As someone who grew up fascinated with the British royal family, specifically the story of Princess Diana, I waited in anticipation for the first part of the final season of “The Crown,” a T.V. series on Netflix that recaps Diana’s last months before she tragically passed away. Although the second part of the season has not been released yet, the conclusion of Diana’s storyline needs its own review.
The first part of season six consists of four episodes that focus on Diana’s relationship with Dodi Al-Fayed, an Egyptian film producer. The first episode shows Diana, William, and Harry on their trip to St. Tropez with members of the Al-Fayed family. The following episodes shine a light on the relationship between Dodi and Diana in France while also showing the attempts Prince Charles made to incorporate his new wife, Camilla Bowles, into the royal family.
Multiple aspects of these episodes portray the story very well.
The show perfectly executes the paparazzi and media’s overall harassment of Diana. Beginning in the first episode, the paparazzi bombard Diana and her family on their vacation to the point where Diana intervenes and forces them to go away.
The aggressiveness of the media and paparazzi progresses further while Diana and Dodi are in France, and their car is surrounded by men on motorcycles with cameras, foreshadowing the car crash that causes both of their deaths.
While there are many theories about the death of Princess Diana, these episodes avoid delving into the conspiracies that claim the royal family was involved in her death, instead focusing on the aggressiveness of the media.
What struck me the most from these four episodes was the reactions to Princess Diana’s death. The sadness of the global public revealed Princess Diana’s impact on society. While the show conveyed the love that the public had for her, I think the reactions of her sons, Harry and William, as well as Prince Charles, were the most impactful. At the end of the day, two children lost their mother. The sadness of those closest to her emphasized the importance of her personal life which was ripped away by the media.
While of course, “The Crown” is a dramatized version of true events, the writers authentically and genuinely portrayed Diana’s final moments as well as the aftermath of her death in a beautiful way.