‘The Crown’ slammed by Queen Elizabeth II’s press secretary

The Crown and its creator Peter Morgan being criticized by Queen Elizabeth II’s former press secretary for “not enough” drama, especially in the scenes related to Princess Diana’s death.

Dickie Arbiter, who served as Queen Elizabeth II's official during the time period portrayed in Season 6, called Peter Morgan, the showrunner of The Crown, a "dramatic licence gone bonkers."

Scenes where Prince Charles (Dominic West) informs Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, of her death drew special criticism from Arbiter.

In the last season, Elizabeth Debicki portrayed Diana.

“The sequence of Charles telling his sons of their mother’s death was so insensitive, it was so unnecessary,” he explained to Deadline.

“The death of their mother is still raw with both of them.”

He continued, “The scenes between Charles and his mother, in which he blurted out that she wanted Diana to come back in a Harrod’s van were absolute nonsense.”

“It just didn’t happen like that. Of course an aircraft was going to be made available [to bring her body home from France]. The Queen was the first one to agree to that.”

Scenes with Diana's funeral preparations were also refuted by Arbiter. 

He recalled that Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, had made the decision to hold a public ceremony under the auspices of Buckingham Palace, not the Queen.

“I was in charge and media arrangements for that week,” he said.

“Spencer thought that because Diana was a public figure, because she was very popular and people adored her, that it should be something handled by the royal family to make it a public event rather than a private family event.”

The Crown creators acknowledged earlier this year that they treated Diana's death with care, but they also acknowledged that viewers will judge them according to how it was handled.