The Crown creator Peter Morgan has defended season five of the hit Netflix historical series, saying that the show isn't "unkind" to King Charles amid fears that he would be portrayed in a negative light.
MORE: The Crown season 5 will not recreate major Princess Diana moment - details
The upcoming series is set in the 1990s and is expected to examine this turbulent decade for the royals, including Prince Charles and Diana's acrimonious separation.
WATCH: The Crown season five teases Diana and Charles' divorce
The controversy surrounding the show began after the Daily Telegraph published an article quoting an unnamed friend of the King calling the show "exploitative".
Speaking to Variety, Peter said: "I think we must all accept that the 1990s was a difficult time for the royal family, and King Charles will almost certainly have some painful memories of that period.
"But that doesn’t mean that, with the benefit of hindsight, history will be unkind to him, or the monarchy. The show certainly isn’t. I have enormous sympathy for a man in his position — indeed, a family in their position. People are more understanding and compassionate than we expect sometimes."
MORE: Netflix releases statement defending The Crown amid major season 5 backlash
MORE: The Queen on screen: Olivia Colman, Helen Mirren, Claire Foy and more
Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Princess Diana in the new series, also defended the programme. On filming Diana's death, she said: "Peter and the entire crew of this job do their utmost to really handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity, as do actors.
Peter Morgan has defended the show
"The amount of research and care and conversations and dialogue that happen over, from a viewer’s perspective, something probably that you would never ever notice is just immense."
She added: "From that very first meeting [with] Peter, I knew that I’d entered into this space where this was taken seriously [in] a deeply caring way. So that’s my experience of the show."
The comments come after Netflix released a statement defending the drama after a spokesperson for Sir John Major described the series as "damaging and malicious fiction" and "a barrel-load of nonsense" amid fears that the upcoming season could damage King Charles' reputation.
Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki play Charles and Diana
The statement read: "The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events.
"Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians."
Like this story? Sign up to our What to Watch newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
