Prince William is predictably incandescent about Diana’s ‘ghost’ in ‘The Crown’

As we discussed earlier in the week, The Crown’s final season will feature a “ghost Diana” storyline. Season 6 will deal with both Princess Diana’s death and the aftermath of her death for the Windsors. Peter Morgan, the show runner/writer of the series has apparently written some scenes where Diana’s ghost makes appearances before then-Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II. It sounds cheesy more than anything else, but the royal commentators have tried to claim that Ghost Diana will be seen as deeply offensive to Diana’s sons. The way people were ranting about it, it made me want to defend Morgan’s narrative choice. As we’ve seen since Diana’s passing in 1997, it actually does seem like she’s haunting some of these people, and that the Windsors truly never recovered from “the Diana saga.” Well, Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast got “sources close to Prince William” to rage on his behalf about The Crown’s Ghost Diana.

This year, protests against The Crown and Harry are likely to be louder than ever after the show, which debuts its final season on November 17, kept a part for the ghost of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, whose death in a tragic Paris car crash was dramatized at the end of series five. According to reports circulating in the British media, a phantom Diana will be shown talking to both then-Prince Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth.

She reportedly tells Charles: “Thank you for how you were in hospital. So raw, broken—and handsome. I’ll take that with me.” In another scene, her ghost holds hands with Elizabeth, saying: “As long as anyone can remember, you’ve taught us what it means to be British. Maybe it’s time to show you’re ready to learn too.”

Understandably, the news hasn’t gone down too well in loyal royal circles. A friend of Prince William’s told The Daily Beast he would be “totally sickened” by the scenes while a friend of the queen’s, who apparently never watched The Crown, said: “Thank god she will never even hear about it.”

The friend of William’s said, “It’s incredibly hurtful to have his mother exploited over and over again in this tawdry fashion by Netflix. He won’t watch it, but he will be totally sickened by it.”

Asked whether William would be angry with his brother for continuing to work with Netflix, the friend said: “William is angry about a lot of things in connection with Harry. His decision to work with Netflix, who have ruthlessly exploited the family, is certainly one of them.”

Charles, William and Harry’s offices did not return requests for comment, however a friend of King Charles and Queen Camilla sought to play down any sense of irritation they might feel, saying that while he and Camilla have watched some of the series, they “don’t really care” what Netflix does. The friend added: “It’s pretty ridiculous at this stage anyway. I think the program has lost the credibility it had in the early years.”

Asked if it would increase antipathy towards Harry, who is still in a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix, the friend said, “They don’t like some of the stuff the BBC has made over the years but they wouldn’t take against everyone who has ever made a program for the BBC.”

The attempt to disentangle The Crown from Netflix and Harry is understandable, but one television executive told The Daily Beast that for Netflix, having Harry and Meghan as well-known faces of Netflix was indeed relevant to how The Crown is perceived. “Royal content is massive for them and they probably would have signed Harry and Meghan for the documentary anyway. But The Crown is one of their biggest shows and signing Harry and Meghan certainly had a halo effect on its credibility.”

A Netflix source defended the new scenes with Diana’s ghost to the Daily Telegraph, saying: “After her death, Diana appears as part of an inner dialogue in separate scenes with Prince Charles and the queen who are both reflecting on their relationship with the late Princess. These sensitive and thoughtful imagined conversations seek to bring to life the depth of emotion that was felt after such a seismic tragedy struck at the heart of the family.”

[From The Daily Beast]

From a narrative perspective, I understand why Morgan would write a scene between Charles and Diana’s ghost, because Charles is still clearly haunted by her memory and what she said and did during her life, and that sense was even stronger following her death. I don’t get putting Ghost Diana with QEII too, because clearly, that woman never gave a sh-t about Diana and QEII was fully prepared to ignore her even in death. As for William throwing yet another tantrum… give it a rest. “Netflix is exploiting us!” Dude, do you have the franchise on exploitation with your careful photo-ops with Black folks and your inherited feudal wealth? And Charles better not go on another campaign against The Crown – Morgan has helped his image so f–king much.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.The Crown & Avalon Red.