Princess Diana’s Final Bow on Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Season Six: Dodi Fayed Romance, Historic Landmine Walk and More
Part one of “The Crown” Season Six will focus heavily on Princess Diana’s final days. On Thursday, Netflix dropped a trailer teasing several upcoming plotlines, including the late royal’s historic walk through an Angola minefield.
Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki will reprise the role of Diana after portraying the princess in Season Five. “It was definitely the most research I’ve ever done for anything, and may ever do for anything,” Debicki told Deadline of her latest gig.
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Ahead, a closer look at Princess Diana’s arc in the final season of “The Crown.”
Diana’s Death Will Be Handled With “Enormous Sensitivity”
Netflix’s latest trailer depicts Diana’s last moments alive as she departs The Ritz Hotel in Paris. Late last year, “The Crown” crew was photographed filming near the location of her fatal car crash.
“There was no question that we would be, firstly, meticulous in our research and read and listen, and of course secondly and most importantly is to be sensitive,” one of the show’s producers, Suzanne Mackie, said at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August. “There were very, very careful, long, long conversations about how we do it, and the audience will judge it in the end. But I think it’s been delicately, thoughtfully recreated.”
Diana’s Romance With Dodi Fayed Will Be Featured
Following her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996, Diana entered a relationship with Harrods heir Dodi Fayed. The couple attempted to keep their romance low-profile, but word got out when they were photographed together on his yacht in the summer of 1997.
Months later, Fayed and the princess perished in a car accident. According to publicist Michael Cole, Fayed gifted a ring to Diana that evening, though it’s unknown whether it was a formal proposal. Cole was formerly employed by Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed.
In “The Crown,” Dodi will be portrayed by British actor Khalid Abdalla. Abdalla is best known for his roles in “United 93,” “The Kite Runner” and “Moon Knight.”
Diana’s Landmine Walk is Another Major Plot Point
In January 1997, Princess Diana traveled to Angola in support of the nonprofit Halo Trust. During her trip, the royal bravely walked across a field, which at the time, was being cleared of landmines.
Diana’s endorsement of banning minefields worldwide had a major impact following her death. The Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits the production and use of anti-personnel mines, was drafted by the United Nations in September 1997; 133 countries, including the United States, have since signed the agreement.
According to the Show’s Creator, There is No “Ghost” of Princess Diana in “The Crown”
In a recent interview with Variety, Peter Morgan assuaged rumors that the ghost of Princess Diana will appear in the final season. The British tabloid detailed that Prince Charles (played by Dominic West) sees a vision of Diana aboard the plane that transported her body from Paris to London.
“I never imagined it as Diana’s ‘ghost’ in the traditional sense,” said Morgan. “It was her continuing to live vividly in the minds of those she has left behind. Diana was unique, and I suppose that’s what inspired me to find a unique way of representing her. She deserved special treatment narratively.”
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