London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Duke of Edinburgh considered suing Netflix over The Crown, royal expert claims

Duke of Edinburgh considered suing Netflix over The Crown, royal expert claims

Prince Philip reportedly spoke with lawyers from Farrer & Co

The late Duke of Edinburgh considered suing Netflix over The Crown’s portrayal of him, according to a royal expert.

Prince Philip reportedly spoke with lawyers from Farrer & Co over the characterisation of him after a plot line in the hit Netflix series blamed him for the death of his sister, Princess Cecilie.

The Duke, who died last year, was said to be deeply ‘hurt and upset’ by the portrayal - and spoke to lawyers to see what he could do about the show, which has frequently been criticised for taking dramatic licence with the royal family.

Hugo Vickers, a royal historian, told The Sunday Times: “I know Prince Philip consulted his lawyer about it, to ask “What can I do about it?”

“He was very upset about the way that was portrayed. He was human. He could be hurt like anybody else.”


Netflix

The penultimate episode of the second series of the hit show, which aired in 2017, depicts a young Philip at his boarding school Gordonstoun, in Scotland.

Philip gets into trouble at the school and is told he is not allowed to return home to Germany for the half-term break.

Cecilie, who is pregnant with her fourth child at the time, tells Philip that she is forced to fly to London as a result of the trouble he caused at school.

Cecile, 26, died in a plane crash in 1937 along with her husband and two children.

She went into labour during the flight shortly before their plane crashed into a factory chimney in Ostend, Belgium as it tried to land in thick fog.

Matt Smith as Prince Philip


Cecilie and the baby’s body were found beside one another in the crash wreckage, with her husband and two young sons.

In The Crown’s portrayal of Cecilie’s funeral, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Philip’s father, says: “I’m surprised he dare show himself here.

“Had it not been for Philip and his indiscipline she would never have taken that flight. It’s true, isn’t it boy? You’re the reason we’re all here burying my favorite child. Get him out of here.”

In reality Cecilie’s reason for travelling to London had nothing to do with Philip.

Philip and Cecilie were close to one another before her death.

The Crown’s use of dramatic licence is said to have hurt multiple members of the royal family.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
×