A close friend of Princess Diana has branded Netflix series The Crown ‘cruel, sadistic and wicked’ for its portrayal of the late royal’s life.
The new series of the popular drama, which depicts a fictionalised version of the royal family , is due to be released on the streaming platform on November 9. But Netflix has come under fire for plans in the upcoming episodes to recreate Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, in some of her final moments.
The Princess of Wales died alongside boyfriend Dodi Fayed while travelling in a limousine through a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997. And now Diana’s friend Simone Simmons has become the latest person to criticise The Crown for dramatising the events surrounding her death, The Mirror reports .
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Simmons, a psychic who ‘formed a unique bond’ with Diana when she was alive, told The Sun : “These are cruel, sadistic and wicked people to recreate these moments. They are the lowest of the low.”
She accused Netflix of “rewriting history as they go along”, branding show bosses “callous, insensitive people”. Simmons also spoke of the impact that the new series could have on the royal family themselves, including Princes William and Harry .
“Netflix are deliberately reviving the most painful time in the boys’ lives,” she said. “It’s forcing them to relive the pain, agony, and psychological torment they suffered when their mother died.”
Simmons is not the only person to have publicly criticised The Crown ahead of its new series. In a letter to The Times last week , acting icon Dame Judi Dench called for a disclaimer to be added to the show amid concerns that viewers would “take its version of history as being wholly true.”
The James Bond star wrote: “The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism.” She added that the events expected to be depicted in the new series as “cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.”
A spokeswoman for The Crown said: “The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events. Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”
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