The U.K. culture secretary recently released a statement cautioning that the fourth season of the hit drama The Crown contains significant manipulations of the truth, leaving viewers wondering where the show’s facts end and its fiction begins. The Onion fact-checks the biggest claims made in The Crown.
CLAIM: Prince Charles had a lengthy affair with Camilla Bowles leading up to his union with Diana Spencer.REALITY: Prince Charles had a lengthy affair with Camilla Bowles leading up to, throughout, and following his union with Diana Spencer.
CLAIM: Queen Elizabeth and her children have a tense but ultimately loving relationship.REALITY: No British royal has ever been capable of loving another person.
CLAIM: The queen had Princess Diana assassinated in 1997.REALITY: She actually gave the order in 1995.
CLAIM: Prince Philip was disappointed upon meeting the Apollo 11 astronauts because he found them unremarkable.REALITY: He was just pissed they didn’t bring him any moon rocks.
CLAIM: The queen wrote to Jackie Kennedy following JFK’s assassination.REALITY: The queen didn’t learn how to write until the late 1980s.
CLAIM: Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, was Master of the Horse in 1982.REALITY: This bit of stunning falsity was purely for dramatic narrative purposes, as we all know that office was then occupied by David Fane, 15th Earl of Westmorland.
CLAIM: Every member of the royal family speaks flawless Spanish.REALITY: You need to check your Netflix language settings.
CLAIM: Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher disagreed on imposing sanctions on South Africa for apartheid.REALITY: Honestly, we were too distracted by the luxe interiors and fashion to wonder if this was true or not.
