Widow criticises 'The Crown' producers after Netflix show dramatises avalanche that killed husband

The wife of a friend of Prince Charles who died in a Swiss avalanche has said she is “very upset” to learn The Crown dramatised the tragedy, despite her asking producers not to.

Major Hugh Lindsay, a former Queen’s equerry, died in an avalanche at the Swiss resort of Klosters in 1988.

Major Lindsay’s widow Sarah Horsley, who worked in Buckingham Palace’s press office at the time of her husband’s death, told The Sunday Telegraph she asked Netflix not to dramatise the disaster.

She said: “I was horrified when I was told it (the episode) was happening and was very concerned about the impact on my daughter. I’m very upset by it and I’m dreading people seeing it.

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“I wrote to them asking them not to do it, not to use the accident. I suppose members of the Royal Family have to grin and bear it, but for me it’s a very private tragedy.”

She said the producers replied with “a very kind letter”, saying “they understood my concerns but they hope I will feel that they deal with difficult subject matters with integrity and great sensitivity”.

But she told the newspaper: “I think it’s very unkind to many members of the family (to dramatise the accident).”

Major Lindsay was 34 when the tragedy happened. He had been married to Sarah, who was heavily pregnant when he died, for less than a year.

Prince Charles later wrote: “I still find it hard to understand why I survived and he didn’t.”

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The Crown, starring Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth and Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, is currently streaming on Netflix.

The description of the episode on the steaming service reads: “Charles is caught in a deadly avalanche, and he and Diana are prompted to reevaluate their commitment to their troubled marriage.”

Netflix has been contacted for comment.

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