The new season of the Netflix series drops on November 9, 2022, and tells the story of the disintegration of Diana’s marriage to King Charles III (then Prince Charles) in the 1990s.
In early episodes, the princess is depicted describing her struggle with royal life in tape recordings which she then smuggled, via her friend Dr James Colthurst, to Andrew Morton for his book Diana: Her True Story.
Episode Two, titled “The System,” shows Elizabeth Debicki’s Diana beginning by giving her reasons for working with Morton: “Because I’ve tried everything. I’ve confronted my husband about his mistress and I have been dismissed. I’ve gone to the queen, it’s like facing a blank wall, and it finally dawned on me unless I get my side of the story out there people will never understand how it’s really been for me.
“And I thought about moving abroad with the boys but the crown could take legal custody of any heirs to the throne and I’d have the boys taken away from me.”
Charles Told Diana ‘Whatever Love Means’
The Crown depicts Diana describing how she was “absolutely traumatized” when Charles responded “whatever love means” to a question from a journalist.
Debicki’s Diana added: “My self worth was cut in two. But it was too late to ask him what he meant.”
The famous moment comes from the couple’s televised engagement interview, in 1981, when a journalist said during a Q and A: “You both look very much in love.”
Diana replied, “Oh, yes. Absolutely,” while Charles said: “Whatever ‘in love’ means.”
In the real Morton tapes, the princess described him saying the same words at the point that he proposed but did not say she felt traumatized.
Diana said: “So I thought: ‘OK.’ So I said: ‘Yes.’ I said: “I love you so much, I love you so much.” He said: “Whatever love means.” He said it then. So I thought that was great. I thought he meant that. And so he ran upstairs and rang his mother.”
However, The Crown likely took the quote from a different set of tapes recorded later in the 1990s with her speech coach Peter Settelen.
On those, broadcast by Channel Four in 2017, she said: “We had this ghastly interview the day we announced our engagement.
“And this ridiculous [reporter] said, ‘Are you in love?’ I thought, what a thick question.
“So I said, ‘Yes, of course, we are,’ and Charles turned round and said, ‘Whatever love means.’
“And that threw me completely. I thought, what a strange answer. It traumatized me.”
Diana’s Wedding to Charles Was ‘Like a Bad Dream’
The Crown shows Princess Diana saying her 1981 wedding passed “like a bad dream” and that during her honeymoon she had nightmares about Camilla.
One line spoken by Debicki is quoted word for word as she describes being a “lamb to the slaughter” at her wedding.
In real life, Diana told Morton: “Must have been awake about 5 am. Interesting, they put me in a bedroom overlooking the Mall, which meant I didn’t get any sleep.
“I was very, very calm, deathly calm. I felt I was a lamb to the slaughter. I knew it and couldn’t do anything about it.”
The Crown’s Diana describes seeing Camilla at the wedding and feeling chilled to the bone in a passage of dialogue that is similar to Morton’s book.
The real Diana said: “So walking down the aisle I spotted Camilla, pale grey, veiled pillbox hat, saw it all, her son Tom standing on a chair. To this day you know—vivid memory.”
Diana Had Nightmares About Camilla on Their Honeymoon
Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s real life honeymoon started at Broadlands, in Hampshire, before a cruise on the Royal Yacht Britannia in 1981.
Things deteriorated fast as Diana said her hope was “slashed by day two” because her husband retreated into a pile of seven books by South African philosopher Laurens van der Post. However, Camilla was also seemingly on both their minds.
Diana said: “On our honeymoon, for instance, we were opening our diaries to discuss various things. Out come two pictures of Camilla. On our honeymoon we have our white-tie dinner for President Sadat [of Egypt].
“Cufflinks arrive on his wrist—two C’s entwined like the Chanel C’s. Got it in one; knew exactly. ‘Camilla gave you those didn’t she?’ He said: ‘Yes, so what’s wrong? They’re a present from a friend.’”
They ended the honeymoon at Balmoral, where they stayed from August to October.
The princess said: “My dreams were appalling. At night I dreamt of Camilla the whole time. Charles got Laurens van der Post to come and help me. Laurens didn’t understand me.
“Everybody saw I was getting thinner and thinner, and I was being sicker and sicker.”
“Obsessed by Camilla totally,” she continued. “Didn’t trust him, thought every five minutes he was ringing her up asking her how to handle his marriage.”
At Balmoral, her mental state deteriorated to the point she began to self harm and returned to London to seek professional help.
Diana told Morton: “I got terribly, terribly thin. People started commenting: ‘Your bones are showing.’ So that was the October, and then we stayed up there from August to October.
“By October I was in a very bad way. I was so depressed, and I was trying to cut my wrists with razor blades.”
Diana Was Hounded by Photographers, Charles Talked About Camilla
The Crown shows Diana saying “when I talked to him about photographers hounding me, he talked about Camilla.”
The account is partially accurate though in the real Morton tapes, at that point, Diana said she did not tell Charles about her own experience.
The princess said she would be followed in her car by up to 30 photographers and “cried like a baby to the four walls” because she did not get any support from Charles or the palace press office.
She said: “[Prince Charles] wasn’t at all supportive. Whenever he rang me up he said: ‘Poor Camilla Parker Bowles. I’ve had her on the telephone tonight and she says there’s lots of press at Bolehyde. She’s having a very rough time.’ I never complained about the press to him because I didn’t think it was my position to do so.
“I asked him: ‘How many press are out there?’ He said: ‘At least four.’ I thought: ‘My God, there’s 34 here!’ and I never told him.”
Bolehyde Manor is Parker Bowles’ former home in Wiltshire, England.
Princess Diana Attempted Suicide While Pregnant With Prince William
In The Crown, Diana describes throwing herself downstairs at Sandringham while pregnant with Prince William.
The reference is almost word for word from the book, which reads: “We had a few trying to cut the wrists, throwing things out of windows, breaking glass.
“I threw myself downstairs when I was four months pregnant with William, trying to get my husband’s attention, for him to listen to me.
“But he just said: ‘You’re crying wolf.’”
If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours every day. Or dial 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
