The Crown has been accused of embellishing details about how Mohamed Al-Fayed played matchmaker to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.
During the first part of season 6 — which started streaming on Thursday, November 16 — Diana’s romance with Dodi took center stage. The Crown’s writers seemingly implied in the first few episodes that Mohamed introduced his son to Diana in an attempt to obtain British citizenship.
Mohamed’s former spokesperson Michael Cole released a statement denying the implication.
“Netflix and the production company describe The Crown as ‘dramatized fiction’ and I am not going to disagree with that characterization. That means it is made up,” Michael told Deadline on Thursday after previously denying similar allegations on Mohamed’s behalf in 1997. (Mohamed died in August at age 94.)
Michael called the assumptions about Mohamed’s involvement with the couple “total nonsense,” adding, “Mohamed was a remarkable man in many ways. He was delighted that his eldest son and his family’s dear friend Diana were together. But making two people fall in love with each other? That was beyond even his great talents.”
The Crown, which debuted on Netflix in 2016, is an anthology series based on the British royal family. Multiple actors have played royals such as Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, King Charles III and Princess Diana. The second half of season 6 — which will drop next month — will cover the beginning of Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton’s’s love story in college and Prince Harry‘s tumultuous time living in the public eye.
Before taking on their respective roles within the royal family, William, 41, and Harry, 39, mourned Diana’s death as adolescents. In August 1997, Diana and Dodi died following a fatal car accident in Paris. At the time, William was 15 and Harry was 12.
Executive producers Andy Harries and Suzanne Mackie previously confirmed they had no plans to feature Diana’s car crash on screen.
“The show might be big and noisy, but we’re not. We’re thoughtful people, and we’re sensitive people. There were very careful, long conversations about how we were going to do it,” the pair said at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August.
The producers also praised Elizabeth Debicki for her performance as the late Princess of Wales, adding, “The audience will judge it in the end, but I think it’s been delicately, thoughtfully recreated. [Elizabeth] was so thoughtful and considerate. She loved Diana. There’s a huge amount of respect from us all, I hope that’s evident.”
Part 1 of The Crown season 6 is now streaming on Netflix.
