The Netflix historical drama, The Crown, has come under fire yet again, this time for portraying how Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed got together.
The first half of the final season of The Crown just dropped, and already the Netflix historical drama is coming under fire again, this time for taking liberties with how Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed’s relationship started. Created by Peter Morgan, the initial episodes of the final season of The Crown hint that Diana and Dodi’s relationship was coaxed along by Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi’s father, and an Egyptian business mogul who had aspirations of obtaining British citizenship.However, the idea that Al-Fayed had anything to do with Diana and Dodi’s relationship was refuted in 1997, and now Michael Cole, Al-Fayed’s former spokesperson, has spoken to Deadline to further refute the allegations.
“Netflix and the production company describe The Crown as ‘dramatized fiction’ and I am not going to disagree with that characterization. That means it is made up. Mohamed was a remarkable man in many ways. He was delighted that his eldest son and his family’s dear friend Diana were together. But making two people fall in love with each other? That was beyond even his great talents.”
While there is no question that Mohamed Al-Fayed invited Diana and her two sons, Princes William and Harry, aboard his yacht in 1997 before her death later that year, the events that followed remain a mystery, though Peter Morgan and The Crown portray Mohamed Al-Fayed as being the one to push Dodi toward Diana. In the first episode of season six of The Crown, Al-Fayed directs his son to pursue Diana, saying that he put the Princess “on a plate.” He also suggests that if Dodi and Diana were to get together, it would “finally make me proud of you.”
Debuting in November 2016, Netflix’s The Crown has consistently come under fire for its historical inaccuracies, especially from the British media, and royal biographers. Even Oscar-winning actress Dame Judy Dench criticized the series in a 2022 open letter to the Times, calling it, “cruel and unjust towards the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent,” in regard to The Crown airing its fifth season just two months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and failing to put a disclaimer at the beginning of the series.
Netflix would eventually cave, adding an affirmation to its website and the YouTube trailer for The Crown season five, stating that the series is a “fictional dramatization” that was “inspired by real events.”
Despite its controversies, The Crown remains one of the most successful Netflix originals, having been nominated for 19 Golden Globe Awards thus far, and winning seven. While only the first four episodes of the sixth and final season have been released, viewers can tune in to watch the remainder of the series on December 14th, when the remaining six episodes make their premiere. As for creator Peter Morgan, he’s already hinted at ideas for a prequel series to The Crown.
Watch the trailer for The Crown season six below:
