Netflix encouraged to apologise over ‘deeply upsetting’ Prince Philip scene in The Crown

Netflix is being encouraged to issue an apology over a ‘shockingly malicious’ scene in The Crown since the recent death of Prince Philip, aged 99.

It’s been reported by a royal expert that the storyline left the prince ‘terribly upset’.

The Crown is a lavish original drama that portrays the life of Queen Elizabeth II and her family from the 1940s to modern times.

During season 2 we witness flashbacks to the Duke of Edinburgh’s childhood and the death of his sister, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, in 1937. She died tragically in a plane accident when she was only 26, and the prince 16.

It’s suggested in the drama that Philip was blamed by his father, Prince Andrew, for his sister’s death.

During her funeral in Germany he is confronted by his father, who said: ‘You are the reason we are all here, burying my favourite child.’

The show has implied that Cecilie took the plane that killed her only because Philip was banned from visiting her in Germany due to poor behaviour at school.

Cecilie instead decided to fly to England, but her plane hit a factory chimney in Belgium. The crash killed her and her husband as well as their two sons, their unborn baby boy, and her mother-in-law.

According to royal experts, the Duke of Edinburgh was deeply hurt by this on-screen portrayal of his childhood. Although he was made aware of the hurtful storyline, he and the Queen refused to watch the drama.

‘[Philip] had nothing to do with his sister’s death… Cecilie did die in an air crash but that’s the only thing that was true. Everything else was invented in a shockingly malicious way,’ royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith told the Daily Mail.

‘The whole thing about Cecilie, which he did learn about, was terribly upsetting to him.

‘[Netflix] should emphatically apologise and I think a disclaimer is necessary more than ever. Now that he is gone, what they have done to his reputation is in even sharper relief.’

Teenage Philip was portrayed by actor Finn Elliot, 18. Matt Smith, 38, played the Duke in series one and two and Tobias Menzies, 47, took over for series four and five.

Metro.co.uk has reached out to Netflix, who declined to comment.

The Crown is available to stream on Netflix.

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