The Crown creator defends new series and says he has ‘enormous sympathy’ for King Charles 

The Crown creator Peter Morgan has hit back at critics who have accused the Netflix series of ‘exploiting’ the royal family.

The award-winning The British screenwriter, 59, has come out in defense of his show, which will dramatize the breakdown of the marriage of King Charles and Diana and the tragic death of the late royal in 1997.

Last month, a friend of the king told the… Daily Telegram that the series was “exploitative” and claimed that Netflix “has no qualms about mutilating people’s reputations.”

Speak with Weekly entertainmentPeter acknowledged that the new season – which lands on the streaming platform next month – does not shy away from the ‘tough time’ of the royal family in the 1990s.

Describing how King Charles “will almost certainly have painful memories” of that period, the screenwriter said, “That doesn’t mean that, in retrospect, history will be unkind to him or the monarchy.”

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Debicki – who has been cast as Diana in the new series – said the storylines have been treated with “sensitivity, truth and complexity.”

“Definitely not the show. I have immense sympathy for a man in his position – indeed, a family in their position.

“People are more understanding and compassionate than we sometimes expect.”

What’s more, actress Elizabeth Debicki – who has been cast as Diana in the new series – echoed Peter’s sentiment.

She added: “Peter and the entire crew on this track go out of their way to really handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity, just like actors.”

The final season of The Crown — starring Emma Corrin as Princess Diana and Josh O’Connor as Prince of Wales — suggested that Charles never stopped seeing Camilla Parker Bowles, even after he got engaged.

Earlier this week, it was claimed that Netflix would be “shocked” by the outcry some of the storylines have sparked – even before it airs next month.

King Charles, played by Dominic West, is the dominant figure in the drama. He is shown lobbying Prime Minister John Major in a bizarre attempt to force his mother’s abdication.

It also shows Charles bitterly arguing with Diana as their divorce looms, and the romance of Camilla, now queen consort, including a dramatization of the infamous “tampongate” phone call.

A production source said, “Peter is always trying to get to the truth. There are always piles and piles of research.

“But 50 years ago, people are looser about Princess Margaret than John Major was in 1991.

“Peter is well aware of it and it’s a struggle. He insisted on announcing that series five would be its last, even though Netflix wouldn’t announce it. It didn’t want to kill the golden goose.

“Then, a few months later, he changed his mind and said he was writing series six. But this will be it. He does not proceed to the present. It’s uncomfortable enough already.’

Former Prime Minister John Major condemned the series for basing an episode around the “harmful and malicious lie” that Charles urged him to depose the Queen.

Friends called the portrayal of the new monarch as an unfaithful schemer “false, dishonest and deeply wounding” and urged viewers to boycott the hit Netflix show. The new series, which airs next month, shows Charles lobbying Prime Minister John Major in a bizarre attempt to force his mother’s abdication.

But Sir John told The Mail on Sunday that the meeting never took place, calling the scene a “barrel of malicious nonsense”.

A well-placed source said: ”All the one-on-one conversations you see on screen are utter fiction and some scenes are made entirely for dramatic and commercial purposes with little regard for the truth. People should boycott it.’

Meanwhile, the show has also caused a stir among fans after it was revealed that it was the character of Prince Philip has ‘an affair’ with close friend Penny Knatchbull.

The sun reported that one of the storylines in upcoming episodes will be “intimate scenes” between the late Duke of Edinburgh and the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who was 30 years his junior.

It’s thought the couple will touch hands as Philip talks about his marriage, in a move that has been labeled “cruel nonsense” by the late Queen’s former press secretary.

Dickie Arbiter, who was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s spokesman from 1988 to 2000, told the publication that it was distasteful that such scenes would take place just weeks after her funeral.

‘Just weeks after the nation placed Her Majesty next to Prince Philip, this is very distasteful and, frankly, cruel nonsense,” he said.

“The truth is that Penny has been a friend of the whole family for a long time. Netflix isn’t interested in people’s feelings.”

Called the “second most important woman” in his life, Philip bonded with the Countess, who is now 69, because of their mutual love of carriage rides and the couple had a friendship spanning decades.

Philip is said to have supported her when her five-year-old daughter Leonora died of kidney cancer in 1991.