The Crown Netflix Series: Fact vs. Fiction About Queen Elizabeth II And Royal Family

With all of the popularity surrounding the Windsor family and the British monarchy, it was high-time Netflix produced a documentary about the country – and the world’s—longest reigning royal, Queen Elizabeth II.

Fans of the real-life British royal family will enjoy the series, which debuted in November, in all of its quiet scandal and intrigue, as many of the events that played out in the series were, in fact, true.

Overall, while the show does dramatize the facts, much of the premise of the film is accurate, from Margaret’s fraught romance with her father’s aide to Elizabeth’s daunting ascent to the throne at the tender age of 25 and navigating its pitfalls.

The team behind the Netflix series, from the script editor Edward Hemming to writer and creator Peter Morgan, strode to stick to the truth in the series, according to Time.

“With a drama of this scale,” Hemming told Time in an article in early November about the series. “where there will be an awful lot of people looking for that level of detail, it was incredibly important we got it right.”

-The Princess Margaret/Group Captain Peter Townsend Romance: Elizabeth’s younger sister, Princess Margaret, did carry on an on-going romance with her father's (King George VI) equerry, Peter Townsend. It was also true that the romance was frowned upon because of Townsend's age (he was more than 10 years older than the princess) and his divorce.

-Philip Giving Up His Name: Prince Philip was originally named Philip, Prince of Greece and Denmark. He did, in fact, change it to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (once he married Elizabeth) and commonly went by Philip Mountbatten, his mother’s surname. In 1947, he renounced his Greek and Danish royal status to become a full British subject (although he was a distant cousin of his English wife, Princess Elizabeth). Philip’s name was later changed to a hyphenated Mountbatten-Windsor in 1957.

-Winston Churchill’s Daily Report Briefings: In once scene in the series, the famed British Prime Minister is soaking in the bath when he demands that his assistant read his briefings to him through the closed door. While humorous, this event was something that was characteristic of Churchill, according to Royal Central.

-King George’s Palace Operation: When King George was undergoing his operation to remove a part of his lung in 1951, it was actually done within Buckingham palace beneath the chandeliers, according to a BBC News article.