Princess diana

Say what you like about Netflix’s The Crown, now coming into its final series — the first four episodes launch on the service today, with the concluding half-dozen coming next month — but it is one of the few shows that has combined winning truckloads of awards with compelling its viewers to have an opinion on its often surprising manipulations of history. Its creator Peter Morgan has been both praised and vilified for the liberties with fact he has taken, all of which he has dismissed on the grounds that he is creating fact-based entertainment, rather than a documentary series. That invention can often illuminate, rather than obscure, the workings of the forever secretive British royal family.

I was reprimanded by my parents for talking during the minute’s silence at Princess Diana’s funeral. In my defense, I was six years old at the time. Almost twenty-five years have passed since that fateful night in Paris, when the People’s Princess was pursued by the press one last time. In the years since, Diana’s legacy has hung over not just the British royal family, but the relationship between society and celebrity. Her death marked one of the first real moments of global introspection: was our paparazzi too invasive, our press too dogged? We now look back at the media’s treatment of Britney Spears, Whitney Houston and Lindsay Lohan and ask the same questions. But it all goes back to Di.

Just as the real-life antics of the Royal Family continue to enthrall — and in some cases, depress — so their fictional presentation in the ongoing high-class Netflix soap opera The Crown is eagerly dissected, and garlanded with awards, with each passing season. The show's upcoming fifth installment promises to be the most high-profile yet, partly because of its starry cast featuring everyone from Dominic West (as Prince Charles) and Jonny Lee Miller (as Prime Minister John Major) to Lesley Manville (as Princess Margaret) and, unexpectedly, Imelda Staunton as HRH herself.

Director Pablo Larrain, who delved into the emotional discontent of Jacqueline Kennedy following the assassination of her husband in Jackie (2016), has tackled another famous icon’s turmoil triggered by powerful outside forces, in this case, the British monarchy. Natch we’re talking about Princess Diana, played here by Kristen Stewart. Stewart gamely steps into big shoes, but overall, her portrait of the adored princess comes off as loaded and a bit one-note. Di, on the eve of her separation from Prince Charles and royal life, is imprisoned and harassed by the paparazzi and monarchy and at a breaking point. Like Jackie, the setting and time of Spencer is micro-focused. It’s Christmas Eve 1991 as Lady Di arrives late to the Queen's Sandringham Estate.