Sources Close to King Charles Break Down His "Fears" Over 'The Crown' Season 5

The royals spent a lot of time spiraling ahead of The Crown's fifth season dropping on Netflix, but honestly...it was a pretty mild portrayal of King Charles. On top of Dominic West playing Charles as inexplicably sexy and charismatic, The Crown showcased his charity work, and also didn't really fault him for his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

As a result, King Charles seemingly isn't that upset about the show after all—though he is worried that "the Netflix generation" might not be able to distinguish fact from fiction. A concern that seems pretty unfounded considering Twitter had no trouble calling out the historical inaccuracy of Charles being played by Dominic West, but okay.

"Certainly The Crown, along with the imminent release of Prince Harry's biography, have been bumps in the road for the start of the king's reign," royal expert Katie Nicholl told Entertainment Tonight. "But nothing that he's not been able to overcome. I think, in the case of The Crown ... I think the concern, certainly by the king, is that the younger generation, the Netflix generation, may well tune into the series and not be able to distinguish fact from fiction and perhaps may base their opinion of Charles based on his past and what they've seen represented in The Crown."

Apparently "sources close to the King" say that one of his "fears" is that the start of his reign "might be overshadowed by the specter of his past—and, of course at times, a pretty turbulent and troublesome past," explained Nicholl. "And I think The Crown just goes to show ... those fears weren't completely unfounded." That said, Nicholl also said that "Charles has probably escaped from this relatively unscathed. The palace has chosen not to comment on the latest series of The Crown, and that they're not going to get involved in it in any way."

Nicholl goes on to note that the show hasn't "done a huge amount of damage," though she says, "I'm sure he'd rather be able to leave the past where it belongs, as people can escape their 25-year-old history, but not [when they are] the King, when he was the Prince of Wales. He's more documented than any heir apparent before him. I'm sure by now he's used to it and not prepared to give it too much attention but I think frustrated nonetheless."

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