Royal historian joins growing calls for producers to add disclaimer before each episode of The Crown

A Royal historian has joined growing calls for the makers of Netflix series The Crown to add a disclaimer before the start of each episode, because viewers currently see the show as the ‘gospel truth’.

The show’s makers have been criticised over storylines that are set to feature in upcoming series, which airs on November 9. 

Last Friday, Netflix did partly bow to previous calls for a disclaimer to be displayed on the show by adding one to the new series’ trailer and the synopsis page on its website. The message emphasises that the series is a ‘fictional dramatisation’ that is ‘inspired by real-life events’.

But, speaking to MailOnline, historian Andrew Lownie joined growing calls for a disclaimer to also be added at the start of each episode.  

He said viewers treat it as ‘gospel truth’ when it is in fact fictional, and said it should be made clear it is the makers’ ‘own interpretation’. ‘There is no point having it on trailer and not on the programme,’ he added.

Mr Lownie, who has written books about the disgraced King Edward VIII and Lord Mountbatten and his wife, also said the makers of The Crown have ‘probably gone too far’ with the new series and its portrayal of the events surrounding the death of Princess Diana. 

Dame Judi Dench is among leading stars who have already called for viewers to be notified in each episode that what they are watching is fictional. In a recent letter to The Times she slammed the upcoming series for its ‘crude sensationalism’ and said the ‘time has come’ for a disclaimer. 

The streaming giant’s fifth season of the drama also features haunting scenes showing Princess Diana entering a limousine shortly before her death in a car crash in 1997. Netflix insists it will not recreate the crash.

It comes after Princess Diana’s close friend Simone Simmons slammed Netflix as ‘sadistic and wicked’ over its depiction of her final hours.

Ms Simmons told The Sun: ‘These are cruel, sadistic and wicked people to recreate these moments. They are the lowest of the low. They are rewriting history as they go along and that’s what makes me very angry.’

Royal historian Andrew Lownie has joined growing calls for the makers of Netflix series The Crown to add a disclaimer before the start of each episode, because viewers currently see the show as the ‘gospel truth’. Above: Dominic West as the then Prince Charles in the show

The show’s makers have been criticised over storylines that are set to feature in upcoming series, which airs on November 9

Mr Lownie said: ‘When we get to contemporary events and living people there needs to be more sensitivity.

‘It is pretty cruel actually. I don’t know if there is any way around that.

‘The series has come up to date and they are going to address things but I think they just need to emphasise more that this is their own fictionalised account rather than the truth.

Royal biographer Andrew Lownie

‘I do feel very sorry for the Royal Family, people do treat it as the gospel truth and it isn’t. In other cases people would be able to sue for defamation.

‘So I think it probably has gone too far. I as a biographer have to corroborate my stuff, I can’t just write anything I want or make it up.

‘It has changed attitudes to the monarchy. Some people say it has humanised them but it may also have undermined respect for them.’

The disclaimer added by Netflix to the trailer and programme page reads: ‘Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.’

No trailers for previous series of The Crown on Netflix’s YouTube channel have carried such a disclaimer.

The Crown’s Twitter account also appears to have been updated, with a message reminding people it is ‘fictional’.  

The trailer, featuring Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, shows the late princess sitting down for her infamous 1995 Panorama interview with disgraced ex-BBC journalist Martin Bashir as her voiceover says: ‘I won’t go quietly.’

Mr Lownie added that the disclaimer should feature in each episode. ‘They have to have something. That is when people will watch it. They should make clear it is their own interpretation of events,’ he said. 

‘There is no point having it on trailer and not on the programme. You either do it consistently or you don’t do it at all.’

Elizabeth Debicki wears sunglasses and looks the image of Diana as she sits in the back of a car with Khalid Abdalla, 40, who plays Dodi Fayed, who the princess was travelling with when the car crashed in Paris

Ms Debicki wore a seatbelt in the back of the car as she filmed – which may be a sign the crew were not filming the exact car journey taken by the princess and Dodi in their final moments. It has been found neither wore seatbelts in the 1997 crash

Prasanna Puwanarajah plays Martin Bashir in Netflix’s recreation of the journalist’s infamous interview with Diana in 1995

‘I never stood a chance’: The new trailer shows Diana in a skin-baring swimsuit as she floats in the water

Trailer shows Ms Debicki as Diana screeching to a halt in car chase scene in a red puffer jacket – reminiscent of one the princess wore skiing in Austria in 1994, right

His comments come after Dame Judy had said in her letter to The Times: ‘No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged.

‘The programme makers have resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start of each episode. 

‘The time has come for Netflix to reconsider – for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve their own reputation in the eyes of their British subscribers.’

Diana’s friend Ms Simmons also slammed the flagship show as ‘disgusting and sick’ in her criticism, and questioned if they were ‘setting out’ to hurt the feelings of Princes William and Harry. 

‘It’s forcing them to relive the pain, agony, and psychological torment they suffered when their mother died,’ she said.

The Prince of Wales may be angered at scenes recreating his mother’s infamous 1995 interview with Martin Bashir, which was last year deemed to have been obtained unlawfully after the journalist falsified invoices to gain the princess’s trust.

William, 40, later issued a public statement saying the interview had been a ‘major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse’ and said it should never be aired again.

The Crown has been a huge hit for Netflix and it now spends around £11.5million per episode.

Two years ago, the then-culture secretary Oliver Dowden asked the streaming giant for a ‘health warning’ on episodes so viewers would know scenes were fictionalised, but Netflix refused. It defended the show this week as ‘fictional dramatisation’.

In the fifth series, Barcelona was used for filming as a stand-in for Paris, where Diana died with her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed.  

Elizabeth Debicki, who plays the princess, and Khalid Abdalla, who plays Al-Fayed, were spotted filming scenes in Francesc Macia Square in the centre of the Spanish city.

It comes as one of the late Queen’s closest friends claimed that the latest season of The Crown, ‘would have destroyed her’ because of how ‘vicious’ the dramatised plotlines are. 

The unnamed source told The Sunday Times she’s ‘horrified’ by the vicious untruths set to be presented as fact when the season airs on November 9. 

‘I’m horrified by what is going on with Netflix and how they are vilifying the Royal Family. It is vicious. It’s as if they’re trying to destroy the Royal Family,’ the source said.

‘It would have destroyed her.’ 

The source has joined calls for Netflix to include a disclaimer stating the show is fiction ahead of every episode.

This season will cover events from 1990 to 1997 – a famously tumultuous period of royal history.

A spokesman for Netflix said the show has always been a fictional dramatisation of the Royal Family’s inner workings.

‘Series five is… imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.’

Among the most controversial scenes are reenactments of Diana’s funeral and the fire which tore through Windsor Castle in 1992. Pictured: Ms Debicki as the Princess of Wales

The family pictured at Diana’s 1997 funeral. Netflix’s scene depicting a grief-stricken William and Harry – then aged 15 and 12 – was filmed in secrecy at a disused RAF base and is due to be broadcast in series six next year

A teaser trailer from the new season revealed the show will chronicle the early days of King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla’s relationship.

The series will showcase the couple – played by Dominic West and Olivia Williams – sharing intimate moments while they were married to other people.

One impending storyline which has the potential to cause the most angst for the royal family is the dramatisation of Diana’s death and funeral.

Amid mounting outrage over the show’s disregard for historical truth, the macabre scenes are set to depict a grief-stricken William and Prince Harry – then aged 15 and 12.

To the further horror of Diana’s family and friends, The Crown’s production team will be in Paris next week to recreate her final hours for next year’s sixth season, The Mail on Sunday revealed.

They will portray her time spent in the French capital with her boyfriend Al-Fayed. While it is understood that the crash that killed them won’t be recreated but scenes of them leaving the Ritz hotel together will be. 

Imelda Staunton and Jonathon Pryce, who play the Queen and Prince Philip in the new series of The Crown, received honours from Prince William and Elizabeth II

An unnamed close friend of the late Queen has told The Sunday Times she’s ‘horrified’ by the vicious untruths set to be presented as fact when the season airs on November 9

William Shawcross, the Queen Mother’s official biographer, recently branded the series as ‘vile’.

‘Nothing is sacred to [the writer of The Crown] Peter Morgan,’ he said. 

‘He has made his republican sentiments and his contempt for our late Queen very clear.

‘This is a vile series which lies to the public and has been incredibly hurtful to the Royal Family from the Queen and our new King down. Unlike any other family, they cannot sue.’

It is unlikely that Morgan and his colleagues on The Crown will have failed to understand the sensitivities around recreating the day William and Harry had to say goodbye to their beloved mother, who died aged 36.

Both princes have spoken publicly of their anguish at having to follow the coffin for its final mile along the Mall, through Horse Guards Parade, along Whitehall to Parliament Square and on to Westminster Abbey.

The Duke of Sussex has been notably outspoken, telling biographer Angela Levin: ‘My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.

‘I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today. No child should lose their mother at such a young age and then have his grief observed by thousands of people.’

Another storyline with show King Charles’s relationship with the Queen Consort. The couple are played by Dominic West and Olivia Williams