Princess Anne actor says disclaimers on The Crown would 'patronize the audience'

The actor who is playing Princess Anne in season 5 of The Crown has explained why she feels that adding disclaimers about the show being a fictionalized account of true events, is unnecessary. 

In an interview ahead of the release of The Crown season 5 on November 9, Claudia Harrison who plays Princess Anne, waded into the debate about the Netflix series needing disclaimers. 

This debate comes from some royal supporters who believe that the Netflix show needs to make it more clear that the events in the show are fictional and not an accurate retelling of historical events that could be comparable to a documentary. The uproar has come from some stars as influential as Dame Judi Dench, who penned an open letter dubbing The Crown an 'inaccurate and hurtful account of history.'

Speaking to The Guardian the actress said, "That debate has been there, understandably, through the context of the time we are living through. And that’s fine. And I think we have moved on, haven’t we, into a more nuanced area where as an actor – I have to talk about it only as that – I think my job is always to respect the intelligence of the audience.”

Claudia added, "To patronize the audiences worldwide, and to think people are genuinely sitting down thinking this is a documentary and that everything they see is fact, I feel uncomfortable with that." The actress added, "Patronise an audience at your peril."

Claudia explained that the topics explored in the show are in the public interest and should be available to adapt into a show. "The story behind who wears the crown is a legitimate subject for us to examine as creatives. Well, thank God we live in a world with free press and free cultural landscape," said Claudia.

In another interview with You, Claudia spoke about her respect for the Royal Family and the fact that filming for The Crown was paused when Her Majesty, the Queen died. 

"It really felt like this was the passing of an era," said Claudia about Queen Elizabeth II's death. "She had been part of the fabric of our nation for so long.’ The actress queued to visit the Queen in state and watched her funeral, and then returned to set following the Queen's mourning period. "The rationale was that the story of who wears the crown is a legitimate thing to be dramatised and examined. As an actor, it would be an extraordinary moral position for me to take to turn down the part," she said.

The actor also revealed that she's into a royalist but has a great deal of respect for the Royal Family as an institution. "I wouldn’t call myself a republican because I can’t imagine which prime minister could pass an act getting rid of the crown, but I was engaged in that debate. Working on the show hasn’t turned me back into a royalist, but I am a realist: the royals are not going anywhere," she said.

Claudia added, "as an actor it’s your job to defend your character, and you look at these people as human beings, at their emotional landscape. And they are good people, by and large. Certainly the Queen and Anne. Charles, absolutely.’ And the Duke of York? ‘You’d have to ask the actor playing Andrew."