Netflix in fresh The Crown row as close friend of Princess Diana hits out at series

A close friend of Princess Diana has slammed Netflix as ‘sadistic and wicked’ over its depiction of her final hours in the latest series of The Crown.

Simone Simmons, a friend of the late princess, was highly critical of the show’s decision to recreate the moments before Diana’s untimely death in a Paris car crash in 1997. The streaming giant’s fifth season of the programme airs on November 9.

It features haunting scenes showing the former Princess of Wales enter a limousine shortly before the fateful accident. Netflix insists it will not recreate the crash in the new series.

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.’

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

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Ms Simmons went on to slam the flagship show as ‘disgusting and sick’ and questioned if they were ‘setting out’ to hurt the feelings of Prince William and Prince Harry. 

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

It is anticipated 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 Bashir falsified invoices to gain the princess’s trust.

Prince 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.

In a recent letter to the Times, actress Dame Judi Dench described the upcoming series of The Crown as ‘crude sensationalism’ and ‘cruelly unjust’ to the Royal Family and suggested it should feature a disclaimer at the start of each episode.

She wrote: ‘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.’

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 Netflix 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 by the production as a stand-in for Paris, where Diana died along with her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed. 

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

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

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

The latest season of the crown ‘would have destroyed the Queen’ because of how ‘vicious’ the dramatised plotlines are, one of her close friends has revealed

‘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 close friend 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 Princess Diana’s funeral and the fire which tore through Windsor Castle in 1992 

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

Amid mounting outrage over the show’s disregard for historical truth, the macabre scenes 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, The Mail on Sunday revealed.

They will shoot scenes of Diana’s final days, spent in the French capital with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. While it is understood that the crash in which they died won’t be recreated, 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 the Queen

Last night those close to the Royal Family lambasted the Netflix series as ‘crude, cruel and totally insensitive, particularly in light of the Queen’s recent death’.

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, said: ‘Nothing is sacred to [the writer of The Crown] Peter Morgan. 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 most 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’ relationship with the Queen Consort (played by Olivia Williams)