King Charles Stopped Watching 'The Crown' After it Started Portraying His Tumultuous Marriage

Netflix's The Crown debuted on 4th November 2016, the series that followed the British royal family aired its last season on December 14th, 2023. Seasons four, five, and six were particularly dedicated to the tumultuous marriage between Prince Charles and Lady Diana. According to The Daily Express, King Charles avidly watched the first two seasons of the drama series but stopped right after that when it hit close to home. Royal author Katie Nicholl of the book The New Royals revealed to True Royalty TV, “[King] Charles watched it and stopped watching it at the last series because he felt that it got too close to the bone." 

Nicholl continued, “[The Queen] was absolutely aware of these programs and the films and was never going to watch any of those herself, but other members of the Royal Family have watched episodes. I’m told that Camilla has watched all of them. Whether or not she’s watched this latest series, I’ll have to come back to you." She added, “I’m assuming from Harry’s comments he has absolutely seen it and I don’t know about William.” 

According to People, King Charles did have a strong opinion about the series, Scottish politician Anas Sarwar claimed that Charles brought up the Netflix series, which is a dramatic retelling of Queen Elizabeth's reign when he introduced himself to members of Parliament at a previous year's event during the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. "He came over and went, 'Hello, nice to meet you all. I'm nowhere near how they portray me on Netflix,' " Sarwar recalled, "I thought that was a really interesting way of how you describe yourself." Sarwar stated further, "I'm going to be in so much trouble for this because I don't think you are meant to tell private conversations!"

Josh O'Connor played Prince Charles in seasons three and four. The character showed him as a young adult, including his early courtship and marriage to Princess Diana. O'Connor's efforts in 2021 brought him an Emmy. For The Crown's final two seasons, Dominic West played the king. According to Marie Claire, Princess Diana had revealed to royal author Ingrid Seward the real reason for the demise of her marriage to Charles right before her tragic passing. Seward recalled, “She had this specter of Camilla in her head the whole time. She was obsessed. Yet, when I last spoke to her, I brought Camilla up, and she said, ‘Oh, it wasn’t Camilla that ruined our marriage.’” 

What, pray tell, was the cause? “She said, ‘It was the people around my husband,’” Seward continued. “I thought to myself, ‘It wasn’t Camilla? You’ve been complaining and complaining about her all these years.’” Seward added “But she changed tack and said it was the environment in which keeping a royal marriage together, you’ve got to be very strong, and probably far more mature than she was.”