Royal family fans have been gobbling up The Crown since it first aired in late 2016.

Season three has been eagerly anticipated, complete with the customary teaser trailer and all, but now that it’s airing there has been quite a bit of pushback.

That’s largely due to the fact that, in the first two seasons, the show was praised for sticking so closely to the truth, which is something it seems to have abandoned in the third.

Here’s the Daily Beast:

[The show] has fabricated an entire storyline about a plot to split up Charles and Camilla when they first dated as twentysomethings.

The urge to embellish the story of Charles and Camilla has been ridiculed given the not-insubstantial amount of drama inherent in their actual relationship, which began when they met at a party in 1972, and Camilla famously declared: “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common.”

In reality, Camilla and Charles dated briefly, and then split up after Camilla returned to her long-term boyfriend, Andrew Parker Bowles, whom she soon married. The affair was rekindled shortly after Charles married Diana.

Prince Charles, played by Josh O’Connor, and Camilla Shand, played by Emerald Fennell, in The Crown CREDIT: SPLASH NEWS

In the new series however, Lord Mountbatten and the Queen Mother are seen conspiring to break up the relationship between Charles and Camilla, believing it to be unsuitable…

Penny Junor, who has written biographies of both the prince and the duchess, said it was a clear use of “dramatic license” that she feared could “cause a lot of damage.”

Whilst the show’s creator has yet to respond to the latest round of criticism, Peter Morgan (also the chief writer) has said in the past that he “reserves the right to join the dots”, and values his “independence”.

In season two, there was said to be consternation amongst the royal family when Prince Philip was shown to attend sex parties during the 1960s. Buckingham Palace has always denied such allegations, but you can make your own mind up.

Perhaps the show’s creators are feeling the ratings pinch, but one man who is particularly offended by season three’s storyline is Christopher Wilson, author of A Greater Love – Charles and Camilla.

He spoke with the Telegraph:

Mr Wilson said the idea that such a plan was hatched to break the pair apart was laughable.

“I can discount them cooking up any kind of plot,” he said.

“By the time Camilla actually met Prince Charles, she was already four years into a five-year campaign to get Andrew Parker Bowles up the aisle..

“When she met Prince Charles she was only a year or so away, or less than two from realising this ambition.”

He added: “Lord Mountbatten gave shelter and support to Prince Charles.

“He did not introduce him to Camilla or pull them apart. In that respect it’s entirely wrong. I don’t think that he did that.

Oh, the horror of it all.

So just to go over some of the basics – Charles and Camilla’s affair was only ‘rekindled’ after Charles married Diana.

Yet Meghan and Harry are the ones tarnishing the royal reputation by going after the press?

[sources:dailybeast&telegraph]