The much-anticipated third season of The Crown arrives on 17th November, but it’s already come under fire by a former royal aide.
Dickie Arbiter revealed his frustrations about The Crownto The Sunday Times, criticising the way the series portrays the friendship between the Queen and Lord Porchester, who was affectionately known as ‘Porchie’.
Lord Porchester was married to Jean Margaret Wallop and they had three children together. His eldest son George is the Queen's godson, the Earl of Carnarvon.
He passed away in 2001 aged 77 years old.
Olivia Colman and John Hollingworth play the Queen and Lord in the ‘aged up’ cast, which make their debut appearances in season three.
In the third season, the Queen and Porchie are shown going on several trips together, where they learn about house racing and how to train animals. They both shared a love of the animals and the sport.
But when she returns, Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) is angry with the monarch and asks her where she has been, and what she’s been doing. This heavily implies he's referring to adultery.
Dickie wasn’t impressed by this accusation, saying, “This is very distasteful and totally unfounded. The Queen is the last person in the world to have ever considered looking at another man.”
MORE: The Crown: Everything you need to know about season three
He added, “Not only is this muckraking - this is gossip that’s been washing around for decades. It’s got absolutely no substance.”
Dickie went on to criticise The Crown writer Peter Morgan for “beefing up” scripts, saying, “people will take whatever Morgan writes as sacrosanct”.
He also stressed that The Crown “was fiction”, adding, “People will tell the story they want to and sensationalise it”.
The season 3 trailer also came under fire from one eagled-eyed royal fan, who spotted an historical inaccuracy in the new trailer.
The new season of the award-winning series will take place between 1964 and 1977, and will follow an older Queen Elizabeth II in a changing Britain.
It will also focus on the romance between Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) and Anthony Armstrong-Jones (Ben Daniels), after their marriage in season two.
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