When it comes to Netflix’s lavish royal drama, there’s rarely a dull moment.
Between affairs, abdications, and assassinations, there are few scandals the royals haven’t weathered.
(Spoiler: A lot of them actually turned out to be factual!).
Des Willie/Netflix
Basically, we did the research to separate fact from fiction so you don’t have to.
Did Mountbatten send a letter to Charles about settling down right before his death?
Was Diana really her sister’s cleaning lady?
According to royal biographer Andrew Morton’s bookDiana: In Her Own Words, this is quite true.
According to royal journalists, these make-or-break showdowns absolutely take place.
Planning a weekend at the Highland castle?
Des Willie/Netflix
Okay, but does the royal family really play the parlor game Ibble Dibble?
Go on, imagine it anyway.
Very reassuring, and not at all ominous.
Tell me Diana and Camilla really did meet at a restaurant named Menage a Trois?!
Getting your ex and fiancee together in the same room to discuss you?
The two ladies meeting at an establishment named Menage a Trois?
Des Willie/Netflix
Implausibleand yet, according to newspaper reports from the time, this is in fact true!
There’s some speculation over this one.
Is one slightly better than the other?
Did Princess Margaret really speak out against Charles and Diana’s marriage?
This one is fictionas far as we know.
However, the way it plays out on the show was all Helena Bonham Carter’s idea.
“I like to credit myself with an idea.
I said, ‘Hang on, I’m not really part of this.’
They all looked at me,” the actress said during a press conference.
Did Diana really roller-skate around the palace?
As theshow’s producers point out in an interview, Diana’s wheeled escapades really did take place.
Corrin also believes it to be true.
“I think she [really] did do that,“she told Sky News.
Four wheels are better than two, anyway, right?
Did a man really break into the palace and have an early-a.m. chat with the queen?
Better believe itthough it’s likely some details were amplified for dramatic effect.
Did the royals really have secret relatives they hid away in a mental institution?
The book did in fact contain that incorrect information in real life.
Diana certainly did play the uptown girl on stage for one night only.
Whether Diana later made a home video of herself singing a song fromPhantomis less clear.
The Crownseason 4 is available to stream on Netflix now.
