Two former prime ministers have condemned Netflix drama The Crown for showing the King trying to involve them in a plot against his mother.
Sir Tony Blair warned that scenes depicting him and the former Prince of Wales in cahoots against Queen Elizabeth II were “complete and utter rubbish”.
Sir John Major said that “utterly untrue” storylines presented as fact so soon after the death of the Queen would be devastating for the Royal family.
He wrote in a letter to The Telegraph that such scenes “will be profoundly hurtful to a family who are still grieving for the very person on whose life the entire drama was founded”.
It came as the first reviews of the Netflix drama were published, offering the critics’ verdicts on what has already proved to be a highly controversial series.
There will be no disclaimer added when the fifth season comes out next Wednesday, despite a mounting outcry and suggestions that friends of the King and Queen Consort would support such a move.
Netflix confirmed that it would not change its position against including a note informing viewers that the show was a fictionalised dramatisation.
“Perhaps there should be a health warning before every episode of Morse and Lewis to point out that there is not, in fact, a murder every week in Oxford?” one source said.
The relationship between the Queen and Prince Charles is portrayed as fraught throughout the series.
The latter expresses increasing frustration about his position and the direction in which the monarchy is headed. He asks his mother when he might get to take over, warning that her “Victorian” outlook might leave no institution to inherit.
Shortly after his election in 1997, Sir Tony is shown being lobbied by the heir to the throne, who suggested they could be brothers: “Two men of a similar age, both committed and impatient for change”.
He tries to recruit the new Labour prime minister as an ally, suggesting they could work together to protect his future and pave the way for him to marry Camilla Parker Bowles.
Sir Tony’s spokesman told The Telegraph: “It should come as no surprise that this is complete and utter rubbish”.
Meanwhile, Sir John, whose spokesman had previously dismissed the show as “malicious nonsense”, has now personally intervened.
In a strongly worded letter, he warned: “Netflix may well take the view that any publicity is good publicity. But I assure them it is not – most especially when it disrespects the memory of those no longer alive, or puts words into the mouths of those still living and in no position to defend themselves. Fiction should not be paraded as fact”.
Sir John, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1997, is portrayed throughout the series as a calm and trusted confidant of the Queen, ranking “very highly” in her “personal table of prime ministers”.
However, he was moved to comment about imagined conversations between him and both the late Queen and her son.
“I gather Netflix continues to refuse to put out a disclaimer at the top of the opening credits, on the basis that ‘everyone knows this is a drama series’,” he wrote.
“But this is simply not good enough. If everyone knows, why not acknowledge that? Without such action, many millions – around the world – could still be influenced by a damaging and fictional script, which claims ‘authority’ by being interspersed with historical fact.
“Entertainment is a great and glorious industry that brings enormous pleasure to many millions. Netflix should not demean it with portrayals which are both injurious and untrue.”
Christmas tribute for the late Queen
Elsewhere, Kensington Palace announced that the Princess of Wales will return to host a special Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey paying tribute to the late Queen.
The event on Dec 15 will honour the values that Queen Elizabeth II demonstrated throughout her life. It will be broadcast on ITV on Christmas Eve.