According to royal biographers, Prince Philip was “very upset” by “shockingly malicious” scenes about him from the TV series “The Crown”.
Philip, who died Friday at the age of 99, was upset to hear how the royal show portrayed him as a serial spinner who also once threatened his daughter-in-law, Princess Diana, royal experts said in the mail on Sunday.
The “most egregious” scene, however, was the one in which his father was shown guilty in anger of his sister’s death in a plane crash, he told biographer Sally Bedell Smith in the British newspaper.
The episode suggested that Philip was supposed to go to Germany to visit his sister, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, in 1937, but was banned after having problems at school.
Her sister decided to fly to the UK to see him, but her plane crashed and killed her, her husband, her two children and an unborn baby, as well as her mother-in-law. the episode report.
The show portrayed Philip’s father, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, confronting his son at the funeral, saying, “You’re the reason we’re all here, burying my favorite son.”
Bedell Smith, who published a biography of the queen, sold it, saying Philip “had nothing to do with his sister’s death,” which never caused a breakup with his father.
“Cecilie died in a plane crash … that’s the only thing that was true,” he told the British newspaper. “Everything else was invented in a surprisingly malicious way.”
Although Philip and Queen Elizabeth II refused to watch the controversial program, the Duke of Edinburgh was informed of the plot, which “disturbed him terribly,” Bedell Smith said.
Netflix “should apologize emphatically,” the biographer said.
“And I think an exemption from liability is needed more than ever,” he insisted on previous calls for the show to warn viewers that it was a drama rather than a historically accurate narrative.
“Now that he’s no longer there, what they’ve done to his reputation is an even stronger relief,” he said.
Another royal biographer, Hugo Vickers, also insisted that Philip had been “very upset” by the show.
“How embarrassing it was to turn Prince Philip into a cartoon person, never doing any work on the series,” he told the British newspaper.
“The performance was cruel and deeply unfair. The least Netflix could do was alert viewers to a disclaimer. “
Producers of “The Crown” said Friday they were “deeply saddened” by the news of Philip’s death, saying, “Our thoughts are with the royal family at this sad time.”
Actors Matt Smith and Tobias Menzies, who played Philip, too published tributes to the late prince.
However, Netflix and the show’s creator, Peter Morgan, did not respond when asked if they would apologize for Philip’s performance, the Mail said on Sunday.