Season 6 part 1 of Netflix’s The Crown premiered on November 16 with what many might take as having made major changes from real life. The hit series, developed by Peter Morgan, has followed Queen Elizabeth II and her royal family from the beginning of her reign until Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
The first episodes built momentum by centering on Diana’s (Elizabeth Debicki) life following her divorce from Prince Charles (Dominic West). It intensified through her brief romance with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla), and crescendoed by relaying the fateful day when both died in a horrific car accident in Paris in August 1997. Tension lingers as audiences see the relationship between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles after his divorce from Diana grow deeper, alongside his efforts to have her recognized by the Queen and British society.
After watching the season 6 part 1 finale, audiences might find themselves scratching their heads over the inaccuracies of Diana’s life. The Crown was never portrayed as 100% accurate, with season 6 now carrying a “fictionalized drama” disclaimer on its show credits, but the latest season looks to have stretched the gamut quite far. Here is a magnified look at some of those creative differences between fact and fiction.
10. Dodi Proposed to Diana
Season 6 of The Crown shows Dodi proposing to Diana at the Paris hotel where the couple were staying just before they died, fulfilling his father’s last request. Diana says she isn’t ready to commit to another marriage and turns down his proposal. Strange as it may seem, there is no hard proof that the idea ever materialized. Their private chat at the hotel is totally made up, but it’s with the intention of the show to give each of their stories closure. After all, what audience doesn’t like a happy ending to a horrific tragedy?
Both characters left The Crown on a positive note, having overcome adversity. Mohamed Al-Fayed actually believed they were engaged, and continued to see it that way in real life. Al-Fayed went so far as to say in court that the couple had contacted him to announce their marriage just before the accident. In actuality, there is no evidence that supports this claim.
9. Prince William goes missing
As far as we know, Prince William never flat-out disappeared. In the documentary Diana 7 Days, Prince William says that the Scottish scenery gave him “peace” during those “dark days of grief,” which may have been the inspiration for this exaggeration. Episode 4 shows Prince Charles alerting everyone that “Prince William is not in his room, and no one can find him.”
The royal family thinks that their son must be outside, when Prince Harry finds out that his brother’s coat is stolen. After that, Princess Anne, Prince Charles, and others do a large search of the area around Balmoral. 14 hours later, William comes back, unhurt. But did he really disappear?
The scene is confirmed to be debunked and a bit over the top; it wasn’t the tension-filled search party The Crown portrayed, but rather a very anti-climatic lonesome walk by a young man trying to make sense of the sudden death of his mother.
8. Mohamed Al-Fayed sent to take photos
In the second episode, Mohamed Al-Fayed plans to tell reporters where his son and Princess Diana are, which leads to that famous close-up picture of the two in a romantic pose. But did he really do it? The proof is hard to find. In response to the controversial paparazzi picture, Charles agrees to a photo shoot with his boys, from Arthur Edwards, so that he can look like the responsible parent instead of their “crazy mother.” It looks like the shots were planned out of spite, but it is most likely due to coincidence since Prince Charles agreed to take the photos in exchange to be left alone during his vacation with his sons.
7. Dodi struggled to impress Mohmaed Al-Fayed
The bond between Dodi Al-Fayed and his father in season 6 is also made up to make the story more dramatic and is overall pointless to the season’s story arc. In order to build up to Diana and Dodi’s deaths, the show adds a plot point where Dodi is trying to please Mohamed. The son who tries hard to win his father’s acceptance is a tired plot device in television (Succession comes to mind), but one of the reasons season 6 of The Crown got low scores between fans and critics alike was because it was too melodramatic.
6. Prince Charles made amends with Diana
At the very end of The Crown season 6 part 1, Charles and Diana have a brief conversation on co-parenting after their divorce. Despite their failed marriage, the two seem to be congenial and sincere in their ability to provide a loving home for their children, but nothing can be said to support this copacetic moment; it is completely fictional. Yet it’s still a heartbreaking farewell to the once-fairy tale pair, and the show revolves around these fantasies.
5. Duncan Muir is hired by Prince Charles
As aforementioned, Arthur Edwards was the photographer from the Sun newspaper who in real life took the photo of Prince Charles and the royal boys during their vacation, in order to juxtapose Prince Charles as the model family man. However, Duncan Muir is a fictional character who is a composite of monarchist-supporting Britons. The show does this to give a voice to the British and in return gets a pass from British viewers. Fictitious characters have become quite the norm on The Crown, like that of Winston Churchill’s secretary, Venetia Scott, from season 1. Usually they aren’t plot drivers, but rather used to elicit an emotional response from the audience.
4. Queen Elizabeth doesn’t support Diana’s royal treatment
Elizabeth and Philip have a brief conversation in which they argue that Diana should not be considered as a member of the royal family, and that Charles should be held responsible for Diana’s departure. In point of fact, after Diana’s passing, the Queen made it her mission to ensure that she was treated with royal respect. Nothing says drama like a family quarrel, but this point turns moot from no other than the Queen herself.
3. Diana talks to the Prime Minister about public service
Diana and Prince William go to Chequers to see the Blair family in the first episode of season 6. Later, the Prime Minister tells the Queen that Diana wants to keep working as a public servant. In truth, talking to QEII about Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, the former Prime Minister writes in his memoir A Journey about a “frosty exchange” that made him feel “uneasy.” There is no explanation as to why The Crown would tell such a trivial lie, only to perhaps expand Diana’s image with other famous characters.
2. Mohamed Al-Fayed visits crash site
When Al-Fayed heard that Dodi, Diana, and the driver of the Mercedes they were in, Henri Paul, had died, he went to Paris to bring his son’s body back home to be buried. The show reveals that he asks to be taken to the crash site, where he gets out of his car and gets very close to where they crashed. Although this would be a very emotional scene, the likelihood that Mohamed would be able to get close to a high profile accident is slim to none. It’s more probable that streets would be cut off and police patrolling the area.
1. Prince Charles tells Harry about Diana’s death
In his autobiography Spare, Prince Harry recounts the moment his father confided in him the news that his mother had passed away. According to Harry’s account, while on vacation in Scotland at Balmoral Castle, Prince Charles woke him, and only him, to inform him of what had happened.
“They tried, darling son,’” Charles remarked. “She didn’t make it, I’m afraid.” Harry goes on to reflect on that night: “My dad didn’t give me an embrace. In everyday life, he struggled to display his feelings. Still, he reassured me, ‘It’ll be OK,’ as his hand landed on my knee.”
Although subtle, this scene is portrayed differently in Episode 4 of The Crown. Charles and William, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, are seen in Prince Harry’s bedroom huddled together. Prince Charles awakes Harry to deliver the sad news, and pats him on the shoulder many times — a moment that comes across warmer, and more meditative, than the more isolated memory actually offered between father and son. Again, like the closure between Charles and Diana, the show fabricates tender moments between Charles and son to play up the heartstrings of the audience.