Princess Diana's friend has quit working on The Crown and branded the show 'disrespectful'
Model Jemima Khan, said to be a close friend of Princess Diana's, has quit her role as a script advisor on royal-based drama, The Crown, saying she's unhappy with how the show plans to portray her late friend in the next season. Jemima also previously dated the show's creator, Peter Morgan.
Season 5, which is loosely based on real life events, is currently in the works and is set to explore the breaking down of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's marriage, along with featuring the controversial sit-down interview that Diana gave to journalist Martin Bashir.
It has since been proven that the Princess was shown counterfeit documents ahead of the televised conversation and both of her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, have branded it exploitative and said they believed it played a part in her untimely death.
Now, Jemima, who was consulting on the script, has stepped down saying Diana's story is not being dealt with "as respectfully or compassionately" as she had initially hoped it would be.
Jemima, who is also a seasoned film and television producer, as well as being a friend of Princess Diana's, hasn't publicly spoken about their friendship until recently when she told the Sunday Times, "It was really important to me that the final years of my friend's life be portrayed accurately and with compassion, as has not always happened in the past."
It's reported that from September of last year up until February of this year, Jemima assisted with story outlines and scripts, which are said to include Princess Diana's alleged relationship with the heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, as well as Harrods heir Dodi Fayed, and the final two years of her life.
However, Jemima has now said to the press that after realising the stories were not going in the direction she had hoped for, she has "requested that all my contributions be removed from the series and I declined a [writing] credit".
A spokesman for The Crown said: "Jemima Khan has been a friend, fan and a vocal public supporter of The Crown since season one. 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."
Prince William is also said to be "frustrated" with the programme's future plans to portray his mother's life – and in particular her interview with Martin Bashir in which she famously described her marriage as "crowded", insinuating that Prince Charles had been unfaithful.
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