The Crown sparks fury over Princess Diana’s ‘controversial royal wedding slur’
NETFLIX drama The Crown will risk angering the Royal Family when it shows Princess Diana describing her wedding to Charles as like stepping on a landmine.
In the sixth and final series, Diana — known for her charity work helping landmine victims — is seen on a yacht with her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed.
Diana visited Bosnia and Herzegovina in August 1997 to see clearance activities and meet landmine victims – just weeks before her death.
She tells him that the devices have killed thousands of people while survivors are often rejected by their communities because of their injuries.
Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, tells Dodi (Khalid Abdalla): “A man called Ken Rutherford drew my attention to it. He started the Landmine Survivors Network. After his jeep hit a landmine in Somalia he lost both of his legs.
“He said to me every survivor has a date of the day they stepped on the landmine. He said, ‘Mine was December 16, 1963’. I said, ‘Mine was 29 July, 1981 — my wedding day’.”
But royal biographer Ingrid Seward, who knew the late Princess, said: “Diana would never have said anything like that. I think it is an unfortunate comparison.
“I think the mere fact that The Crown is depicting Diana’s life and her death is exploiting her memory so they can put into her mouth anything that they want to — however distasteful people might find it.”
Of Diana’s work to raise awareness of landmines, Ingrid said: “It was very important – it was her big thing and it was a great success too. It is something that she will always be remembered for.”
The Ottawa Treaty – banning landmines was signed in December 1997 – three months after her death.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment.