Outraged critics round on The Crown’s callous depiction of Princess Diana’s 1997 funeral

His head bowed in unspeakable grief, Prince William walks alongside the Duke of Edinburgh in the procession of mourners behind his mother’s coffin.

This is Netflix’s eerie staging of Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, in scenes that are sure to terrify the royal family.

In a heartless recreation of the heartbreaking events, the Royal Standard is draped over the coffin on the gun carriage – just as it was in real life – as actors dressed in the ceremonial uniform of the Welsh Guards march alongside them.

Amid lingering outrage at the show’s disregard for historical truth, the macabre scenes revealed in our exclusive photos will plunge Netflix into another controversy over The Crown.

The scene featuring grief-stricken William and Prince Harry – then 15 and 12 years old – was secretly filmed on an unused RAF base and will air in season six next year.

Much to the horror of Diana’s family and friends, The Crown’s production team will be in Paris next week to recreate her final hours, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Last night, close relatives of the royal family criticized the Netflix series as “rough, cruel and totally insensitive, especially in light of the Queen’s recent death.”

William Shawcross, the Queen Mother’s official biographer, said: “Nothing is sacred to… [the writer of The Crown] Peter Morgan. He has made very clear his Republican feelings and his contempt for our late Queen.

“This is a vile series that lies to the public and is incredibly hurtful to the royal family from the Queen and our new king. Unlike other families, they can’t press charges.’

It’s highly unlikely that Morgan and his colleagues at The Crown failed to grasp the sensibilities surrounding recreating the day William and Harry had to say goodbye to their beloved mother, who died at the age of 36.

Both princes have spoken publicly about their fear of having to follow the coffin for the last mile along the Mall, through Horse Guards Parade, past Whitehall to Parliament Square and on to Westminster Abbey.

The family pictured at Diana’s funeral in 1997. The Netflix scene featuring a grief-stricken William and Prince Harry – then 15 and 12 years old – was secretly filmed on a disused RAF base and will be released next year. season six to be aired

The Duke of Sussex was particularly candid, telling biographer Angela Levin: ‘My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me, while millions more did on television.

“I don’t think any child should ask that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today. No child should lose its mother at such a young age and then have its grief observed by thousands of people.’

Ms Levin said of The Crown’s decision to recreate the funeral procession: ‘It is inhumane, beyond any sense of propriety and hurtful.

“When I first went to interview Harry, he asked if I’d seen The Crown, which was in Series 2 at the time. I said no and he said, ‘Oh you have to watch it. My only problem is they have to stop before they get to me.’

However, Prince Harry, who has a deal with Netflix for a docu-series, defended the Crown in an interview with James Cordon last year, saying it was “clear fiction.”

Much to the horror of Diana’s family and friends, The Crown’s production team will be in Paris next week to recreate her final hours, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

In 2017, the Prince of Wales said: ‘It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done: that walk. It felt like she was almost walking beside us trying to get us through.’

Diana’s brother Earl Spencer revealed that he told courtiers that she would not have wanted her sons to go through this experience.

He said: ‘I had been a passionate advocate for William and Harry not to have to walk behind their mother’s body. I thought it was bizarre and cruel that they were asked to do it.

“I was in touch with a courtier at Buckingham Palace and he mentioned it and I went, of course not, and he said, ‘Well, it’s decided.’

This may explain why Netflix decided not to film the scenes in central London, but instead at an unused RAF base five miles outside Bicester, Oxfordshire.

Last Wednesday, little-known actors Rufus Kampa and Will Powell, who portray William and Harry, Dominic West as King Charles and Jonathan Pryce as the late Duke of Edinburgh, traveled to nearby Upper Heyford, where they were joined by hundreds of extras.

The show’s producers made the rare decision to film with a green screen so production experts can later drop what they filmed on a backdrop of their choosing. Few of the drama’s storylines have used the technology, and a source close to The Crown said the decision was made because of the scenes’ sensitivities.

Photos show the funeral procession for Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales, filmed for the hit Netflix series The Crown in Oxfordshire

“Not only was it impossible to secretly film these scenes if it happened in the middle of London, but it was also decided that it would be totally inappropriate,” the source said.

“They were in and out of the airbase in a day and the scenes will be part of the funeral, which will be an episode.”

The turmoil is likely to continue for the Princes as Netflix crews travel to Paris this week.

They will shoot scenes from Diana’s last days spent in the French capital with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. While it’s clear the crash they died in won’t be recreated, scenes of them leaving the Ritz hotel together will be.

Meanwhile, Prince William is also said to be furious that the Netflix series – which kicks off next month – will fictionalize his mother’s BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, which was obtained via ‘cheating’.

At the time Duke of Cambridge, he included a rare statement saying that the way the interview was obtained meant it “has no legitimacy” and “should never be broadcast again.”

He added: “It has, in effect, established a false story that … has been commercialized by the BBC and others.”