One episode of season five, entitled Queen Victoria Syndrome, is thought to show the Prince of Wales talking enthusiastically about a poll that suggests 47% of the public believe he should replace his mother as monarch.
He then arranges an audience with Sir John in which he shares his plans to take over from her.
The broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, who is friends with King Charles, told The Mail on Sunday: “The Crown is full of nonsense, but this is nonsense on stilts.”
The upcoming series will cover some of the worst years for the British monarchy, including Queen Elizabeth’s “annus horribilis” of 1992 when three of her four children split from their partners and a major fire broke out at Windsor Castle. It is said to feature Princess Diana’s Panorama interview with Martin Bashir following the breakdown of her marriage.
One episode reportedly depicts Charles, then the Prince of Wales, summoning Major, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1997, to a secret meeting at Highgrove. Charles, played by Dominic West, hints that he wants to replace his mother by raising the Conservative party’s ousting of Margaret Thatcher a year earlier.
“What makes the Conservative party successful? Its instinct for renewal and its willingness to make way for someone younger. For almost 60 years my great-great-grandfather Edward VII was kept waiting in the wings. He longed to be given responsibilities but his mother refused. And yet when his time came he proved his doubters wrong and his reign was a triumph,” Charles tells Major, played by Johnny Jain Miller according to the Sunday Times.
It also reportedly features scenes in which Major speaks of the royal family in disparaging terms.
Major, 79, hit back at the claims on Saturday with a spokesperson saying he has not “co-operated in any way with The Crown. Nor has he ever been approached by them to fact-check any script material in this or any other series.”
“There was never any discussion between Sir John and the then Prince of Wales about any possible abdication of the late Queen Elizabeth II– nor was such an improbable and improper subject ever raised by the then Prince of Wales (or Sir John). Neither Sir John nor Dame Norma have discussed the Monarchy remotely in these terms,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also condemned the show for reportedly depicting imagined dialogue between Major and the Queen, saying: “As you will know, discussions between the Monarch and prime minister are entirely private and – for Sir John – will always remain so … They are fiction, pure and simple.”
They said the scenes “should be seen as nothing other than damaging and malicious fiction. A barrel-load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum – and entirely false – dramatic impact.”
The spokesperson said that if such scenes are broadcast, “they should be seen as nothing other than damaging and malicious fiction. A barrel-load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum – and entirely false – dramatic impact”
A spokeswoman for The Crown defended the show, saying: “The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events.
“Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”
Sir John Major during his appearance on BBC One current affairs programme The Andrew Marr Show, on 11th April 2021
Sir Malcom Rifkind, foreign secretary under Sir John, also criticised the popular drama, telling The Mail on Sunday that the scene featuring Sir John and Prince Charles was “pathetic and absurd”, while broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, a friend of the King, said: “The Crown is full of nonsense, but this is nonsense on stilts.”
The new series is released on Netflix on 9 November and is expected to show Prince Charles (played by Dominic West) cutting short a holiday with Diana, Princess of Wales to host a secret meeting with Sir John (Jonny Lee Miller), at his private residence, Highgrove, in 1991.
Imelda Staunton comes on board as the latest actress to play the late Queen, following in the footsteps of Claire Foy and Olivia Colman.
According to The Times, Robert Harris, the historical fiction author and former journalist, said: “I take a kind of heretical view in that I think The Crown has done the royal family nothing but good in some ways.”
Speaking at the Cliveden Literary Festival, he added: “Nobody really takes it literally, do they? I’m not sure that they do.”
