(London) End of an era: “The Crown”, the successful Netflix series about the reign of Elizabeth II, ends with an event that has always been extremely sensitive for the British monarchy, the death of Princess Diana.
Published at 7:09 am. Updated at 8:32 a.m.
Germain MOYON Agence France-Presse
The sixth and final season of Peter Morgan’s multi-award-winning but often criticized series for its adaptation to historical reality will be released in two phases.
Four episodes were posted online on Thursday. On December 14, the last six programs will end the 60 hours broadcast since 2016, which have followed the late Queen from her marriage to Philip in 1947 to the arrival of Kate Middleton, the current Princess of Wales, at the beginning of the 2000s.
The sixth season tells of the last weeks of Princess Diana’s life after her divorce from the current King Charles III. and her death on August 31, 1997, the climax of the third episode. Pursued by paparazzi, the limousine carrying Lady Di crashed into a pillar in the Alma Tunnel in Paris, killing the 36-year-old princess and her new love, rich Egyptian heir Dodi Al-Fayed.
Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Diana, spoke during the premiere of what was at times an “incredibly painful and sad” shoot: “We had to be aware of the responsibility to tell this story as honestly as possible. That really allowed it to carry the weight that it represented.”
PHOTO MICHAEL TRAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Elisabeth Debicki
It took the royal family years to overcome the trauma caused by the disappearance of the one Tony Blair dubbed the “people’s princess”.
“It was such an important event in the life of the monarchy and the royal family, and people associated with Diana are still living, including her two now-grown sons, William and Harry,” notes Ed Owens, a historian specializing in the monarchy .
“This is the key moment that the series has been preparing for since the first season,” he assures AFP. “We always wonder whether Peter Morgan is a friend or foe of the monarchy, and this season will give us a better idea of what he thinks: is it an institution that has made big mistakes and still needs to be modernized, or is it an institution? Institution that has managed to modernize since 1997? “.
“Extremely sensitive”
In particular, the fourth episode of the final season recreates the speech that Elizabeth exceptionally gave live on television at Buckingham Palace on September 5, 1997, to pay tribute to the Princess and respond to the great excitement of the population.
“It was an incredibly powerful speech,” said Imelda Staunton, who plays Sovereign after Clair Foy and Olivia Colman in the last two seasons. “I spent a lot of time listening to the recordings of the actual speech because I needed to be as precise as possible on this extremely sensitive topic. »
Diana gained worldwide popularity by expressing her compassion for the most disadvantaged people, and her memory remains a shadow in the image of the new King Charles III. and the new Queen Camilla, who never managed to completely undo her reputation as an adulteress.
This final season was therefore eagerly awaited by members of the royal family. Initial revelations about Lady Di’s appearance as a ghost have already led to accusations of disrespect.
This is far from the first time The Crown has faced criticism from critics, especially as the series reaches out to young Netflix audiences who are sometimes discovering certain events for the first time.
Over the course of the seasons, the series has been accused of hinting at infidelity between the queen and her husband Philip, portraying the current king as a fickle husband, or even attributing Charles’ desire to see his mother abdicate in the 1990s.
Netflix decided last year to add a warning indicating that it was fiction. The platform has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the series, one of its biggest successes, whose overall ratings remain a secret.
“You don’t see something like this very often, but it was probably our most important bet,” assured co-CEO Ted Sarandos. “It’s a real source of pride. »