Queen Elizabeth's Good Friend Has Harsh Words For The Crown

Since its release in 2016, the Netflix drama series "The Crown" has had mixed reviews: people who love watching the royal drama unfold and people who dismiss it as pure fantasy hurting the British royal family's reputation. Some royals have openly shared their opinions about the show and even between them, the reactions have been split (via Us Weekly).

"It gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that," Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, shared on The Late Late Show With James Corden back in 2021. "I'm way more comfortable with 'The Crown' than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife, or myself." 

While the Duke of Sussex is comfortable with the Netflix production — which stars Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West and his parents in Season 5 — a British royal and lifelong friend of the late Queen Elizabeth II doesn't feel the same way.

In a recent interview with BBC Woman's Hour, Anne Tennant, Lady Glenconner, opened up about her thoughts on "The Crown." The British socialite served as the maid of honor at the late queen's coronation and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret (via Barnes & Noble). Lady Glenconner said that Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret in the Netflix production, went to see her to learn more about the character she was portraying. "I saw Helena after she'd been in 'The Crown.' She said, 'what did you think?' And I said, 'Well, rather disappointing.' And she said, 'I know, but the thing is, I'm an actress and I have to do what's written for me,'" Lady Glenconner shared in the BBC interview (per People).

Lady Glenconner's criticism went beyond the Princess' portrayal to include the show at large. "I don't watch 'The Crown' now. It just makes me so angry . . . It's so unfair on members of the royal family," Lady Glenconner said. According to People, Lady Glenconner was particularly harsh on a moment in Season 2, when the show depicted the death of Prince Philip's sister. In the show, it appeared that the late duke encouraged his sister to board a dangerous flight, but as Lady Glenconner said, the portrayal was "completely untrue."