The Crown is a soap opera, says biographer Brandreth

The Crown should be viewed purely as entertainment rather than for its depiction of the royal family, biographer Gyles Brandreth has said, ahead of the show's sixth and final season.

- ROISIN O'CONNOR

In recent years, the Netflix drama has come under scrutiny for its depiction of events such as the tumultuous marriage of King Charles and the late Princess Diana. In 2020, the then culture secretary Oliver Dowden was widely mocked for suggesting that episodes of The Crown should come with a note explaining that it portrays a fictional interpretation of events.

Helena Bonham Carter, who played Princess Margaret in seasons three and four, however, agreed with Dowden and went so far as to call for an end to the series as its timeline neared the present day.

Appearing at Henley Literary Festival to promote the reissue of his extensive 2022 biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, Brandreth, who was well acquainted with the late monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, urged the audience to watch The Crown “if you like entertainment and Frasier isn’t on”.

“But you don’t need to watch it for learning anything,” he said. “Not for a moment, not remotely. Well, a tiny bit – like a cartoon, there’s no harm in that. I have no objection to it as entertainment, none whatsoever. But I think the challenge is they’ve turned [the royal family] into a soap opera.”