The new series of The Crown has certainly caused a stir with its depiction of the royal family – and now a heartbroken widow has spoken about the personal pain the show has caused her. Sarah Horsley, who was married to Major Hugh Lindsay, has revealed that she wrote to the show creators to ask them not to adapt his death for TV.
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Major Hugh was a friend of Prince Charles and a former Queen's equerry. He was killed by an avalanche while skiing with the Prince in Klosters, Switzerland in 1988.
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"I was horrified when I was told [the episode] was happening and was very concerned about the impact on my daughter," Mrs Horsley told the Sunday Telegraph.
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"I'm very upset by it and I'm dreading people seeing it. I wrote to them asking them not to do it, not to use the accident. I suppose members of the Royal family have to grin and bear it, but for me, it's a very private tragedy."
Major Hugh Lindsay worked as the Queen's equerry
She said the producers had replied with "a very kind letter", saying "that they understood my concerns but they hope I will feel that they deal with difficult subject matters with integrity and great sensitivity".
However, she told the newspaper: "I think it's very unkind to many members of the family."
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Mrs Horsley – who was pregnant with her daughter Alice at the time of her husband's death - additionally said she had declined an invitation to see an early screening of the episode.
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"Perhaps at some point in the future, Alice and I will watch it quietly together. It will be tough. My daughter has only heard about the accident from me because she wasn't even born when it happened."
Major Horsley’s death features in episode nine, titled Avalanche, of the fourth series of The Crown. It features long-distance footage of an avalanche - no close-ups of any of the characters involved are depicted and Major Lindsay does not appear at all.
But there is a voiceover featuring real audio reporting the accident at the time.
Instead, the focus is largely on the aftermath, with the coffin seen returning from Switzerland and the funeral also shown.
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