London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Dec 04, 2025

Queen's former employee on Diana scene in 'The Crown' that 'didn't happen'

Queen's former employee on Diana scene in 'The Crown' that 'didn't happen'

Former press secretary Dickie Arbiter has said it's wrong that aides discussed Diana's mental health before she went to New York.

A discussion of Diana’s mental health before she travelled to New York for a royal tour “didn’t happen” according to the Queen’s former press secretary.

Fans of The Crown have been able to binge the latest series after Netflix released all 10 episodes around the world on 15 November.

Season four charts the life and times of the Royal Family and key political events in the 1980s, with fans particularly keen on seeing the introduction of Margaret Thatcher and Lady Diana Spencer, later Diana, Princess of Wales.

In the final episode, royal aides gather to prepare to send Diana to New York for a solo royal tour.

Although she and Prince Charles are still together, she will be going on her own on the trip.

In the meeting, palace aides hint at Diana’s fragile mental health and her separation from her children, though her team insist she is in good health.


Diana Princess of Wales, played by Emma Corrin, in Netflix's The Crown.


But Dickie Arbiter, who worked for the Queen as her press secretary, poured cold water on the idea the aides would have discussed that.

He tweeted: “It didn’t happen. I was there.”

Arbiter also noted that Martin Chateris appears in the newest season, but that he retired in real life in 1977, so would not have been around.

It comes after Peter Morgan, the show’s creator and script writer, defended making up some elements of the drama.

He referred specifically to the opening episode as Lord Mountbatten, played by Charles Dance, gives Charles, played by Josh O’Connor, a telling off for pursuing Camilla, who at the time was married to Andrew Parker-Bowles.

The episode shows Mountbatten writing a letter to Charles, which the prince receives after Mountbatten’s untimely death as he is killed by an IRA bomb.

But there’s no record of the letter existing. Morgan said he believes the interaction is based in truth.


The Prince of Wales and Lord Mountbatten, in Nepal in 1975 at the coronation of King Birendra.


Speaking on the show’s official podcast, he said: “What we know is that Mountbatten was really responsible for taking Charles to one side at precisely this point and saying, ‘Look, you know, enough already with playing the field, it’s time you got married and it’s time you provided an heir’.

“As the heir I think there was some concern that he should settle down, marry the appropriate person and get on with it.”

He added: “In my own head I thought that would have even greater impact on Charles if it were to come post-mortem, as it were. I think everything that’s in that letter that Mountbatten writes to Charles is what I really believe, based on everything I’ve read and people I’ve spoken to, that represents his view.

“We will never know if it was put into a letter, and we will never know if Charles got that letter before or after Mountbatten’s death, but in this particular drama, this is how I decided to deal with it.”

The latest series of The Crown won rave reviews from critics but commentators and those who have worked with the Royal Family are less thrilled.

Royal photographer Arthur Edwards wrote in The Sun: “Charles and Diana did have very little in common.

“He preferred the countryside, while she was happier in Harrods.

“Some couples can overcome this but sadly they couldn’t.

“I do believe Charles when he says he did not rekindle the romance with ­Camilla Parker Bowles until his marriage to Diana had irretrievably broken down.

“I have known and worked with the Prince for 40 years and I don’t recognise the man portrayed in the new series of The Crown.”


Princess Diana at a Day Care Centre in the Lower East Side, New York in 1989.


Sally Bedell Smith, royal biographer, told Vanity Fair: “Because The Crown is such a lavish and expensive production, so beautifully acted and cleverly written, and so much attention has been paid to visual details about historical events, viewers are tricked into believing that what they are seeing actually happened.

“While the earlier seasons were period pieces, this is recent history, so it seems more cruel in its false depictions.”

The Crown season four is streaming now on Netflix.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Inquiry Finds Putin ‘Morally Responsible’ for 2018 Novichok Death — London Imposes Broad Sanctions on GRU
India backs down on plan to mandate government “Sanchar Saathi” app on all smartphones
King Charles Welcomes German President Steinmeier to UK in First State Visit by Berlin in 27 Years
UK Plans Major Cutback to Jury Trials as Crown Court Backlog Nears 80,000
UK Government to Significantly Limit Jury Trials in England and Wales
U.S. and U.K. Seal Drug-Pricing Deal: Britain Agrees to Pay More, U.S. Lifts Tariffs
UK Postpones Decision Yet Again on China’s Proposed Mega-Embassy in London
Head of UK Budget Watchdog Resigns After Premature Leak of Reeves’ Budget Report
Car-sharing giant Zipcar to exit UK market by end of 2025
Reports of Widespread Drone Deployment Raise Privacy and Security Questions in the UK
UK Signals Security Concerns Over China While Pursuing Stronger Trade Links
Google warns of AI “irrationality” just as Gemini 3 launch rattles markets
Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
Macron Says Washington Pressuring EU to Delay Enforcement of Digital-Regulation Probes Against Meta, TikTok and X
UK’s DragonFire Laser Downs High-Speed Drones as £316m Deal Speeds Naval Deployment
UK Chancellor Rejects Claims She Misled Public on Fiscal Outlook Ahead of Budget
Starmer Defends Autumn Budget as Finance Chief Faces Accusations of Misleading Public Finances
EU Firms Struggle with 3,000-Hour Paperwork Load — While Automakers Fear De Facto 2030 Petrol Car Ban
White House launches ‘Hall of Shame’ site to publicly condemn media outlets for alleged bias
UK Budget’s New EV Mileage Tax Undercuts Case for Plug-In Hybrids
UK Government Launches National Inquiry into ‘Grooming Gangs’ After US Warning and Rising Public Outcry
Taylor Swift Extends U.K. Chart Reign as ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ Hits Six Weeks at No. 1
250 Still Missing in the Massive Fire, 94 Killed. One Day After the Disaster: Survivor Rescued on the 16th Floor
Trump: National Guard Soldier Who Was Shot in Washington Has Died; Second Soldier Fighting for His Life
UK Chancellor Reeves Defends Tax Rises as Essential to Reduce Child Poverty and Stabilise Public Finances
No Evidence Found for Claim That UK Schools Are Shifting to Teaching American English
European Powers Urge Israel to Halt West Bank Settler Violence Amid Surge in Attacks
"I Would Have Given Her a Kidney": She Lent Bezos’s Ex-Wife $1,000 — and Received Millions in Return
European States Approve First-ever Military-Grade Surveillance Network via ESA
UK to Slash Key Pension Tax Perk, Targeting High Earners Under New Budget
UK Government Announces £150 Annual Cut to Household Energy Bills Through Levy Reforms
UK Court Hears Challenge to Ban on Palestine Action as Critics Decry Heavy-Handed Measures
Investors Rush Into UK Gilts and Sterling After Budget Eases Fiscal Concerns
UK to Raise Online Betting Taxes by £1.1 Billion Under New Budget — Firms Warn of Fallout
Lamine Yamal? The ‘Heir to Messi’ Lost to Barcelona — and the Kingdom Is in a Frenzy
Warner Music Group Drops Suit Against Suno, Launches Licensed AI-Music Deal
HP to Cut up to 6,000 Jobs Globally as It Ramps Up AI Integration
MediaWorld Sold iPad Air for €15 — Then Asked Customers to Return Them or Pay More
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer Promises ‘Full-Time’ Education for All Children as School Attendance Slips
UK Extends Sugar Tax to Sweetened Milkshakes and Lattes in 2028 Health Push
UK Government Backs £49 Billion Plan for Heathrow Third Runway and Expansion
UK Gambling Firms Report £1bn Surge in Annual Profits as Pressure Mounts for Higher Betting Taxes
UK Shares Advance Ahead of Budget as Financials and Consumer Staples Lead Gains
Domino’s UK CEO Andrew Rennie Steps Down Amid Strategic Reset
UK Economy Stalls as Reeves Faces First Budget Test
UK Economy’s Weak Start Adds Pressure on Prime Minister Starmer
UK Government Acknowledges Billionaire Exodus Amid Tax Rise Concerns
UK Budget 2025: Markets Brace as Chancellor Faces Fiscal Tightrope
UK Unveils Strategic Plan to Secure Critical Mineral Supply Chains
UK Taskforce Calls for Radical Reset of Nuclear Regulation to Cut Costs and Accelerate Build
×