t place the show in my list either. I’d rather rewatch the Harry& Meghan docu still in my list.
I got as far as the 80’s and Diana is was on the scene (S3? S4?).
It seems that Harry really is like us!
The reviews I’ve seen (not from the usual culprits) have not had good things to say about S6.
Why would anyone feel like they should know about if he did or did not watch that? Honestly, the sense of ownership people (mostly, but not entirely in the UK) feel over this guy’s grief is sickening.
The BM carry on over Harry like the villains in Pete’s Dragon, waving a paper about screaming, “We’ve got a bill of sale that says he’s ours!”
EXACTLY. Just complete faith in their own entitlement. There is just no line or even a sense of decency. It doesn’t come from a place of kindness or sympathy. It’s appalling and no one’s questioning it.
Why is his watching it or not watching it such a big deal? He LIVED it.
🎯!
Even the appeal of Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West I refuse to watch it. I’m sick of the whitewashing, the lies.
Elizabeth is great script not so much. Dominic is miscast.
I honestly wouldn’t recommend it to him. I found the episodes absolutely gripping, but there’s no way it wouldn’t be traumatic for him. We’re all watching it remembering exactly where we were and how we felt.
Well said, BettyRose. If my mom came to a miserable, violent end in a TV series, there is no way I could watch that and not feel it. That Telegraph article has no mention of how that must be hellish for Harry (or even, tbf, William). I’m glad Harry denied it in a way that doesn’t attack the makers or watchers of The Crown.
If the second story is true, that’s a good attitude. I can’t imagine what it would be like for my mother to be such an interest to the public that it would be healthy for me to recognize that culture producers have a right to telling my own mother’s story the way they see fit.
Y’all as someone who remembers popping a finished movie out of the combo tv/vcr and seeing the breaking news of Princess Diana’s death and waking up my roommate b/c I couldn’t wrap my head around it being real – *i* have zero desire to watch it.
And I didn’t know her and she wasn’t my mom.
I know the Brit “journalists” are racist, nasty, and deranged- but to even suggest that someone’s child will sit down and watch a dramatization of their mom’s death – is ghoulish.
That media disgusts me.
I feel really strongly about it.
Sure, we can consider the sources, but we should also consider what makes sense. Diana’s death and its aftermath was the great trauma in Harry’s life, he’s said so over and over. So, why would he sit back and watch hours and hours of it be recreated? And the same holds for William – he might be all righteous and offended on behalf of the monarchy, but Diana was still his mother and he suffered trauma, too.
He’s not going to watch these episodes because he was there and knows what happened. Why would he want to watch a dramatization of the most traumatic time in his life, a trauma he is still processing as we read in Spare?
That’s very different from watching the first season or two about his grandmother as a young queen. Even with knowing some things were dramatized, that’s just going to be not as serious for him as watching his mother’s death re-enacted. Who would want to watch that??
I forgot it came out today. I dont know if I’ll watch it. I never finished S5.
This is embarrassing. The British press is just mired in the Crown, Omid’s cold tea and Palace briefings when Harry and Meghan have moved on. They do no favours for the Royal Family who apparently want to be regarded as global statesmen and advocates. It’s what the Royal Family deserves but still for people who are supposed to be the Head of State of the UK it’s pathetic and sad.
As much as “Squad members” may scream, we have what the Sussexes released for print of not engaging with those gutter rags in the UK. As a SussexSquad supporter, I take them at their word.
If reviews are to be believed, I made the right call not to watch it. It just seems so exploitative at this point. Earlier seasons had historical value and relevance. I certainly don’t believe Harry would want to watch this season especially.
From what I read the part 2 of the season will be a lot worse
Can these people not let a day go by without having Harry or Meghan’s name coming out of their mouths? Every day they make up stories about people who don’t talk to them and they claim to be uninteresting, yet they drag them into stiff every. Single. Day.
I hope he doesn’t watch it, but I think it would be hard not too. I cried quite a few times watching episodes 3 and 4. Shifting to happier times, I hope the series ends with Bulliam’s reception, with the last shot being that of a slim, pretty brunette walking up to him and introducing herself as Rose. 😂
I’m pleased about this. I wouldn’t watch it if I were him, or indeed if I were William. It is fun, however, watching how it has riled Kate. There was a big article in the DM yesterday trying to make out their engagement was “worth the wait”, and covered all the events at university on. Lots of photos of the happy young couple. Talk about trying to put a positive spin on what was essentially stalking, and also desperately trying to get ahead of how these years could play out in this series.
Why the hell would Harry watch events leading up to the murder of his mother. He lived his life with her and wants to remember her as she was, unlike William who chose to portray and betray her my saying she was paranoid and had mental health issues!
Do I think Harry watched a couple of episodes from earlier seasons, yes, will he watch this no,
Did William watch earlier series yes, will he watch this series HELL YES!
his vanity will have him glued to the screen making sure they have used a MORE handsome than harries, actor to portray him, plus he wants to soak up the pictures of him with hair?!
Things soured when The Crown stopped being a commercial for the royal family (even if some bits in the earlier seasons still depicted them as really problematic people).
“Is expected to…” means that anyone can say anything about anyone — with no attributions and, unfortunately, few meaningful consequences. “It is believed…” “It is thought that…” and other unattributed passive voice comments like that should be banned from “journalism “. Hurumph
Blithe, my thoughts exactly. I don’t think that H&M are going to suddenly start having people “close to them” leak anything. They’ve made it clear that they will speak through a spokesperson. Whatever Harry chooses to do, he will do.
I’m watching now and teen William comes across as a skulking weirdo.
So he was cast right then🤷🏻♀️