Despite what you may have read, Prince Harry will apparently not be tuning into the final season of The Crown. Per Deadline Hollywood, the Duke of Sussex is sitting out this season of The Crown due to the “sensitive nature” of its subject matter, which follows the last days in the life of his mother, Princess Diana.
On Thursday, British newspaper The Telegraph reported that Prince Harry would be watching the final season of The Crown, with The Telegraph’s royal editor Victoria Ward adding that a friend of Harry’s may pre-watch The Crown to “save him any unnecessary trauma.” However, a source close to Harry told Deadline that, contrary to prior reports, the Duke of Sussex will not be tuning in for the final season of Peter Morgan’s Netflix series. A source confirmed Deadline’s report to Vanity Fair.
Prince Harry was just 12 years old when his mother and Dodi Fayed died in a fatal car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. The first half of the show’s sixth season follows the people’s princess in the last weeks of her life and features the spectral presence of Princess Diana—played by Elizabeth Debicki—having conversations with both Charles (Dominic West) and Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) from beyond the grave.
A source close to Harry told Vanity Fair that neither Harry nor his wife, Meghan Markle, were consulted on this season of The Crown, which features a young Prince Harry, played by Fflyn Edwards. Morgan previously told Variety that he did not read Harry’s memoir, Spare, while writing the season, and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has never discussed The Crown with Harry (who has a development deal with the streamer). While Harry is opting not to watch this season, Vanity Fair’s source says that he harbors no ill will towards Morgan or Netflix. (Prince Harry and Archewell Media declined to comment.)
The same apparently can’t be said for Harry’s older brother, Prince William. After it was reported that the final season of The Crown would include an apparition of Princess Diana, a source close to William, who was just 15 when Diana died, told The Daily Beast that the heir to the throne “won’t watch it,” but will be “totally sickened by it.”
“It’s incredibly hurtful to have his mother exploited over and over again in this tawdry fashion by Netflix,” the source added.
A source close to William and Harry’s father, King Charles III, and his wife, Queen Camilla, told The Daily Beast that the royal couple is reportedly unconcerned by ghost Diana’s appearance on The Crown. “They don’t really care,” said the source. “It’s pretty ridiculous at this stage anyway. I think the program has lost the credibility it had in the early years.”
Prince Harry has watched and enjoyed previous seasons of The Crown. In 2021, he told James Corden on The Late Late Show that he was “way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife, or myself,” and that the series “is obviously fiction.” More recently, Harry appeared on The Late Show and joked to host Stephen Colbert that he fact-checks episodes with a pen and paper while watching.
This article first appeared on Vanityfair.com
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