Royal expert slams Netflix's ‘The Crown-season 5', says 'complete fabrication'

Robert Hardman, the royal expert and Queen's biographer, has slammed the makers of The Crown Season 5, which was released on Netflix yesterday.

According to a report by The Daily Mail, Hardman said The Crown's makers have fabricated the history of the Royal Family.

"There are not just re-imaginations, reinterpretations of events," the Queen's author told Sky News.

The royal author claimed that Her late Majesty had been depicted as "self-centred" and a "selfish" old lady in the latest series. However, Hardman dismissed the characterisation of the late Queen and added that he had covered the period of the Royal Family in the 1990s and Netflix's series has put a negative spotlight on her.

He said, "The Queen was a very unsentimental forward-looking stateswoman during this period.

"And so, she doesn't really resemble the Queen at all".

Separately, the new cast of "The Crown" during the Season 5 premiere stated viewers know it's a drama and do not need a disclaimer for its fictionalised storylines.

"Everyone has watched 'The Crown' for four seasons, hasn’t bothered them before," actor Imelda Staunton, who plays Elizabeth in season five, told Reuters.

"I think the audience will be comforted by just spending time with these people again."

The award-winning show, which follows the reign of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, returned for its fifth season on 9 November, portraying the royals in the 1990s, when they faced marital upsets, public dissent, and a fire at Windsor Castle.

It has drawn criticism and calls for disclaimers over its dramatised storylines. Some commentators have voiced concern over its airing just two months after Elizabeth's death and the impact it could have on her son Charles' reign.

New plotlines include Charles' divorce from the late Princes Diana and intimate conversations with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now his wife.

Critics have given mixed reviews on season five but most praised actor Elizabeth Debicki's portrayal of Diana.

Hollywood publication Variety, which called season five "The Crown's "weakest outing yet", also praised Debicki as "very strong" in a role that would challenge any performer".

Comments for other cast members' performances were generally positive.

"As a representative of the ultimate embodiment of Keep Calm and Carry On, 'The Crown' remains a sturdy piece of prestige TV with a strong, clear vision of its tangled subject," U.S. online site TheWrap wrote.