Princess Diana's Friend Blasts "Sadistic" Netflix's The Crown

Princess Diana's friend Simone Simmons has described the royal drama The Crown crew as "cruel, sadistic and wicked people" who are "deliberately reviving the most painful time in the lives" of Prince Harry and Prince William. He told The Sun that "They are rewriting history as they go along and that's what makes me very angry."

Simmons' emotional statement was caused by the filming of scenes surrounding Princess Diana's tragic death in a car crash for the show's final Season 6. The Princess of Wales died in a terrible car accident in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris in August 1997 along with her then-partner, Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed and his driver Henri Paul.

Diana's friend's comments came after Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Diana in The Crown, shared how sensitively the crew handled their job. Speaking with EW, she said that "the amount of research and care and conversations and dialogue that happen over, from a viewer's perspective, something probably that you would never ever notice is just immense. From that very first meeting [with] Peter, I knew that I'd entered into this space where this was taken seriously [in] a deeply caring way."

Peter Morgan who is behind the production of series has said that the car crash itself when Diana's Mercedes-Benz collided with a Fiat at the entrance of the Paris tunnel will not be filmed. Still, Season 6 episode about the tragedy will reportedly show both the events that preceded and followed it – the car leaving The Ritz hotel and Prince Charles arriving in France to collect Diana's body.

A source within Netflix has told the Deadline in mid-October that the crew "have been dreading getting to this point… and that there's a certain anxiety; a palpable sense of being slightly on edge. I mean, there's bombshell sensitivity surrounding this one."

Both Princes have not made any official statements in connection with the filming of the episode. Neither has any of them endorsed or criticized their mother's friend's words. Previously Prince Harry shared his opinion of The Crown on The Late Night Show. He said that "they don't pretend to be news. It's fictional. But it's loosely based on the truth. Of course, it's not strictly accurate."

The Crown has already been criticized for mixing fact with fiction. Just last week renowned British actress Dame Judi Dench lambasted the "inaccurate and hurtful" show for its "sensationalism".

Season 5 of The Crown, which is the story of life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, will be released by Netflix on November 9, 2022.