‘The Crown’ draws to a close with Diana’s death

Netflix’s acclaimed series The Crown, which chronicles the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, nears its long-anticipated conclusion from Thursday.

The sixth and final season of the multiple award-winning series by Peter Morgan premieres the first five episodes on Thursday. The audience gets to see the final five episodes on December 14.

The show, which began in 2016, has shed light on the personal life of Queen Elizabeth II, matriarch of not only her dynastic family but also her nation and commonwealth.

It kicked off with the queen’s coronation and the early years of her rule. Over the course of five seasons, the show also focused on the expansion of the royal family; the maturation of her heir Charles; the introduction of the People’s Princess Diana Spencer; and the shifting public perception of the monarchy.

Executive producer Suzanne Mackie said in a statement that it is the people who have created the award-winning drama that make the show so extraordinary.

“One of the things I have really loved about working on The Crown — apart from the quality of the filmmaking, Peter Morgan’s writing, and the directors and the cast — is the fact that the crew has been together since the very beginning. That means that we have become very close. We understand each other, and we can navigate challenges along the way in a much swifter and more economical way than maybe mounting a brand-new show with brand-new people,” she said.

The end of season 5 saw the princess heading out for a summer holiday with the Al Fayed family, and viewers of The Crown who lived through the 90s know what lies just ahead in the final season: Diana’s tragic death and the criticism that the royal family faced from across the world.

“It is a very sensitive subject because it was such a significant event in the life of the monarchy and the royal family, and because people related to Diana are still very much alive, most notably her now-adult sons William and Harry,” royal historian Ed Owens told AFP.

He added, “It is the seminal moment that the series has been building up to since series one. The question remains whether Peter Morgan is a friend or an enemy of the monarchy. This series will give us a fuller understanding of whether he thinks it is an institution that has made big mistakes and which needs to modernise. Or whether it is an institution that has managed to modernise successfully since 1997.”

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