The British Royals let it be known that they’re not thrilled with the impending Season 5 of The Crown from Netflix. This may or may not have been the reason that Netflix chose to delay Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s followup documentary (fittingly, Harry hasn’t seemed upset about the series at all). From the looks of this trailer, we should get ready for some seriously salty royals because the newly installed King Charles III hasn’t enjoyed the show’s portrayal of him thus far, especially when it comes to how resentful he grew over the public’s embrace of Princess Diana. And in this trailer, boy, the mistreatment of Diana (by Charles, by the family at large) puts the whole monarchy on blast, all while we see interspersed shots of him kissing Camilla Parker Bowles.
The monarchy had already made noises about a Season 5 episode, in which Charles reportedly grouses over being made to wait so long (and this was back in the 1990s) to ascend to the throne. And the Diana story gets messier this season with the show covering Charles’ push to divorce her. Fast forward to today, and Charles is already saying goodbye to a prime minister (Liz Truss held the gig for a mere six weeks), so let’s have more chaos, shall we? The trailer shows how Diana isn’t content to stay silent and even goes to the press for an infamous interview, which was an unprecedented step for the world to see. And yes, we get to see Charles rage.
In Season 5, Charles is now portrayed by Dominic West with Imelda Staunton picking up the Queen Elizabeth II role. At this point, it’s the 1990s, and she’s worked with nine prime ministers, the Soviet Union has collapsed, and the U.K. passed Hong Kong back to China. Meanwhile, the royals are struggling with the public questioning why they fund a monarchy. Here’s the juicier stuff from the synopsis:
Prince Charles (Dominic West) pressures his mother to allow him to divorce Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), presenting a constitutional crisis of the monarchy. Rumours circulate as husband and wife are seen to live increasingly separate lives and, as media scrutiny intensifies, Diana decides to take control of her own narrative, breaking with family protocol to publish a book that undermines public support for Charles and exposes the cracks in the House of Windsor.
Tensions are set to rise further as Mohamed Al Fayed (Salim Daw) arrives on the scene. Driven by his desire for acceptance of the highest order, he harnesses his self-made wealth and power to try and earn him and his son Dodi (Khalid Abdalla) a seat at the royal table.
Netflix’s The Crown returns with Season 5 on November 9. And the timing of this trailer release (amid political disaster) was not intentional:
A house divided. Watch the trailer for Season 5 of The Crown this Thursday. pic.twitter.com/wde65vz6cY
— The Crown (@TheCrownNetflix) October 17, 2022