Jemima Khan, British television producer and close friend of Princess Diana, has reportedly withdrawn from a consulting role on the upcoming fifth season of hit Netflix show The Crown.
She spoke to The Sunday Times via Us Weekly to describe how her decision to exit came to be.
“In 2019, [creator] Peter Morgan asked me to cowrite on the fifth series of The Crown, particularly those episodes which concerned Princess Diana’s last years before she died,” she shared. “After a great deal of thought, having never spoken publicly about any of this before, I decided to contribute.”
She went on to say that they worked on outlines and scripts together from September 2020 until February 2021. “When our co-writing agreement was not honored, and when I realized that particular storyline would not necessarily be told as respectfully or compassionately as I had hoped, I requested that all my contributions be removed from the series and I declined a credit,” Khan explained.
Netflix has since denied Khan’s involvement with the show in a recently released statement: “Jemima Khan has been a friend, fan, and a vocal public supporter of The Crown since season 1. She has been part of a wide network of well-informed and varied sources who have provided extensive background information to our writers and research team–providing context for the drama that is The Crown. She has never been contracted as a writer on the series.”
Princess Diana’s character made an impressionable entrance in the Emmy-award winning series’ latest season, which covered the late princess’ early relationship with Prince Charles and her strained relations with the royal family. The portrayal surprisingly reignited interest in Lady Di, while simultaneously drawing ire from some members of the royal family.
Fans can check out the next season (which will go over the last years of Diana’s life) in November of 2022.
