Royal fans are gearing up for The Crown Season 5, which will take a look at the private life of Britain's longest-reigning queen, Queen Elizabeth II.
Because the Queen and her family are usually tight-lipped about personal things, how would one know if the events of the show are accurate?
The Crown: A Blend of Fact and Fiction
"The Crown is a blend of fact and fiction, inspired by true events,” royal historian Carolyn Harris, author of Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting, told Parade.com earlier this year.
However, showrunner Peter Morgan is not producing a documentary. And, at times, creating a drama, even one based on history, contradicts the truth. So he plays with timeframes, creates characters, and even invents circumstances that could never happen in real life.
"There are two sorts of truth. There's historical truth and then there's the larger truth about the past," Robert Lacey, the show's historical consultant said, per TownandCountrymag.com.
Yes, there are photos and letters from the historical period, as well as video footage of the royals. The show's most memorable sequences, however, tend to focus on the bits of history that weren't documented, "all the lives and loves and experiences and tears and smiles," as Lacey puts it.
They can be wildly inaccurate (after all, no one has access to the royals' most private talks), yet they are nevertheless realistic representations of human feelings. And, at the end of the day, the show's goal is to entertain rather than to educate.
There's no denying that the Windsors are a fascinating family that often doesn't require much embellishment—as we saw with Princess Diana's dramatic addition in Season 4.
The Crown Season 5 Release Date
A dispatch from the set of Netflix's The Crown has been released, along with a tentative premiere month. Imelda Staunton announces herself as the show's next Queen Elizabeth in a clip from the streamer's Tudum fan event while paying tribute to former queens Olivia Colman and Claire Foy.
"On behalf of the cast and crew, we look forward to bringing you the next season of The Crown in November 2022," she said.
Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West portray Princess Diana and Prince Charles in the new season.
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