Opinions of The Crown

There already a long thread on this. Check it out.

There’s already a thread running about this. I really enjoyed it too. I’m sure the writers have had to dramatise in some areas, to make good tv, but there are parts which are quite obviously true, because we all saw it. Charles clearly didn’t love Diana, as made evident in their engagement interview, for the world to see. I also watched a Netflix program about two years ago, covering the taped interviews Diana had. It was clearly her voice. Many of the scenes in ‘ The Crown’, jogged my memory to those tapes. Very sad family. I loved the Michael Fagin scenes. It showed just how people living at extremes can be equally unhappy. Looking forward to the next series.

The Crown is a drama, based on events but not factually accurate. The incident with Michael Fagan was fictionalised and exaggerated,(there are many interviews with him) but unfortunately gullible people believe so much of it to be true.

The extracts from the Panorama interview present a much clearer picture of the Princess of Wales.

Be interesting to hear the outcome of Earl Spencer v the BBC

I don’t think that was very kind eazybee. None of us can be 100% sure of anything we see or hear in the media/ on TV. How do you know, for sure, the Michael Fagin interviews were genuine. Prince William has also questioned the authenticity of the Panorama interview, but don’t know what the outcome was. Only by being there, would we truly know.

All we know is Martin Bashir had fake bank statements made and showed them to Earl Spencer who then intoduced Bashir to Diana to give the interview.

The recent Michael Fagan interviews were reported in the Radio Times and the Telegraph, and other papers, with the name of the reporters given. The incident concerned Michael Fagan; his account differs from that presented in '^The Crown^' , and there are also the police reports of his arrest and witness statements from members of the royal household to verify his account.

The Panorama interview is completely different; it is an actual recording of an actual interview, given by the Princess of Wales of her own volition., not a dramatised reconstruction. Nobody is rewriting her words or altering the circumstances. Prince William is not questioning the authenticity of the interview, he is questioning the means used to obtain it.

I enjoyed the Crown but much of it is fiction as we can't possibly know what was said and done even around factual events.

I agree AGAA4, my DH will not watch because he reckons it's inaccurate. I accept it is mainly fiction

I accept it is a drama, not a documentary and I enjoy it, and don't consider myself gullible. As for Earl Spencer, he is a parasite, living off the memory of his sister, the sister who he refused to help when she needed it most.

I love it but acknowledge that it is a drama. Still, a lot of truth in the episodes. We lived through it all and can remember it all unfolding.

Listening to Chatting with Lady C on YouTube, and Lady Colin Campbell maintains that it was actually Tiggy Legge Bourke Diana was talking about in the Martin Bashir interview, not Camilla. Diana did say there were three of them in the marriage in response to a direct question about Camilla, but it could have been edited.

Diana said Tiggy had an abortion ,

Diana lost the court case Twiggy took out against her.

Always felt she was badly treated by Charles until I listened to a couple of programmes a while ago. Apparently both Charles and Diana had serious doubts but it was too close to the wedding to pull out. Diana’s sister told her she couldn’t back out as the t-towels were already printed, and Charles was told virtually the same. Both were forced into a marriage neither really wanted by the institution. No wonder it was doomed to failure.

After the Panorama interview and Charles’s interview the Queen finally realised they should be allowed to divorce.

I wouldn't believe a word that that 'Lady C' uttered! Dreadful creature. Married to a lord for 2 minutes years ago buy hanging on to a title for grim death and trying to cash in on it.

Diana said Charles had affair with Tiggy, not true , but she did
say it at a Christmas party in the presence of many.

Jane10

I wouldn't believe a word that that 'Lady C' uttered! Dreadful creature. Married to a lord for 2 minutes years ago buy hanging on to a title for grim death and trying to cash in on it.

But didn’t she write about Diana’s eating disorder and her affair with James Hewitt before anybody else? And wasn’t Tiggy mentioned in the letter where Diana wrote that Charles was planning an accident with the brakes of her car? As far as that’s concerned I do agree with Lady C that there would be much easier ways of ‘bumping Diana off’ if they wanted to! I think she suggested frogmen dragging her down under the sea when she was swimming off Fayed’s yacht!

Lady C does have insight

But that apart, anyone believing The Crown needs their bumps feeling

Even Andrew Marr's getting in on the act with harsh criticism

Sadly though, people believe anything they want to. And if it fits their agenda, that's good enough for them

Lady C is a thoroughly unpleasant individual imo. She is interested in making money by putting her own malicious spin on the stories she spins.

I'm with GillT7 in enjoying the drama. The Crown has a good cast, great shots of our beautiful country, its country houses, horses, labradors and spaniels. Alongside that is the backdrop of the history of our country.
I agree about Earl Spencer, he's traded on the tragedy of his sister's life and death. The speech he made at her funeral was distasteful to say the least. I've read he refused to have her stay when she asked him for help.

I agree about that speech but I can understand why he refused
to give her a house on the estate, he had young children and
didn’t want the cameras around . She asked for a house on the
estate not to stay in the big house, he has refused any filming at Althorp for the crown, that would have given him a fat cheque

I didn't enjoy this series as much as earlier ones. It seemed too much like a race through the gossip columns with very little time for character development, so never warmed to the C & D figures at all this time round.

Perhaps I was just too fixated on Mrs Thatcher. What were the scriptwriters trying to say? I did read a review comparing Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Mrs T and her head position to the movements of an elderly tortoise! She looked like she had permanent wry-neck, or she was hard of hearing, and had some sort of speech impediment. Less was made of her peculiar walk but I still felt she came across as a caricature. I know that the actual Mrs T decided to lower her voice to try to give herself more authority and gravitas....it used to irritate me beyond everything. However, I remain unconvinced that anyone needs to speak that s l o w l y. It just didn't ring true - like a lot of the plot this time around.

Grandmafrench, I agree with you about Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Mrs Thatcher. I was not a fan of Mrs T and found the residual anger rising during the filming showing the devastation her policies caused. She had physical and personal presence though. GA is an excellent actor but physically to thin and short frankly. Add to that her cringing neck on on side, odd gait and overly stated breathy speech patterns - dreadful.
I still enjoyed the Crown and feel the rest of the cast were good. Charles Dance as Mountbatten, Helena Bonham Carter channelling Princess M, the rest of the RF and especially the labs and corgi/corgi x dachshunds, beautiful horses and countryside.

As a piece of entertainment I enjoyed it. But some of it made me cross as it was so fictionalised and inaccurate.

I would bet there was more truth in this than anyone would care to admit. Whatever our opinions, it’s been clear, well to me anyway, that the RF is fraught with problems, and has been for years. You may say all families have difficulties, and theirs is probably no different, but they are supposed to be exemplary, ie, lead by example. The rest of us, thank goodness, are not in the limelight.