{"id":69219,"date":"2023-11-16T02:17:45","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T02:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celeband.com\/?p=69219"},"modified":"2023-11-16T02:17:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T02:17:45","slug":"dianas-last-days-and-the-death-of-the-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celeband.com\/lifestyle\/dianas-last-days-and-the-death-of-the-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"Diana's last days – and the death of The Crown"},"content":{"rendered":"
Death hangs over the sixth and final series of The Crown. Filming had just started when it was announced the Queen \u2013 whose unswerving sense of duty and dedication have always been the beating heart of this all-encompassing biography of her reign \u2013 had died last September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Along with the nation many of the cast went into mourning, but then filming resumed and The Crown\u2019s version of Her Majesty had to be brought back to life.<\/p>\n
\u2018We started filming, and then very soon afterwards the Queen died, so it was quite difficult to be honest,\u2019 says Imelda Staunton, who won acclaim for her portrayal of the Queen in the fifth series and was speaking, along with the rest of the cast, before the current actors\u2019 strike.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We carried on with as much dignity and grace as they have always done on The Crown, but obviously there was a very different feel in the world and in England, and even more so on The Crown.<\/p>\n
\u2018We couldn\u2019t do anything differently. We had to carry on, but we were all a wee bit sad. I think it probably just informed our mood rather than altering the material. But there\u2019s no doubt it was different.\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in the final series of The Crown. The first four episodes not only cover the fatal car crash in Paris but also Diana and Dodi’s summer holiday in St Tropez, which came before the tragedy<\/p>\n
It\u2019s another death, however, that is the primary focus of the storyline as the first half of the series is released.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The emotional first four episodes cover the tragic car crash in Paris that killed\u00a0Princess Diana in August 1997 \u2013 alongside her lover Dodi Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul \u2013 and the Royal Family\u2019s reaction to it, as well as the summer holiday Diana and Dodi enjoyed in St Tropez prior to the tragedy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Paris scenes were shot in the French capital, while a yacht was hired for the St Tropez scenes, although these were actually filmed in Mallorca.<\/p>\n
For sensitivity reasons the exact moment of Diana\u2019s death is not re-created, but there are controversial scenes in which Charles tenderly converses with an imaginary Diana in the cabin of the royal plane as he accompanies her body from Paris to London, and later when she also appears to the Queen.<\/p>\n
Critics who have seen these scenes called them \u2018farcical\u2019 for portraying Diana as a ghost, but series creator Peter Morgan has insisted that wasn\u2019t the intention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I never imagined it as Diana\u2019s ghost in the traditional sense,\u2019 he told Variety magazine. \u2018It was her continuing to live vividly in the minds of those she has left behind.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Crown was devised by Morgan after the success of his 2006 film about the Royal Family\u2019s reaction to Diana\u2019s death, The Queen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the series \u2013 which has earned 21 Emmys and dozens of BAFTA nominations, not to mention some criticism for its historical inaccuracies \u2013 covers the same ground, but using fresh information gleaned in the 17 years since the Oscar-winning movie was made.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dominic West (centre) as Prince Charles with Rufus Kampa (left) as Prince William and Fflyn Edwards as Prince Harry<\/p>\n
In fact, the scripts had to be updated all the time as the Royal Family were plunged into headlines throughout the filming period, not only with the Queen\u2019s death but also following the release of Prince Harry\u2019s memoir Spare.<\/p>\n
\u2018I assumed that Charles is an emotional and rather open-hearted guy in spite of the buttoned-up exterior he has to have in public,\u2019 says Dominic West, who plays the then Prince.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018But when Harry wrote his book and said he never hugged him or anything, we had to change that slightly.\u2019<\/p>\n
The first few episodes were particularly tough for the whole cast as Diana\u2019s last days with new love Dodi aboard his father\u2019s yacht were re-created.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the end of series five we met US model Kelly Fisher, who Dodi was dating when he started seeing Diana.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While he wooed the princess on a family yacht, Jonikal, Kelly was left alone on another boat. She later claimed they had been engaged.<\/p>\n
For Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Diana, filming these scenes was daunting. \u2018Even though I had a physical break before this, I was probably always thinking about what was to come,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We see her going on holiday with the boys to St Tropez and then on to Paris. Much of it was actually a lovely time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘We were in a very beautiful part of the world so I constantly let that just wash over me and tried to sort of relax, knowing what was to come.\u2019<\/p>\n
The story then picks up at Balmoral where the family has to come to terms with the devastating news.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Jonathan Pryce, who plays Prince Philip, filming the scenes brought back emotional memories of Diana\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I remember turning on the radio and hearing something about Diana and Paris and I thought, \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d\u2019 he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018And then turning on the television and it was such a shock. Both my wife and I found ourselves quite weepy about it, and I never thought I would cry over a member of the Royal Family.<\/p>\n
\u2018When we were filming in Scotland, the director of the episode around Diana\u2019s death put together a reel of footage for me and I couldn\u2019t stop crying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thanks to the efforts of the hair, make-up and costume teams, Imelda Staunton, who stars as Queen Elizabeth II in the final series, felt like the monarch every single day for two and half years of filming<\/p>\n
‘Neither could the cameraman who\u2019d filmed it, or the director. It was an extraordinary moment. I was reliving waking up and listening to the radio.\u2019<\/p>\n
The difficulty of that time is re-created as we see Charles telling William and Harry their mother has died, as well as dealing with the demands of the nation who wanted the family to be seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s sort of the worst period of Charles\u2019s life so there are lots of scenes of him trying to come to terms with Diana\u2019s death and breaking the news to his sons, trying to help them mourn and having varying degrees of success at that,\u2019 says Dominic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Princess Diana pictured in St Tropez<\/p>\n
The Crown pulled out all the stops when it came to re-creating Diana and Dodi\u2019s last summer in St Tropez.<\/p>\n
\u2018Gottex, the company that made all of Diana\u2019s swimwear, made all of ours for us,\u2019 says costume designer Sid Roberts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We just adjusted it to whatever Elizabeth felt comfortable with. That 90s shape is very high cut on the thigh, and it goes right up and quite high on the bottom as well. So we just made those adjustments with Gottex.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the effort paid off for Elizabeth Debicki.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I really love the blue swimsuit Diana wears when she walks out to the end of the diving board on the yacht and sits down,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018There was just something about that swimsuit and re-creating that moment that felt very sacred.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018There were some really heavy scenes and a lot of tears for Charles. But I love crying, so it was great.<\/p>\n
\u2018Then there were a lot of set-piece teas at Windsor Castle or Christmas Day or family photos or weddings where all of us were there and they were the biggest joy because you\u2019re in a room and everyone looks like a member of the Royal Family so it\u2019s hilarious. Then Imelda walks in and you go, \u201cMy God, there\u2019s the Queen!\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n
The final six episodes of the series, which will be available in December, will see the family moving on from Diana\u2019s death and cover William and Kate\u2019s budding romance at St Andrews, finishing with Charles and Camilla\u2019s wedding in April 2005.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The university scenes were actually filmed at St Andrews and the wedding at York Minster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Netflix boss Ted Sarandos has explained why the series ends there. \u2018It was the cut-off to keep it historical, not journalistic,\u2019 he said. \u2018By stopping almost 20 years before the present day, it\u2019s dignified.\u2019<\/p>\n
Dominic \u2013 whose gardener wife Catherine FitzGerald is friends with Charles in real life \u2013 says he found himself fighting the King\u2019s corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I really like him and admire him. I think he\u2019s a good guy who gets a lot of stick and I didn\u2019t want to add to that,\u2019 he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018But there were plenty of people around me who were giving the opposite point of view so hopefully what comes out is compassionate but relatively well-balanced.\u2019<\/p>\n
Fans will once again revel in the re-creation of key moments and occasionally uncanny portrayals of characters we know so well, although Dominic reveals he dispensed with the use of \u2018ear plumpers\u2019 for this series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018They made my ears go out but it was quite a faff and they were quite uncomfortable and didn\u2019t make much difference,\u2019 he says. \u2018They didn\u2019t make me look any more like Charles, unfortunately.\u2019<\/p>\n
Instead he concentrates more on an impression of the character rather than a complete likeness, and reveals he and Olivia Williams, who plays Camilla, had \u2018trigger phrases\u2019 to get into character.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018My main one was based on an interview with Charles on a plane to Australia when he said, \u201cI just do it for jolly old Britain\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Olivia would say, \u201cModern democracy\u201d to get into her role and then I\u2019d say, \u201cJolly old Britain\u201d and we\u2019d start the scene.\u2019<\/p>\n
For Imelda Staunton, his on-screen mother, it was the outfits that made the difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Everything I wear has been handmade and all those details help,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We do the make-up and when the wig goes on we say, \u201cThere we go, that\u2019s it.\u201d But then, actually, the lipstick does it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘It\u2019s like putting all the ingredients into a fantastic meal. They have to be right and it has to be cooked for the right amount of time, but every single day for two and a half years they\u2019ve made me feel like I\u2019m the Queen.\u2019<\/p>\n