The Crown star Elizabeth Debicki is on the cover of this week’s Radio Times
Also, Andrew Morton wrote the best-selling biography that the Princess of Wales secretly approved - now he reveals his views on how The Crown retells her tragic final days.
When Peter Morgan’s epic royal drama The Crown began in 2016, it was tangling with recent history, but at one remove retelling the life of the Windsors from the respectful distance of over half a century.
With each passing season since creeping closer to our current age, questions have been raised about not just the veracity of scenes, but also whether it’s OK to dramatise the lives of a family who still occupy the public stage today.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, those questions were asked again, this time framed in terms of poor taste, considering the nation had lost a monarch whose life was central to the drama.
Now they are set to be raised once more, as the final season begins with the story of Princess Diana’s fateful final weeks in the late '90s.
Bearing that in mind, we wondered how someone who grew to know the late princess better than most – despite never having met her – thought of the depiction of Diana on screen in The Crown’s final series.
Andrew Morton’s book Diana: Her True Story was a sensation when it was published in 1992. Written with his subject’s close cooperation – she would answer his questions through a go-between – the book blew the lid off the secrecy surrounding an unhappy marriage.
In his feature in this issue, Morton recalls how Diana shared her story with him and how she even gave him a cache of private photographs – and a memorable cover shot.
He says the Diana he sees on screen is delivered by Elizabeth Debicki with uncanny empathy: "Hers was a tangled life, often buffeted by forces outside her sway. A woman searching for herself when everyone wanted a piece of her."
A quarter of a century on, our fascination with the woman who would never be queen lives on.
Also in this week’s Radio Times:
- Cary Grant's wife, Dyan Cannon, and his daughter, Jennifer, discuss his traumatic upbringing and the toll it took on his personal life, while Jason Isaacs tells us all about playing the Hollywood legend
- Natalie Portman chats about her diverse acting career, from starring in Leon as a 13 year old to becoming Star Wars royalty, why she’s not a fan of method acting, and the importance of kindness on set
- Speaking to the Radio Times Podcast: Shirley Ballas on how she first discovered dance as a Brownie, the sacrifices her mother made for her career and how she landed the Strictly gig
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