Netflix has clarified “The Crown” is a fictional dramatization for viewers by adding a logline to its YouTube trailer for Season 5, which is set to launch on Nov. 9.
In the description for the trailer, posted by the official Netflix account, the logline reads: “Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.”
A spokesperson for Netflix told Variety: “‘The Crown’ has always been presented as a drama based on historical events. Series five is a fictional dramatization, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the Royal Family – one that has already been scrutinised and well documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”
The addition of the logline follows much discussion in the U.K. over whether viewers will perceive events in “The Crown” as absolute re-enactions of real events. The British press has reported that sources within Buckingham Palace are particularly worried about the show’s depiction of King Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles while married to Diana, Princess of Wales, especially given he has just acceded to the throne.
Following Diana’s death (which is set to be depicted in the sixth and final season of the series), Charles married Camilla. When he acceded to the throne last month, following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, she became Queen Consort.
Earlier this week Judi Dench wrote to The Times of London to complain that “The Crown” should carry a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode, calling the series “cruelly unjust” to the Royal Family.