Though we love gorging on all the scandalous details that Netflix seemingly dishes on the royal family in The Crown, it’s safe to say that we’d feel differently having our own family drama relayed to the world.
And while personal lives being on display could be chalked up to just being part of the gig, it’s not surprising that Prince William would take issue with his family’s portrayal—particularly his parents.
As season four of the royal drama series premiered recently, we watched the unsettling cracks in Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ tumultuous relationship start to form, and neither party comes off particularly good, and according to The Daily Mail, Prince William agrees.
“The Duke of Cambridge is none too pleased with it,” a source told the outlet. “He feels that both his parents are being exploited and being presented in a false, simplistic way to make money.”
They added, “[The show is] dragging up things that happened during very difficult times, 25 or 30 years ago, without a thought for anyone’s feelings. That isn’t right or fair, particularly when so many of the things being depicted don’t represent the truth.”
And apparently, the family is not happy with Prince Harry for his latest business venture with the streaming service. The source revealed that there are some “raised eyebrows about Harry taking millions from the company that’s behind all this,” as it was recently revealed that he and Meghan Markle signed a lucrative deal with Netflix to produce content, reportedly in the neighbourhood $100 million USD.
Another source pointed out the irony of profits circling back to the Sussexes, “After all where do much of Netflix’s profits come from? The Crown,” they said.
With an additional source accusing the show of “trolling on a Hollywood budget,” saying “There is no sense of telling carefully nuanced stories—it’s all very two-dimensional… The public shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that this is an accurate portrayal of what really happened.”
Since season four’s release, the former royal couple have been urged to drop out of their deal for the way Harry’s late mother has been depicted—with the portrayal of her struggle with bulimia being a particular point of contention among viewers.
Read more about the controversial latest season here.
