Screenwriter and journalist Jemima Khan has revealed she stopped working on the behind-the-scenes team of The Crown over concerns about its depiction of Princess Diana.
Jemima – who knew Princess Diana personally – was invited by the Netflix drama’s creator Peter Morgan to help pen its forthcoming fifth season, which will depict the late Princess of Wales’ final years.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, she noted that it was “really important to me that the final years of my friend’s life be portrayed accurately and with compassion, as has not always happened in the past”.
She explained: “In 2019, Peter Morgan asked me to co-write on the fifth series of The Crown, particularly those episodes which concerned Princess Diana’s last years before she died.
“After a great deal of thought, having never spoken publicly about any of this before, I decided to contribute.”
However, after working on The Crown for around five months, Jemima noted that she eventually “realised that particular storyline would not necessarily be told as respectfully or compassionately as I had hoped” and bowed out.
“[I] requested that all my contributions be removed from the series and I declined a credit,” she added.
A spokesperson for The Crown said (via the Standard): “Jemima Khan has been a friend, fan and a vocal public supporter of The Crown since season one.
“She has been part of a wide network of well-informed and varied sources who have provided extensive background information to our writers and research team — providing context for the drama that is The Crown. She has never been contracted as a writer on the series.”
Elizabeth Debicki will be playing Princess Diana in the upcoming fifth season of The Crown, taking over from Emma Corrin, who won a Golden Globe for their performance in the role earlier this year.
Photos from the set showing Elizabeth in a replica of Diana’s so-called “revenge dress” surfaced earlier this week, with some fans picking up on the fact they were taken on the same day the biopic Spencer arrived in cinemas.
Dominic West will portray Prince Charles in The Crown’s final two seasons, while Imelda Staunton is poised to succeed Olivia Colman in the lead role of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Crown’s fifth series is expected to debut on Netflix in late 2022.