Will Her Majesty be watching the fourth series of The Crown this autumn? It seems that the makers of Netflix’s lavish royal drama The Crown can count one Very Important Person amongst their legions of fans: Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. There are, however, rumours that the good will felt from early episodes - and the depiction of the Queen as a young monarch - may have since dissipated.
According to The Daily Express, the monarch was reportedly persuaded to start watching the rumoured £100million show by her son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Essex, and has since watched all 10 episodes. Is this the ultimate seal of royal approval?
A royal source told the newspaper that ‘Edward and Sophie love The Crown.’
‘It has been a longstanding arrangement that they drive to Windsor [Castle] at the weekend to join the Queen for an informal supper while watching TV or a film. They have a Netflix account and urged her to watch it with them,’ the source added.
‘Happily, she really liked it, although obviously there were some depictions of events that she found too heavily dramatised.'
Despite this, recent reports have suggested that the Queen did not take to the third series as well. A new Sunday Times Magazine report acknowledged this, fearing that the same may be said for the fourth. 'If there were rumours of Elizabeth II being unhappy about the last series of The Crown, I can't imagine she'll be chuffed about this one.'
While the script is rooted in historical fact, showrunner Peter Morgan hasn’t shied away from tackling some of the more controversial episodes in royal history, such as Princess Margaret’s ill-fated love affair with divorcé Peter Townsend. Plus, some characters in the show have been entirely made up to fit the demands of the story, making our guide to what is fact and what is fiction in The Crown an indispensable one…
It seems that the Queen, Edward and Sophie are not the only member of the royal family to have watched the Netflix show. Her granddaughter Princess Eugenie admitted to having watched ‘a couple of episodes of The Crown.’
‘The music is wonderful, the story is beautiful. You feel very proud to watch it. I can’t speak for everyone but that’s how I felt when I watched it,’ she said.
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