John Major has hit out at Netflix’sThe Crown ahead of its depiction of him in season five.
The former Conservative prime minister, who was in office from 1990 to 1997, is being portrayed in the new season by Trainspotting star Jonny Lee Miller.
On Saturday (15 October), the politician’s spokesperson gave a statement, via The Telegraph, in which they dismissed rumoured plot lines as “nothing other than damaging and malicious fiction” and “a barrel-load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum – and entirely false – dramatic impact”.
Season five arrives on Netflix on 9 November, and will be set in the early 1990s. It will imagine conversations between Sir John and the Queen, the then Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
It has been speculated that Charles will be shown requesting the prime minister’s support for the Queen’s abdication.
It’s also been said there might be discussions between the former Tory leader and his wife Norma in which they speak about the royals in a disparaging way.
“Sir John has not cooperated – in any way – with The Crown. Nor has he ever been approached by them to fact-check any script material in this or any other series,” said the spokesperson.
“Discussions between the monarch and prime minister are entirely private and – for Sir John – will always remain so.”
The spokesperson added: “There was never any discussion between Sir John and the then Prince of Wales about any possible abdication of the late Queen Elizabeth II – nor was such an improbable and improper subject ever raised by the then Prince of Wales (or Sir John).”
A spokesperson for The Crown responded: “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.”
Season five of The Crown sees Imelda Staunton take over from Olivia Colman to play the Queen, while Dominic West plays Prince Charles and Elizabeth Debicki plays Princess Diana.
