Did Prince Charles really try to overthrow The Queen? The Crown season 5 is finally here and the latest installment of Peter Morgan's royal saga has already caused quite a stir!
Many are questioning the show's historical accuracy and the first episode "Queen Victoria Syndrome" has come in for particular criticism for the way it portrays the new King, Charles III.
Set in 1991, the episode shows the then Prince of Wales plotting to overthrow the Queen, but is it wholly fabricated or is there a hint of truth in the tale? We examine the evidence...
Did Prince Charles really try to overthrow The Queen? What happens in The Crown season 5 episode 1 'Queen Victoria Syndrome'?
The opening episode of season five begins with royal aides attempting to hide an issue of The Sunday Times from Her Majesty, The Queen, as she holidays on her yacht. An article in the paper includes the results of a public vote, which suggested the nation wanted Her Majesty to abdicate with Charles taking over the throne.
After eventually reading the piece, The Queen is upset by the thought of her people wanting to replace her. Yet Prince Charles — who's chomping at the bit for a bigger role and a reformed monarchy — sees the article as a sign of his rising popularity.
Scheduling a meeting at Highgrove with John Major (Jonny Lee Miller) under a suitable pretext, Charles takes the chance to discuss the poll with the Prime Minister, before questioning whether Major would support him if he set in motion a plan to replace The Queen on the throne. Major diplomatically rejects the Prince's idea.
The episode ends with Major reflecting upon how out of touch the royal family are and tells his wife how Charles doesn't seem to understand that any popularity he has comes through association with his wife Princess Diana.
Did Prince Charles ask John Major to help him overthrow The Queen?
John Major has been outspoken on his condemnation of the show and has denied that any such conversation between him and Prince Charles took place.
"Sir John has not co-operated in any way with The Crown. Nor has he ever been approached by them to fact-check any script material in this or any other series," a statement from his office read.
"As you will know, discussions between the monarch and prime minister are entirely private and — for Sir John — will always remain so. But not one of the scenes you depict are accurate in any way whatsoever. They are fiction, pure and simple."
Major also wrote a letter to The Daily Telegraph talking of how the new series “will be profoundly hurtful to a family who are still grieving for the very person on whose life the entire drama was founded”.
Did Prince Charles try to overthrow The Queen?
The meeting between the then Prince Charles and John Major may be fictitious, but that doesn't mean Prince Charles didn't privately consider a move for the throne.
The early 1990s were a difficult time for the royals, with their popularity sinking and their private lives splashed all over the tabloids.
The Queen herself was criticized by The Sunday Times in 1991 during a national argument over raising local taxes. Following the controversy surrounding the Poll Tax in the years before, the monarch’s tax-free private income was seen by many as controversial.
Meanwhile reports from the era talk of Charles getting increasingly restless as he sought some kind of meaningful role as a monarch-in-waiting.
Traditionally the duty of both the monarch and the heir apparent is to remain apolitical and uncontroversial, but in the 1990s Charles began speaking out on various public issues, leading some critics to suggest he is exceeding his so-called constitutional role.
Subjects such as the environment, architecture, inner cities and education were close to his heart and he privately come out for electoral reform, with his remarks finding their way into print.
John Passmore of The Evening Standard wrote of Charles in 1991.. “He is cranky, self-centered, changeable and often indecisive — and he has outgrown the authority of the queen and her senior advisers. The prince is becoming ever more selfish, introspective and consumed with his own narrow interests.”
Charles had reportedly just sacked his latest private secretary, a retired major general, in what many suggested showed a dissatisfaction with his ambiguous role in public life.
So when this poll was published in The Sunday Times in August 1991, it's not impossible to believe he at least considered the possibility of replacing his mother on the throne...
The Crown season 5 is now on Netflix.
