Netflix premieres this Wednesday, November 9 fifth season of ‘The Crown’the series in which Peter Morgan has been dissecting the long reign of Isabel II. If in the previous ones it had already been analyzed in sufficient detail what was reliable and what had been fictionalized to give more strength to the story, this new stage will face a more fierce scrutiny, with the United Kingdom still in mourning for the recent death of the monarch and with some chapters that address a few years, the 90s, the most complicated for the crown. “For Elizabeth II they were, without a doubt, the worst of her life and her reign,” he says. Ana Polo Alonsospecialist in political and institutional communication and author of ‘The Queen. The incredible life of Elizabeth II’edited by The Sphere of Books.
open war between Charles and Diana of Wales He lived his bloodiest stage and would end up leading to a resounding divorce, but the monarch had to deal with many more headaches during that decade, something that will undoubtedly appear in ‘The Crown 5’. What were those nightmares that made the queen sleepless and what should we see in this season of the Netflix series, according to an expert in this royal house?
The season is open to gossip in the press
The ban on the press was uncovered on July 1, 1991, when Diana turned 30 and the tabloids, far from congratulating her, already openly published rumors that the marriage of the princes of Wales was failing, as Polo recalls in your book. “A Andrew Mortonat that time a virtually unknown journalist, published a long article saying that the princess spent most of the days completely alone, “he notes. And Diana began to use the tabloids in his favor. “It was very sneaky for the press and began to drop hints of how bad it was. For example, on the couple’s famous trip to India, she posed alone and with a sad face in front of the Taj Majal, a symbol of eternal love. The public, who adored Diana for her youth, glamour, charisma and her charity work, began to side with her and reproach Carlos for his lack of empathy with her wife.”
The enormous hatred of Carlos and Diana
The tension in the marriage of the princes of Wales was increasing, with which Elizabeth II tried to mediate between her son and her daughter-in-law. “The hatred between them was so enormous that when Diana’s father, Earl Spencer, died of a heart attack, Diana refused to let Charles accompany her to the funeral. The couple were skiing with her children in Austria when they heard the news and the princess did not want Carlos to even accompany her on the plane back to England. She needed Elizabeth II to phone to prevent such a disaster.”
The photos of Sarah Ferguson topless
The marriage of Carlos and Diana was not the only one that was making waters. “In early 1992 compromising photos of her daughter-in-law were published Sarah Fergusonwife of prince andrew, with a rooftop millionaire named Steve Wyatt. Months later, even more compromising photos emerged of Sarah with another American businessman, John Bryan.” They showed the Duchess of York topless in a Saint-Tropez swimming pool while her companion sucked on her toes. she.
Andrew Morton’s incendiary book
The publication of the book Andrew Morton ‘Diana, Her True Story’ It would shake the foundations of Buckingham and cause a great ‘shock’ worldwide due to the revelations of the princess. “It explained that Diana attempted suicide five times Because of an indifferent Carlos, there was open talk about her bulimia, his infidelities with Camila and the coldness of the royal family towards the princess. Carlos was portrayed as a lousy father and a worse husband”, Polo recalls about a play in which Lady Di contributed her version in a bizarre way: when a friend, Dr. James Colthurst, was going to visit her at Kensington Palace, in The bicycle basket held a tape recorder and some sheets of questions, Diana was recorded answering, and the doctor then took the tapes to Morton’s apartment.
Windsor Castle burns in the queen’s ‘shitty’ year
The powder keg ended up exploding in the most literal way: with an unexpected fire. “On November 20, 1992, coincidentally the day of her wedding anniversary, Elizabeth II received a call from her son, Andrés, telling her that windsor was burning“, explains Polo. “The castle had been under construction for a few days to install new electrical wiring and it is assumed that a spark triggered a large fire that, in a matter of a few hours, devoured an important part of the castle,” he adds. Four days later, over lunch at the Guildhall in London, the queen admitted that this was her ‘Annus horribilis”. “The next day, ‘The Sun’ was in charge of translating it: ‘On’s bum year’ (‘My shitty year’), put in the headline”.
Obligated to pay taxes
The Windsor fire would end up leading to a new headache for Elizabeth II. Because when it became public that the repair of windsor (about sixty million pounds) would be covered by public funds, the anger of the people was immediate. “The British did not understand why their taxes had to go to a castle enjoyed only by the royal family, a clan that was proving to be quite dysfunctional and scandalous. Not to say that no one understood why a woman as rich as Elizabeth could not pay the repair out of your pocket”, reflects the author of ‘The Queen. The Incredible Life of Elizabeth II’. “Buckingham panicked. Not only did he have to back down quickly, but the queen had no choice but to start doing something she hadn’t wanted to do until then: Paying taxes“.
The ‘tampaxgate’at the beginning of January 1993, would be marked by fire as one of the most humiliating for Charles of England (and, how not for his mother). The transcript of a private conversation between the Prince of Wales and Camila made rivers of ink run when, in a strange declaration of love, he declared: “The only way to always live inside you would be by being inside your pants. Or being a Tampax”.
In a desperate attempt to wash his image, the Prince of Wales participated in the documentary ‘Carlos: the man in private, the public role’, issued on June 29, 1994. “Despite the good intentions, the result was not what was expected,” recalls Polo, since the protagonist of this work recognized that he had cuckolded Diana when the interviewer asked if he tried to be faithful to his wife. “Yes… Until the marriage was irretrievably broken,” he answered. The documentary caused another unintended consequence: the divorce from the Parker Bowles. “Camila was not only left without a husband, but also in a very precarious economic situation. From then on, Carlos began to assume many of her expenses,” Polo details.
“We were three in marriage”
On November 20, 1995, the producer of the BBC program Martin Bashir a bombshell was scored when interviewing Diana. “Today it is known that she came to invent evidence and documents to convince the princess,” says Polo. She talked about her bulimia, her problems in her marriage, her suicide attempts and how badly she had been treated in the palace. And she blurted out: “We were three in marriage, so it was quite crowded.” “From that moment, there was no going back: the queen ordered the divorce. After arduous negotiations, it was certified in August 1996,” emphasizes the Elizabeth II expert.
After the divorce, Carlos hired a public relations expert, Mark Bolland, to improve his image while his ex-wife emerged as the great humanitarian and fighter against antipersonnel mines. But she also had time for love, like the one she lived with a Pakistani cardiologist, Hasnat Khan, “surely the relationship that filled her the most in her life,” according to Polo. “The princess fell so in love with him that she seriously thought of convert to islam“. Later would come Dodi Al-Fayed. “Many journalists assured that they were going to get married, but my impression is that Diana did not fall in love with him. She only used him to escape and momentarily forget about her problems. Her children, moreover, did not quite like that relationship”, Polo points out. We won’t see his sad end until the sixth season of ‘The Crown’.