Season 4 of Netflix’s vaunted series “The Crown” hit the streaming service on Friday, immediately garnering positive reviews from critics and viewers alike.
As of Nov. 17, the new season holds an impressive 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and an equally commendable audience score of 95%.
The site’s complimentary one-sentence review reads:
Whatever historical liberties The Crown takes in its fourth season are easily forgiven thanks to the sheer power of its performances - particularly Gillian Anderson’s imposing take on The Iron Lady and newcomer Emma Corrin’s embodiment of a young Princess Diana.
While fans of the series are clearly enjoying the show’s accounts of the royal family’s affairs in the 1980’s, several members of the real royal family have allegedly expressed contempt for the new season, IndieWire reports.
What they’re saying
While no official quotes have come from members of the royal family itself, intermediaries have sent a message loud and clear:
- According to CinemaBlend, sources close to Prince Charles spoke to the British news outlet The Mail to accuse the show of “dragging up things that happened during very difficult times 25 or 30 years ago without a thought for anyone’s feelings.”
- The same confidant stated it “isn’t right or fair, particularly when so many of the things being depicted don’t represent the truth ... (The show) is trolling with a Hollywood budget.”
- One friend close to Prince William stated the prince is upset that “his parents are being exploited and presented in a false, simplistic way to make money,” Cosmopolitan reports.
- According to the site, the friend added, “There is no sense of telling carefully nuanced stories — it’s all very two-dimensional. ... The public shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is an accurate portrayal of what really happened.”
- A source told Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl, “The Queen has no desire to watch herself in a fictitious TV program ... (and Princess) Anne has no time for such nonsense,” via Cosmopolitan. The same source confirmed that both Camilla and Charles have indulged in previous seasons of the series.
- According to IndieWire, Penny Juror — a royal biographer — told The Times that the show’s depiction of Lord Mountbatten is “the most cruel and unfair and horrible portrayal of almost all of them.” The biographer claims the show has “invented stuff to make expensive and very rich drama.”
Context:
For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to watch the new episodes, season 4 of “The Crown” addresses Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ relationship and doesn’t exactly paint the royals in a positive light, Cosmopolitan reports. According to the site, a less than pleased reaction from the royal family was somewhat expected.