The Crown Special Edition
As Season 4 prepares to debut, we look at the stories behind the series
Diana vs Meghan: The making of two royal rebels
Before Meghan there was Diana – the original bride who started a media whirlwind and changed the monarchy forever. Both women battled the Royal Family – Diana famously clashed with the “men in grey suits” and Meghan and Harry, according to biography Finding Freedom, were driven out by them.
Talking to Californian students for the Teenager Therapy podcast, Meghan said she “was the most trolled person in the entire world,” describing it as “almost unsurvivable”. Her candour is reminiscent of Diana’s game-changing Panorama interview 25 years ago this month. “When no one listens to you, or you feel no one’s listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen,” she said.
And while Meghan might feel isolated by her experience – her mother-in-law had done it all before. “Here was a situation which hadn’t ever happened before in history,” Diana said. The series is set to show the parallels between the two women, so who did have it worse? Kerry took a look for Marie Claire. Read the full story here.
Great expectations: At the beginning, it seemed like a dream for both women – the world’s media fell in love with Shy Di, the quiet nursery school teacher with her accidentally see-through skirt and Meghan, the glamorous actor, with her yoga mats and refreshing honesty.
Family misfortunes: Fitting in with ‘The Firm’ as Diana called it, would prove impossible for both women. In her Panorama interview, Diana talked about her mental health struggles, saying it was “pretty devastating … a feeling of being no good at anything and … failed in every direction.” And last year, Meghan admitted she was not OK: “It’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”
Calling it quits: Charles and Diana separated in 1992, but it would prove a long and messy process until they divorced in 1996. A year later, Diana passed away. Meghan’s journey was much quicker – less than two years after saying “I do”, she and Harry declared they definitely didn’t want the royal life any longer.
Diana’s wedding dress: the real story
We’ve had a few tantalising looks at The Crown’s version of the most famous wedding dress ever made. Maria reports on Diana’s era-defining frock.
On July 29, 1981, after months of press speculation and top-secret fittings, Lady Diana Spencer stepped out of a horse-drawn glass carriage onto the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral and we all gasped… at the dress and its world-famous wrinkles. (No one had factored in that cramped carriage ride with her dad Earl Spencer.)
Diana’s huge dress - let’s not forget the endless train and veil - with its supersized 1980s puff sleeves, set wedding dress trends for years. For Welsh designer David Emanuel and his then wife, Elizabeth, it was a life-changing commission. And boyo, did they deliver. Their fairy-tale creation crafted from ivory silk taffeta and antique lace was embellished with 10,000 mother of pearl sequins and pearls, and a 25-foot train, as Diana insisted on having the longest one in UK royal wedding history.
The Crown’s award-winning costume designer Amy Roberts recreated it with help from David Emanuel himself. Here are the new frock star facts:
Emma Corrin, who plays Diana, had five fittings during its creation. She told British Vogue, “I had a team of about 10 people helping me put it on.”
It took four months, three people and 600 hours to make.
It is not an exact replica but captures the “spirit and style” of the original.
Ilkeston’s Cluny Lace, who made the original lace also worked on the replica.
Diana’s dress has been valued at £151,000, but don’t hold your breath for another chance to see it - it is part of the private collection of William and Harry.
The Camilla-shaped red flags Diana ignored
This season follows Charles and Diana’s love story from dream wedding to nightmare marriage. Diana famously said, “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” Maria looks at the tell-tale signs the young Diana ignored.
Charles said, ‘whatever love means’ in their engagement interview: Diana admitted in tapes for biographer Andrew Morton, she was ‘traumatised’ by Charles’ response to the question, ‘Are you in love?’ It also fanned the flames of suspicion Camilla was not just a former flame and ‘best friend’. In The Duchess: The Untold Story, author Penny Junor claimed Charles started seeing Camilla again in early 1978 until his engagement in 1981.
Camilla’s pre-wedding lunch with Diana: The princess told Morton Camilla left her a note at Clarence House asking her to lunch. She asked if Diana would hunt. When Diana replied no, she believed this was code for, ‘that’s my time with Charles’.
Diana felt she was a ‘lamb to the slaughter’: The princess claimed she only met Charles 13 times before their engagement and still had doubts on her big day. “I was deathly calm,” Diana later told Morton. “I felt I was a lamb going to the slaughter.” She also said she picked out Camilla in the pews.
Charles’s secret love token: Diana found an engraved bracelet for Camilla in Charles’ private secretary’s office, inscribed with G and F - their nicknames for each other were Gladys and Fred. On honeymoon, Diana saw photos of Camilla in Charles’ diary and he wore a set of personalised cuff links, which read ‘C & C’, for… well, you can guess.
Respectable in the ’80s: Diana’s looks recreated
They say the 1980s were the decade style forgot and actor Emma Corrin certainly agrees – she told Entertainment Weekly the princess’s early style was awful. Describing how the second time Diana met Charles, she was wearing a pair of yellow dungarees, she said, “I just wanted to cry. I was like, are you joking? Awful.”
Diana, of course, found her signature style through the decade, transforming from a Laura Ashley-loving ingenue to one of the most fashionable women on the planet. The Crown recreates some of Diana’s best looks, such as her pretty red polka-dot dress she wore to the ballet in 1982. For more of her iconic outfits in The Crown, see here.
Travel: The Crown locations
Post-lockdown, put these “royal” residences on your wish-list.
Highgrove: Charles and Di’s country home is played by Somerley House in Ringwood. Ironically, the public can visit Highgrove gardens but not Somerley.
Kensington Palace: Their London home was actually two houses - Harefield Grove and Brocket Hall. When Kensington Palace re-opens, check out its Diana: Designing for a Princess exhibition.
Windsor Castle: Previously, Belvoir Castle was used, but Season 4 went to another Lincolnshire home, Burghley House in Stamford.
Australia: Much of Charles and Diana’s 1983 Australian tour, including their trip to Uluru, was filmed in Almeria in Spain.
New York: Manchester stood in for the Big Apple for Diana’s 1989 visit.
For more, read Kerry’s travel piece for Escape here.