Did the royal family watch ‘The Crown’? Here’s everything we know

Netflix’s greatly popular royal production The Crown reignited the general public’s fascination with the British royal family upon its release in 2016.

With the show’s immaculate attention to detail, pertaining to lookalike casting and grand costume recreation, it was quickly able to capture the world’s imagination in regards to its subject.

However, it was the implication of imagination which may have unsettled those who were depicted in the series.

While most of the royal family has never directly addressed their portrayal in the series, nor the very facts of it or anything else, some have offered their thoughts, whereas others have been voiced by their sources and close ones.

Following is an extensive guide to the most important members of the Firm and what they thought about the historical drama which has since concluded:

Queen Elizabeth

A prominent presence throughout The Crown’s six season run, Queen Elizabeth was portrayed by three actresses on the Netflix show; Claire Foy in seasons one and two, Olivia Colman in three and four, while Imelda Staunton took over as the Queen for the final stretch of the drama, in seasons five and six.

Naturally, many have wondered what the most important member of the real royal family, as well as the show, had to say about it.

While Elizabeth II passed away in 2022, the series had released its four seasons by then, and it was discovered that the late monarch did in fact like viewing the series, especially on Sundays.

Prominent royal commentator George Jobson revealed during the live broadcast of her majesty’s funeral service on ABC that she liked to tune in to the show come Sunday, and was in particular, a fan of the earlier seasons, where she saw herself come to life on screen by Claire Foy.

While a senior royal source reported to The Daily Express in 2019, “Happily, she really liked it, although obviously there were some depictions of events that she found too heavily dramatised.”

The storyline pointed out by the insider was the one where her late husband, Prince Philip, was depicted as an insensitive father in the show’s second season.

Philip, played by Matt Smith in the first two seasons, was shown as having “no sympathy” in one of the sequences which upset the Queen.

“She was particularly annoyed at a scene in which Philip has no sympathy for a plainly upset Charles while he is flying him home from Scotland,” the source said, while further adding, “That simply did not happen.”

Though there are some contrary accounts of the late Queen’s inclination towards the show.

Her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, told Vanity Fair, “The queen’s view was, ‘Why on earth would I watch a fictitious drama about my own life?’”.

However, Vanessa Kirby, who played the Queen’s younger sister, Princess Margaret in the first two seasons of the show, shared a different version with Harper’s Bazaar.

She revealed that one of her friends became privy to a conversation about the show at a party, where the Queen’s granddaughter Princess Eugenie was heard saying, “Well, my granny watches it and really likes it.”

Notably, the Princess of York’s maternal grandmother has been dead since 1998 and her only living grandmother at the time was Queen Elizabeth.

King Charles

Known as Charles, Prince of Wales, for the better part of the show’s run, King Charles ascended the throne just before the last season aired.

Portrayed in his childhood and a minor supporting character in the first two seasons, Charles’ character on the show really took off when Josh O’Connor was cast as him during his youth, for seasons three and four.

In five and six onwards, he was played by English actor Dominic West.

The King’s troubled marital life with Princess Diana, his first wife, and his storied affair, before and after his marriage, with Queen Camilla, made up a chunk of his depiction on the show.

While his turbulent relationship with each of his parents, owing to various reasons, and those between himself and his younger siblings, and many other scandals, also took up considerable space whenever his character popped on screen.

Whether the reigning monarch derided all of it or not, he made clear with a simple remark about the show’s production at an event in Scotland.

The Scottish Labour Party’s leader, Anas Sarwar, shared with The Mirror that the King sauntered over to “a group of MSPs all standing”, and following introductions, told them, “I’m nowhere near how they portray me on Netflix.”

Sarwar added, “I thought that was a really interesting way of how you describe yourself.”

Moreover, as the season which saw the complete breakdown of his marriage to Diana aired in November 2022, shortly after him inheriting the throne, the timing of the release and the way he was depicted in the show at the time particularly unsettled the King.

Royal expert Katie Nicholl shared his predicament with Entertainment Weekly, informing them, “In the case of ‘The Crown’, the concern, certainly by the King, is that the younger generation, the Netflix generation, may well tune into the series and not be able to distinguish fact from fiction and perhaps may base their opinion of Charles based on his past and what they’ve seen represented in ‘The Crown’.”

The most intriguing part of his majesty’s thoughts about the show was discovered when the last actor to play him in it, Dominic West, reported receiving a letter from the King’s private secretary when he was considering stepping down as an ambassador of Charles’ royal trust due to his role in the series.

He outlined the communication as, “You do what you like, you’re an actor. It’s nothing to do with us.”

Prince Philip

By all accounts, Queen Elizabeth’s husband until his death, Prince Philip was one of the most upset royals about The Crown, not the least bit of which likely had to do with how the show portrayed him.

Played by Matt Smith in the first two seasons, then Tobias Menzies in the third and fourth, and finally, Jonathan Pryce in the last two seasons, the often thought of as a charismatic royal was depicted as an unfaithful and insecure husband during most of his screentime, while the character was significantly sidelined as the show went on and other, more central characters emerged.

Apparently, while the Duke of Edinburgh did check out the series, he reportedly despised it and discouraged others from doing so.

The first account of the late Duke’s thoughts about the series came from the man who brought him to life on screen in the first season.

Matt Smith revealed in an interview with The Observer that a friend of his happened to catch up with Philip at a private dinner hosted by the Queen.

At the time, the 96-year-old Prince referred to the hit series as “this ‘Crown’ thing” and asked him if he was involved in the show.

After responding in the negative, Smith’s friend further inquired, “Philip, I’m just wondering, because I have some friends who made ‘The Crown’, have you watched any?”

To which, the Queen’s husband sternly replied with, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

In a more serious matter, the Prince even considered suing Netflix and the show’s makers, owing to a particular storyline where he was shown to have been implicated in his sister’s death via plane crash.

The Sunday Times quoted royal expert Hugo Vickers as saying, “I know Prince Philip consulted his lawyer about it, to ask ‘What can I do about it?’”

The expert also added, “He was very upset about the way that was portrayed. He was human. He could be hurt like anybody else.”

Prince William

William, Prince of Wales, is also in the royal camp which was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing.

While he was depicted as a secondary character for much of the show, with his parents’ relationship taking the forefront, he gained prominence in the final season, where he was depicted during his university years and was played by Ed McVey as a young adult.

Reportedly, the Prince of Wales did not tune in at all, with sources revealing that he found his late mother’s portrayal on the show to be “incredibly hurtful”.

A friend of the future king told the Daily Beast, “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.”

Furthermore, one of the reasons William holds his younger brother, Prince Harry, in even more contempt now, is because he signed a deal with Netflix, the company responsible for the show.

“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,” the friendly source added.

While the show’s second Queen Elizabeth, Olivia Colman, detailed her awkward meeting with King Charles’ eldest son in regards to his thoughts about her show.

She revealed on a 2019 episode of The Graham Norton Show that she met the Prince at a dinner, “and he asked what I was doing at the moment before he quickly added, ‘Actually, I know what you’re doing.’”

The Oscar winning actress recalled being very “excited”, as she asked him, “Have you watched it?”

“His answer was a firm, ‘No.’ But he was very charming and very lovely,” she concluded her account.

Prince Harry

The one royal to have directly addressed and categorically hailed the series remains Prince Harry, whose separation from the royal family perhaps afforded him the freedom to do so.

Played in his youth by Luther Ford in season six of The Crown, the youngest of King Charles’ two sons was always included as a supporting character in the Netflix hit.

During his and Meghan Markle’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple jointly stated that they have in fact watched the series.

“I’ve watched some of it,” is what both of them stated at the time.

Moreover, the Duke of Sussex also mentioned what he thought about the show in a previous interview with James Corden.

“They don’t pretend to be news. It’s fiction. But it’s loosely based on the truth,” he said on The Late Late Show With James Corden.

While he explained that the show provided “a rough idea” about the royal life and “the pressures of putting duty and service above family”, he also admitted that the show’s depiction of his family was more comforting for him than some of the news about them that gets published.

“I’m way more comfortable with ‘The Crown’ than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife, or myself,” he noted.

Elsewhere, in a separate conversation on Stephen Colbert’s show, Harry also revealed that he used to fact check the show himself.

“Yes, I do actually. Which, by the way, is another reason why it’s so important that history has it right,” he responded to the host’s query about his fact checking The Crown.