The Crown actor Jared Harris who portrayed dying King George VI in first season of Netflix show says Royal Family would be ‘delighted’ by the series because it ‘humanises’ them

The Royal Family would be ‘delighted’ by Netflix’s The Crown because it ‘humanises’ them, a former star of the series has said. 

Jared Harris, 62, portrayed the ailing King George VI in the show’s first season.

The Crown has come in for significant criticism over its portrayal of key figures in the Royal Family and its historical inaccuracies. 

Acknowledging the controversy, Harris admitted on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: ‘There’s always a slight thing of, should you be doing this, should they be telling this tale or not, is it in some way disrespectful.’

But he added: ‘My opinion is, I’ve not heard this, but I think the Royal Family would be delighted, because it’s humanising them, you know?’

The Royal Family would be ‘delighted’ by Netflix ‘s The Crown because it ‘humanises’ them, a former star of the series has said. Jared Harris, 62, portrayed the ailing King George VI in the show’s first season. Above: Harris with Claire Foy in a scene depicting The Queen’s wedding day in 1947

Queen Camilla, King Charles III pose together at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace earlier this month, held for the visit of the President of South Korea and his wife

Harris portrayed George VI as he was dying from lung cancer. The King passed away in February 1952, while the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were in Kenya.   

The late Queen Elizabeth was said to have enjoyed watching The Crown, according to Vanessa Kirby, who portrayed Princess Margaret in the first two seasons.

She claimed that a friend of hers had overheard Princess Eugenie saying at a party that ‘my granny watches it and really likes it.’ 

Prince Harry also said that he has watched episodes of the show, including the most recent series which portray his late mother Princess Diana. 

‘Yes, I have actually watched The Crown’, he told US chat show host Stephen Colbert.  

Season five of the series drew bitter backlash over its ‘malicious’ storylines, which included agonizing portrayals of the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage, as well as a fictional scene in which the King was seen plotting to overthrow his mother.

The first four episodes of the final season of The Crown were released on Netflix earlier this month.

The final six parts will be available on December 14. 

Harris (pictured above in 2020) was speaking to promote his role in a new adaptation of Harold Pinter’s play The Homecoming, which is being shown at the Young Vic in south-east London

Harris as King George VI with Victoria Hamilton, who portrayed the Queen Mother in the first and second series

The Daily Mail’s Robert Hardman recently accused the show’s makers of ‘retrofitting the story of Harry and Meghan’ into the series.

One of the available episodes portrays a lunch between Diana and then Prime Minister Tony Blair, as the Princess of Wales begins her post-royal life in July 1997, with Mr Blair reporting back to Queen Elizabeth that Diana wants to have an official role for the palace.

‘As a divorced woman – and no longer an HRH – Diana is now learning the difference between being officially in the family and out,’ says the Queen, portrayed by Imelda Staunton.

In the first episode of new Mail podcast The Crown: Fact or Fiction, Mr Hardman said: ‘Clearly, that is very much retrofitting the story of Harry and Meghan into the story of Diana and Charles.

‘We do know this lunch happened, I believe it was at the invitation of Cherie Blair, not Tony Blair’s.’

Harris was speaking to promote his role in a new adaptation of Harold Pinter’s play The Homecoming, which is being shown at the Young Vic in south-east London. 

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