‘Downton Abbey’ Creator Julian Fellowes Objects To ‘The Crown’ Portrayal Of Prince Philip

There are probably fans who enjoyed both Downton Abbey and The Crown, but now the creator of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes is calling out the depiction of Prince Philip in Peter Morgan’s creation, The Crown.

Town & Country says that in her podcast, Katie Couric interviewed Fellowes about his own show, the royals, Brexit, and the Downton Abbey creator said he thought Prince Philip is getting a raw deal from The Crown.

“It was beautifully acted, beautifully written. For me, I’m not completely comfortable with dramatizing people who are still alive and still living their lives. Because I think it’s possible to be unfair, and in the second series, I didn’t think it was fair to Prince Philip, to the Duke of Edinburgh, based on very little.”

Fellowes doesn’t go into great detail, but when he refers to the second series, it’s obvious that he is touching on the hinted rumor that Prince Philip wasn’t always faithful to Queen Elizabeth.

“I think that a lot of it was based on obviously very good research, but some of it was not. And some of it was extrapolation from a rumor or someone’s rather prejudiced account, and then it was presented as fact, and I’m not sure that’s just.”

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes thought #TheCrown Season 2 wasn’t fair to Prince Philip https://t.co/WlDwiuL10p

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) June 28, 2018

Fellowes’ argument is that maybe the living shouldn’t be dramatized. He continues stressing that he is enjoying The Crown, but he has some concerns with creating a drama from a living person.

“Now I’ll be punished for [these comments] because it’s a great success and it deserves to be. I don’t know. I think when people are still alive, living their lives, doing a good job and popular and loved, do they deserve it? And in that sense, I’m not sure they do.”

CNN added that he thinks that Peter Morgan, who created The Crown for Netflix, is an incredible talent.

“I think he’s the best writer on television at the moment. And it’s deservedly successful, as far as I’m concerned.”

But beyond Prince Philip being portrayed as a philanderer, as reported by the Inquisitr, he was also painted as a jerk who seemed jealous of his wife at some points in his marriage. Twitter has not been kind to Prince Philip since The Crown started airing on Netflix.

“Watching The Crown & get the feeling I’m supposed to have positive feelings about Philip. Instead, I want Elizabeth to dump his ass. Yeesh.”

Matt Smith who plays Prince Philip in the first two seasons of The Crown was asked if he meant to play the prince as a twit.

“He’s not!! He’s a rock star. He’s a maverick. He’s kind, he’s witty, he’s groovy. He’s the sort of alien of the group who says everything and he does say things that he shouldn’t.”