In The Crown season 4, Lady Diana Spencer is introduced as a character, but The Crown changes the Princess of Wales in a few notable ways and leaves much of her childhood out altogether. The Crown briefly shows Diana as a teenager before she begins dating Charles at the age of 18 and then marries the Prince of Wales at 20 - all before the end of season 4, episode 3, "Fairytale."
The rest of season 4 explores Charles and Diana as a married couple trying to understand each other, but ultimately growing further and further apart. Diana is caught between her own needs and the demands of royal life and Emma Corrin portrays Diana with an enigmatic combination of vulnerability and ferocity. The Crown is a masterfully produced work of historical drama that engages the viewer. It's a spectacle of period fashion, grand architecture, and natural scenery - not to mention the highest caliber of acting. However, while there is some verifiable truth to The Crown's depiction of Diana, the show often embellishes history.
It should be acknowledged that much of what is shown in The Crown regarding Diana's private interactions - particularly with Charles - is speculation. Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, said of The Crown in an interview on the ITV show Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh, "There is a lot of conjecture and a lot of invention, isn’t there? You can hang it on fact but the bits in between are not fact" [via Town & Country]. So, what are the facts around Diana's life that The Crown hinges on, and which of the "bits in between" are altered, exaggerated, or completely made up for the sake of the show?
What The Crown Gets Right About Princess Diana's Early Life
The Crown doesn’t reveal much of Diana’s childhood – only that she has a sister named Sarah, grew up in a wealthy aristocratic family, and loved dancing. All of that is true. Diana did have a sister named Sarah who dated Prince Charles before Diana started dating him. It was Sarah Spencer who introduced Charles to Diana when she was 16, though Diana and Charles’s first meeting was not as cinematic as The Crown depicts and occurred in "a sort of plowed field" as Diana recalled in her and Charles's engagement interview. Charles was 29 when they met and their age difference became a hurdle that the couple never managed to overcome.
When Charles picks up Diana’s sister, Sarah, for a date in The Crown season 4, episode one, “Gold Stick,” Diana stages a run-in with Charles and Sarah later tells Charles that Diana had been set on meeting him. While the event of Charles and Diana’s meeting was under different circumstances, there is some truth to Sarah’s line. On multiple occasions, Diana spoke of her desire to marry Prince Charles. As a teenager, Diana said of Prince Charles that she wanted to marry him because he was the only man who wouldn’t be allowed to divorce her.
In season 4, episode 2, “The Balmoral Test,” Diana is shown as a schoolteacher living in London with roommates and mentions doing cleaning work for her sister, Sarah. This is fairly accurate as the real Diana moved from her family home of Althorp House into London and began working as a preschool assistant while cleaning for Sarah on the side. Diana’s mother purchased a flat for Diana’s 18th birthday and Diana reportedly loved living in London with her roommates. After Diana and Charles started dating, her roommates would become giddy every time the phone rang, hoping that it might be Prince Charles calling for Diana.
The Real Diana's Early Life
Diana was born in Park House on Sandringham Estate which was owned by Queen Elizabeth II. The queen’s family often spent time at Sandringham House and the two families had interacted throughout Diana’s life, though Diana did not officially meet Charles until she was 16. Diana was one of five children: Sarah, Jane, John (who sadly died as a baby), then Diana and Charles. Diana’s younger brother, Charles Spencer, attributes their parents’ divorce to John’s death and then Diana’s birth after they had tried to produce an heir to Viscount Althorp’s title.
Diana’s parents divorced when she was seven. Around the time of her parents' divorce, Diana had been living with her mother in London, but when they returned to Park House for Christmas, Diana’s father – who had won custody of Diana – refused to let Diana return to London. Diana’s mother left and returned to London without Diana, which traumatized Diana. From then on, Diana felt a deep fear of loneliness and abandonment.
Princess Diana's Shocking Eating Disorder (And How We Know About It)
After Diana and Charles started dating, Diana moved into Buckingham Palace. The Crown depicts Diana’s eating disorder occurring after the move. Diana really did suffer from bulimia for about a decade and Princess Diana herself revealed the details in multiple interviews. In a recording of an interview for Andrew Morton's book Diana: Her True Story, Diana said the bulimia started the week after she and Charles became engaged. Diana said that Charles had put his hand on her stomach and said, “Oh, a bit chubby here, aren’t we?” Diana cites this comment as the moment her disorder was triggered.
In 1995 on BBC’s documentary series Panorama, Diana gave a shockingly in-depth interview with Martin Bashir in an episode titled “An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales.” The interview, which took place after Diana and Charles had separated, shook the foundations of the royal family. BBC called it the “scoop of a generation” because of how much Diana revealed of the secretive royal family as well as her highly publicized relationship with Prince Charles and very personal, vulnerable details of her struggle with bulimia.
"I had bulimia for a number of years. And that's like a secret disease. You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and you don't think you're worthy or valuable. You fill your stomach up four or five times a day - some do it more - and it gives you a feeling of comfort. It's like having a pair of arms around you, but it's temporarily, temporary. Then you're disgusted at the bloatedness of your stomach, and then you bring it all up again. And it's a repetitive pattern which is very destructive to yourself."
That interview burned Diana’s last bridge with the royal family, but the public loved her even more for it. Her vulnerability and honesty rang through her distinct and melodic voice. Toward the end of the interview, she addressed the viewers directly, saying, “I want to reassure all those people who have loved me and supported me throughout the last 15 years that I'd never let them down. That is a priority to me, along with my children.”
21 million people tuned into the interview, listening with rapt attention as Diana tore away the façade of perfection that the royal family had carefully crafted and maintained. Diana concluded the interview by saying, “I don't sit here with resentment: I sit here with sadness because a marriage hasn't worked. I sit here with hope because there's a future ahead, a future for my husband, a future for myself and a future for the monarchy.”
Princess Diana's Affairs
In The Crown, season 4, Charles and Camilla’s affair is shown on multiple occasions, as well as Diana’s affair with Captain James Hewitt. Though Diana reportedly had multiple affairs, her affair with Hewitt is the only one depicted in The Crown. In real life, James Hewitt was Diana’s horse-riding instructor, and the two carried out an affair for about five years in the late 80s and early 90s. The affair ended when Hewitt was deployed in the Gulf War.
Before Hewitt, Diana had a brief affair with her bodyguard, Barry Mannakee. Based on recordings taken by Diana’s voice coach in 1992, Diana was in love with Mannakee and would have left Charles for him if she could have. Mannakee lost his job as Diana’s bodyguard when he was “chucked out,” according to Diana, and died a year later in a motorcycle accident, though Diana believes he may have been “bumped off” [via BBC].
Diana reportedly had two more affairs – one with rugby player Will Carling, which Diana denied, and another with Hasnat Khan, who was a junior surgeon when the two met. Diana’s affair with Khan occurred while she and Charles were separated but not yet divorced. Khan ended the relationship to avoid the press attention that he knew would come with making their relationship public. Diana described Hasnat Khan as the love of her life [via Vanity Fair].
What The Crown Leaves Out About Diana
The Crown, season 4 left out Diana's affair with Mannakee, though Princess Anne describes Diana's bedroom as a "revolving door" and mentions a possible affair with her bodyguard. And though The Crown includes several depictions of Diana’s bulimia, season 4 does not show Diana’s struggle with self-harm and suicidal behaviors. In Diana’s Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, she revealed that she had hurt her arms and legs. She said that Charles didn’t know that she was hurting herself and Diana also believed that her bulimia and self-harm were cries for help that went cruelly ignored by those closest to her, including Charles.
Seasons 5 and 6 of The Crown could depict Diana's other affairs besides Captain Hewitt and include flashbacks that reveal more of Diana’s childhood. If The Crown chooses to explore more of Diana as a character, it will likely need to show some of the childhood events that shaped her personality and contributed to the inner battles she fought all through her life. But it should again be noted that The Crown is largely a work of fiction, dramatized for the sake of entertainment. Lady Diana Spencer, who has been a subject of public fascination for forty years, is portrayed as a compelling character in The Crown, but the show's depiction of Diana remains just that: a character.