‘The Crown’, the hit Netflix series about the life of Queen Elizabeth II released its fifth season earlier this week. However, a certain episode in season two of the show allegedly led Prince Philip who passed away in 2021, to consider suing Netflix. He ultimately dropped the matter to not draw attention further.
Royal commentator and author Hugo Vickers stated that Philip contacted his lawyers about his desire to seek legal retributions from Netflix, specifically surrounding the episode ‘Paterfamilias’. Whatever, Philip tried to not garner attention, it absolutely failed. People were more interested in his epic Netflix controversy.
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Did Prince Philip Want To Sue Netflix?
The answer is yes. How do we know? It’s because of a statement from Royal commentator Hugo Vickers to The Sunday Times. He claimed that the Duke of Edinburgh considered suing Netflix over a 2017 episode of ‘The Crown’. The episode portrayed that Philip was to blame for his sister Cecile’s death in a plane crash in 1937. This obviously must have pissed off the royals especially Prince Philip.
Philip contacted his lawyers about his desire to seek legal retribution from Netflix, specifically surrounding the episode “Paterfamilias” in season two. “The dramatized retelling of the tragedy portrays a young Philip at his sister’s funeral getting told by his father, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, that he was the reason for Cecile’s death,” Insider reports. At the time of Cecile’s death, Philip was only 16 years old.
How Did The Duke Of Edinburgh Feel About His Portrayal In ‘The Crown’?
It is certain that Prince Philip would have felt gutted over this insinuated portrayal of him in one of the trending shows on the world’s biggest streaming platform Netflix. “He was very upset about the way that was portrayed,” Vickers says. “He was human. He could be hurt like anybody else.”
Vickers previously said that the implication of Philip’s involvement in his sister’s death was the “worst assertion” the show has made by far. “Prince Philip, I do know, was very upset about that episode and the way his family was treated,” Vickers said.
The reason why Philip didn’t sue Netflix was because it would bring “enormous amount of attention”. Royal commentator and film critic Richard Fitzwilliams said, “The reason he didn’t do it was because the whole world would’ve heard of this and perhaps some would’ve believed that it might have been true.”
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