Fact-Checking 'The Crown' — How Much of Season 5 Is True and What Is Complete Fiction?

Netflix

The Crown has returned to Netflix queues for season 5 — and once again, viewers are left wondering what elements are based in fact and which pieces of the story fall on the side of fiction.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

The new season brings the British royals to the 1990s, a famously turbulent time for Queen Elizabeth and her family. In fact, the late monarch declared 1992 an "annus horribilis" (Latin for "horrible year"), as it was the year in which three of her four children were separated from their spouses and a devastating fire destroyed parts of Windsor Castle.

The Crown is known to replace their casts as their royal counterparts age through the decades, and season 5 brings in the third full cast of new faces. Imelda Staunton takes over the role of Queen Elizabeth opposite Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, while other new actors include Dominic West (as then-Prince Charles), Elizabeth Debicki (as Princess Diana), Olivia Williams (as then-Camilla Parker Bowles), Lesley Manville (as Princess Margaret), Claudia Harrison (as Princess Anne) and more.

RELATED: Meet the Cast of Netflix's The Crown Season 5

Keith Bernstein/Netflix

Did Prince Charles have a secret meeting with Prime Minister John Major to discuss Queen Elizabeth abdicating?

No.

The first episode of The Crown's season 5 shows Prince Charles and Princess Diana on a family holiday in Italy, which did happen in August 1991 and was portrayed as their "second honeymoon" in the media for the almost-estranged couple. Ken Wharfe writes in Diana: Closely Guarded Secret: "In reality, the couple were at loggerheads the entire time. The Princess, at her most petulant and spoilt, made it clear to everyone that she was unhappy at being cooped up on the yacht with her husband."

For more on The Crown, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

By August 19, Diana was at Balmoral in Scotland hearing of the impending death of a patient with AIDS that she'd become close to, Adrian Ward Jackson. It seems hard to believe that Charles would have left the vacation earlier than that — and that Diana would have gone to Balmoral without him in those days.

Major also denied the meeting ever took place. His office said, "Discussions between the monarch and prime minister are entirely private and, for Sir John, will always remain so. There was never any discussion between Sir John and the then Prince of Wales about any abdication — nor was such an improbable and improper subject ever raised by the then Prince of Wales (or Sir John)."

But Princess Diana's private secretary Patrick Jephson wrote in The Telegraph that Charles did have a conversation of that nature...but not with Major.

Speaking about how The Crown uses "dramatic artifice" to "make a point more concisely than might have been the case in real life," Jephson points to the scene with "one of Charles's advisors eagerly showing his boss an opinion poll apparently indicating public support for the Queen's abdication so that the crown can pass directly to the Prince as Regent. We later see Charles discussing the poll and possible regency with the prime minister. Again, this is not strictly accurate: the discussion was actually held with a previous prime minister. A legitimate sleight of hand — or a wicked untruth?" 

Keith Bernstein/Netflix

Did Prince Philip warn Princess Diana not to do a book with Andrew Morton?

Probably not.

Buckingham Palace had heard about the book (Diana: Her True Story—in Her Own Words) and suspected Diana's tacit involvement via her friends, but whether she was actually confronted by Prince Philip is unknown. But the conversation and the sentiments included are spot on, in terms of both the Duke of Edinburgh's character and the role he played within the royal family. Although Queen Elizabeth was head of the monarchy, she left Philip to run the private, family arrangements — and confront any child or spouse.

At the time the book by Morton was being written, Princess Diana had grown "to dislike Prince Philip as she found him impossible to deal with," Ingrid Seward writes in Prince Philip Revealed. He could also be very unpleasant, especially when he felt she was letting down the family "firm." Prince Philip did not hesitate to put his feelings into writing, and they were certainly straight to the point. Later on, his letters to Princess Diana around the time of the separation and divorce were sympathetic.

Did Mohamed Al-Fayed hire the Duke of Windsor's valet Sydney Johnson? 

Yes.

Born in the Bahamas, Sydney Johnson was spotted by the former King Edward VIII when he and the Duchess of Windsor, the former Wallis Simpson, were based on the island when the Duke of Windsor was Governor General.

Al-Fayed was "fascinated by the story of the British monarch who gave up his crown and his empire to marry a twice-divorced American," The New York Times said in 1989, and he spent three years and around $14 million on renovating the mansion where the Duke of Windsor Lived — at the permission of the Mayor of Paris, as the city owned the property.

Johnson started working as a butler for Al-Fayed at his home in the Champs Elysee in Paris soon after the Duke died in 1972 and was on hand to help give advice on the restoration. Al-Fayed did his part too, purchasing much of the estate from the late Duchess, enabling him to restore many of the artworks, silverware and even her jewelry to the home.

In 1989, Al-Fayed held a tea party to show off his work. "The restoration is so authentic I expect to see the Duchess stepping down the staircase asking, 'How do I look?' " Johnson told the Washington Post then. He died aged 69 in Paris in January 1990.

Shutterstock Peter Townsend and Princess Margaret

Did Princess Margaret reunite with Peter Townsend in the 1990s?

Yes.

As portrayed in earlier seasons of The Crown, Princess Margaret first fell in love with Group Captain Peter Townsend when she was just 17 years old. At the time, Townsend was married with two sons. Although Townsend ended up divorcing his wife and proposing to Princess Margaret in 1953, their relationship ultimately didn't work out. At the time, divorcees weren't allowed to remarry in the Church of England and Margaret required her sister's permission to wed before the age of 25. But in October 1955, the princess chose the monarchy over love and ended her engagement with Townsend.

Decades later, Princess Margaret — as well as Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother — were invited to a reunion of HMS Vanguard crew members. Peter Townsend had been aboard as equerry to King George VI when Princess Margaret and the then-Princess Elizabeth sailed to South Africa on the key visit in 1947 when Elizabeth was to make her 21^st birthday vow to serve all her days. Princess Margaret and Townsend were both at the party — although there's no confirmation that he wrote to the royal asking if she'd be there or that the reunion resulted in anything more involved.

Pool Photograph/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Queen Elizabeth

Did the Queen Mother not approve of Queen Elizabeth's "annus horribilis" speech?

This one is unclear.

There's no record of the Queen Mother discouraging her daughter from calling 1992 "horrible year" in a public speech. But on top of the Windsor Castle fire and Queen Elizabeth's three children on the brink of separation from their spouses, it was also the year that the monarch agreed to pay taxes, a move resisted by King George V and King George VI.

Queen Elizabeth asked her private secretary Sir Robert Fellowes to go to Clarence House to tell her the Queen Mother about the change. In A Brief Life Of The Queen, historian Robert Lacey quotes Fellowes telling the Queen Mother's official biographer William Shawcross years later: "The drawing room was in shadow with very few lights on. She gazed into the distance as I talked. When I finished there was a long pause, and then she said, 'I think we'll have a drink.' "

Anwar Hussein/Getty Queen Elizabeth

Was Prince Philip's DNA used to identify Romanov family remains?

Yes.

The Crown recreated Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's 1994 trip to Russia in season 5 as well as how Prince Philip's DNA helped to identify the remains of the Romanovs who were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 — and this really happened.

When the Romanov family's remains were discovered, both Prince Philip and Prince Michael of Kent provided DNA, which helped lead to their identification. "The tsarina was Queen Victoria's granddaughter — Philip's great-aunt — and that meant that she shared mitochondrial DNA with Prince Philip. So Prince Philip contributed a blood sample, and his DNA was compared to that of the remains and of other family members. This allowed researchers to confirm virtually beyond a doubt that the bodies were indeed those of the murdered Romanovs," according to My Heritage.

In 1998, Prince Michael attended the burial of the last tsar and his family in St. Petersburg.

Did Prince Philip admit to an emotional relationship with Penny Knatchball (the wife of his godson)?

It's unlikely — but they did share a decades-long relationship. Though Philip was 32 years Penny's senior, the pair developed a close friendship over the years, bonding over their love of outdoor activities and all things equestrian.

While there was a furor in the British media about the fact that the episode was going to delve into the closeness between the pair, at no point do Philip and Penny become intimate during the show. While there is a brushing of hands as they swap the reigns of a carriage that Philip is showing her how to control during a ride through the country, there is nothing more. They are clearly on the same intellectual level, and she enjoys her new hobby alongside him.

RELATED VIDEO: The Casts of the Crown Had 'a Joy' Working Together

The Queen, moreover, knew that Philip liked the company of women and also that his interests weren't always hers. That said, Queen Elizabeth was thrilled to watch him carriage riding and the sight of her dashing across the grass at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in order to catch a close-up glimpse of him competing was a testament to that.

In 2020's Prince Philip Revealed, biographer Ingrid Seward wrote that, over the years, Penny became the "second-most important woman in the Duke of Edinburgh's life — a constant confidante, loyal companion and 'keeper of secrets.' "

Penny was the only non-family member at Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021, which was restricted to just 30 people due to COVID precautions.

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Penny and Prince Philip

Did Princess Diana tell Queen Elizabeth about the Panorama interview ahead of time?

Not directly.

Princess Diana's private secretary Patrick Jephson reportedly told Queen Elizabeth about the Panorama interview before it aired, but there wasn't much of a heads up — the Queen was informed only shortly before.

"As an example of legitimate dramatic invention — as opposed to transposition — it's hard to beat the scenes depicting Diana allegedly summoning up her courage and dropping on the Queen the bombshell news that she had secretly recorded an interview with Martin Bashir for Panorama. This part of the story was made up, and therefore might reasonably earn the ire of The Crown's scholarly-exact detractors," Jephson said in a piece for The Telegraph. "I know it was made up because I was there, and I can tell you that the princess absolutely failed to summon up the necessary courage and delegated the job to me. So, sitting beside her in her Jaguar en route to an official engagement, I used the car telephone to call the Queen's private secretary and break the sensational news. In a comedy of confusion — the genuine mark of reality — the only person in the Queen's office at the time was Her Majesty's press secretary who thus got the vital information seconds before he received it first hand from the BBC."

Although the royal family stuck to their "never complain, never explain" motto when it came to the aftermath of the interview, it was clearly on their minds.

Sir Richard Eyre, BBC's controller of editor policy in 1995, said on Channel 5's Diana: The Interview That Shocked The World: "I had lunch with the Queen not long after and she said to me unprompted, 'How are things at the BBC?' and I said, 'Oh, well, fine.' And she said, 'Frightful thing to do, frightful thing that my daughter-in-law did.' "

PA Images Princess Diana during her Panorama interview

Did Camilla work with a public relations agency to change public opinion about her?

Yes.

Charles employed Mark Bolland as a deputy private secretary, as featured in the new season. He was tasked with improving not just Charles' image but gaining acceptance for Camilla.

Earlier, she had another outside PR adviser who was working to gain her better press.

Camilla also became patron of the National Osteoporosis Society, irrespective of any royal role, as she began to take steps in public society.

She was driven into Highgrove House for her 50th birthday party in July 1997 at a slow pace so the photographers and journalists could get a good close look at her (and her jewels). There was no shyness about her wanting to be seen and accepted.

However, when Princess Diana died in 1997, Camilla took a step back from public life as the Princess of Wales was mourned.

Netflix

Was Dodi Al-Fayed engaged to another woman when he started dating Princess Diana?

Yes, allegedly.

Before Dodi and Princess Diana got romantically involved in the summer of 1997, he was allegedly engaged to American model Kelly Fisher.

Fisher filed a lawsuit against her former partner for jilting her and not paying the money he promised her, retaining famed attorney Gloria Allred. The lawyer said, "Kelly suffered greatly because of the break up with Mr. Fayed. She was engaged to him, and they had planned to marry on August 9, 1997."

Following the couple's deaths, Fisher dropped the lawsuit.

Allred said in a statement, "Out of respect for the tragedy and tremendous loss the Fayed family has suffered, she has authorized me as her attorney to dismiss her lawsuit against Mr. Fayed. Although she does have the legal right to pursue the lawsuit against his estate after his death, she has voluntarily chosen not to exercise that right."