How historically accurate is "The Crown"?

The death of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, has fueled renewed interest in the country's royal family. So has the latest season of Netflix's "The Crown," which arrives Nov. 9, 2022.

The show depicts real-life events and people, but there are a few times in which showrunners took liberties... more than a few times. But what's real, and what's made up for the screen?  In "The Crown": Princess Diana secretly plans to dance to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" with ballet dancer Wayne Sleep at the Royal Opera House. But Charles is furious at being upstaged by his popular wife.  In "The Crown": Princess Diana moves into Buckingham Palace to receive lessons on royalty. She is seen roller-skating through the palace. In "The Crown": There's an ongoing conflict between Elizabeth and Philip (seen here portrayed by Matt Smith and Claire Foy) about what last name their children will take. Philip wants his family name of Mountbatten, not just the royal surname of Windsor.  In "The Crown": Princess Margaret has a tense relationship with sister Queen Elizabeth over her less-important role in the family. Young Margaret even says she wants to be the queen. In "The Crown": Princess Margaret (played by Helena Bonham-Carter, seen here) flirts with a Catholic priest named Dazzle Jennings, and develops feelings for him. In "The Crown": Lord Mountbatten (depicted here by Charles Dance) is fishing with his family when his boat explodes. Mountbatten, along with two children, are killed. In "The Crown": Amid the drama of Diana and Charles fighting, Charles nearly dies in an avalanche — and his friend Major Hugh Lindsay dies.  In "The Crown": Princess Margaret is shocked to discover that she has two disabled maternal cousins, once reported dead, who are actually in an institution. Margaret confronts Elizabeth, who defends the decision. Margaret then sends a friend to visit them. In "The Crown": Elizabeth and Philip tour Kenya and face an angry bull elephant. Philip's steady response saves her life.  In "The Crown": Prince Philip asks Elizabeth if he can forgo kneeling to her at her upcoming coronation, and is denied. He kneels — bitterly. In "The Crown": Prince Philip sends Charles to Gordonstoun School, where is verbally abused and bullied. When he complains to Philip, he calls Charles "bloody weak." In "The Crown": Elizabeth is delighted to meet John and Jackie Kennedy in 1961. Then she discovers that Jackie has insulted her, and she is hurt.  In "The Crown": The first season of "The Crown" details a relationship between the divorced Peter Townsend and Princess Margaret. They're depicted in the show by Ben Miles and Vanessa Kirby, seen here. Elizabeth formally forbids Margaret from marrying Townsend because of his divorce. In "The Crown": Princess Diana is seen engaging in harmful behaviors, like making herself throw up. Diana is seen here as depicted by Emma Corrin. In "The Crown": Margaret charms the president with dirty jokes, drinks, singing and dancing. In "The Crown": The Duke of Windsor — the queen's uncle, who had abdicated the throne in 1936 — asks her for more royal duties. But British intelligence discovers the Marburg Files, in which the duke appears to sympathize with Nazis. An angry Elizabeth dismisses the duke from the family. The former king is portrayed by Alex Jennings, pictured here. In "The Crown": Princess Margaret vacations with extramarital lover Roddy Llewellyn, a gardener. They are  photographed by the paparazzi. Queen Elizabeth calls Margaret back to England; Margaret attempts suicide, and then the sisters bond over the pressures of royalty. In "The Crown": Greece falls under military rule. Philip's mother, Princess Alice, is living there as a nun, and Elizabeth brings her to live with them for her own safety. Philip is shown having a strained relationship with his mother, including an estrangement that goes back for years. In "The Crown": Winston Churchill's secretary, Venetia Scott, dies after stepping in front of a bus. The actors playing those characters, Kate Phillips and John Lithgow, are seen here. In "The Crown": Princess Alice, the mother of Prince Philip, features in heavily in Season 3. Philip doesn't seem to care for his mother, mainly as a result of her mental illness.  In "The Crown": In an episode entitled "The Balmoral Test," we see Margaret Thatcher and Diana Spencer invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, to see how they can interact with the family.  In "The Crown": Under pressure to resign, Margaret Thatcher begs Queen Elizabeth to dissolve Parliament. A shocked Elizabeth declines, and Thatcher eventually steps down. In "The Crown": Elizabeth has her press secretary Michael Shea leak to The Sunday Times that she is unhappy with Thatcher and that she thinks the prime minister is "uncaring." In "The Crown": The family is having a documentary made about their daily lives to make them seem like normal people, but critics hate it. In "The Crown": The Queen Mum (depicted here by Marion Bailey) and Lord Mountbatten conspire to break up Camilla Shand and Prince Charles. They dislike Camilla because she technically isn't a noble.  In "The Crown": Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis visit Balmoral Castle for a weekend and fail to master the mannerisms of the ruling class, causing the prime minister to resent them. She is seen here portrayed by Gillian Anderson. In "The Crown": Queen Elizabeth discovers that her royal art curator, Sir Anthony Blunt, is a KGB spy. But she covers it up to protect the crown's reputation — because he had supposed blackmail on Prince Philip. In "The Crown": A troubled man named Michael Fagan breaks into the queen's chamber in Buckingham Palace. Instead of running, she talks to him and listens to his concerns over the state of the country. In "The Crown": Princess Anne has an affair with Andrew Parker Bowles while Charles has an affair with Camilla Shand, Parker Bowles' girlfriend. Charles (Josh O'Connor) and Camilla (Emerald Fennell) are seen here talking in the episode. In "The Crown": Queen Elizabeth asks her daughter, Princess Anne (seen here, played by Erin Doherty), to do an interview to help boost the family image. Anne redirects the journalist to her paternal grandmother, the eccentric Princess Alice — and the interview by famed journalist John Armstrong is a hit. In "The Crown": A horrific mining accident buries a school and several houses in Aberfan, Wales, killing 116 children. Philip is heartbroken, but Elizabeth is emotionless and fails to visit Aberfan until Philip insists.  In "The Crown": Queen Elizabeth sends Charles to Wales so that he can learn Welsh before his official investiture as the Prince of Wales. Charles gives a speech in Welsh, expressing sympathies for Wales' struggles against England. This greatly irritates Elizabeth. In "The Crown": Queen Elizabeth hears that the new prime minister, Harold Wilson, might be a KGB spy. She later discovers that her own art curator, Anthony Blunt, is the real spy. In "The Crown": The Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII, apologizes to Queen Elizabeth for abdicating the throne — which eventually led to her becoming queen — as she goes to see him on his deathbed.  In "The Crown": Prime Minister Anthony Eden (played here by Jeremy Northam) conspires with France and Israel to take back the Suez Canal from Egypt, all while popping amphetamines.  In "The Crown": There are multiple references to Prince Philip's family having connections with Nazi Germany. Philip and his family are even shown in a Nazi parade. In "The Crown": Philip requests a private audience with Apollo 11 astronauts pick their minds about deep questions — but is left disappointed by their responses. In "The Crown": Queen Elizabeth gives Winston Churchill a state funeral, which is usually only for members of the royal family, and attends in person, which the family rarely does. In "The Crown": A thick smog hangs over London, spurring protests and deaths all over the city. Leaders ignore it and call it an "act of God" until Churchill's secretary dies after stepping in front of a bus on a smoggy day.  In "The Crown": Princess Margaret tries to persuade Charlies not to marry Diana. In "The Crown": Lord Mountbatten tries to influence the family via his nephew, Prince Philip.  In "The Crown": After Margaret Thatcher is forced to resign, Queen Elizabeth grants her the Order of Merit, a very rare honor.  In "The Crown": Elizabeth travels around the world with her friend Lord Porchester, whom she refers to as "Porchey." She may harbor feelings for him. In "The Crown": The Duke of Windsor maintains secret, unflattering nicknames for the family (Elizabeth is "Shirley Temple" while the Queen Mother is "Cookie"). Charles and Camilla call each other "Fred" and "Gladys" in covert correspondence.  In "The Crown": Elizabeth gives a speech at the Jaguar car factory, inspiring Lord Altrincham to write an article about how much he hated her speech, finding it stuffy and impersonal. In "The Crown": Elizabeth has never cried in public during the entirety of the series, and faked crying while touring Aberfan. In "The Crown": Prime Minister Harold Wilson has Lord Mountbatten removed from a key position. Mountbatten responds by attempting a coup against Wilson with Cecil King, a newspaper baron, and others. In "The Crown": Then-Princess Elizabeth is in Kenya when she learns that her father, George VI, has died. It comes as a surprise — except to the viewers, who saw him confess to Churchill that his condition was terminal. In "The Crown": Princess Anne is featured heavily in the third and fourth seasons of "The Crown," but a much-discussed kidnapping attempt was left out entirely. In "The Crown":  Margaret Thatcher has a breakdown in front of the queen after her son, Mark, goes missing in the Sahara Desert. When Argentina then invades the Falklands, Thatcher almost seems unable to handle it. Mark Thatcher is found six days later, 31 miles off course.

We examined some of the most important moments of "The Crown" and researched which storylines were mostly real, and which ones leaned more toward fiction.  In real life: The event wasn't filmed but it did really happen. Sleep has recounted how he trained with Diana before the performance, and while the audience went crazy, royal biographers have written that Charles really didn't like the performance and thought Diana was showing off. In real life: "Crown" producer Oona O'Beirn has said that Diana loved roller-skating and really did this. She also reportedly rode bicycles around the palace. In real life: Philip apparently did complain about this, according to a 2004 biography. Elizabeth formally decreed a new family surname, Mountbatten-Windsor, in 1960. In real life: There's no evidence that she ever wanted to be the queen. In real life: It's not clear just how far Margaret's feelings went for Jennings. But according Richard Cole, to a friend of Jennings, the priest was gay found refuge in celibacy. In real life: This shocking incident was widely reported at the time. The IRA took credit for the attack, and the perpetrator was later arrested. There was a ceremonial funeral at Westminster Abbey.  In real life: It happened. Charles, along with a guide  and a group of friends (excluding Diana) were on the slopes in Switzerland when an avalanche came. They all survived except for Lindsay. Pictured here is Charles on the slopes in the '80s. In real life: It's true that the sisters were institutionalized from a young age, reported dead, and essentially abandoned; the story was outlined via, among other sources, a Channel 4 documentary, "The Queen's Hidden Cousins," which aired in 2011. In real life: Elizabeth did go on a tour to see elephants, but there's no evidence any charged her or that Philip intervened. Here's the couple in 2017 meeting and feeding an Asian elephant at a zoo in Dunstable, England. In real life: He didn't refuse and it's unlikely that there was any drama whatsoever about the royal protocol. He's pictured here kneeling for his wife at her coronation in 1953. In real life: Reportedly, Elizabeth actually watched this episode and disliked it. As for Charles, he has downplayed reports that he hated Gordonstoun, but other former students have aired their own accusations of abuse against the institution, and Charles sent his own kids to a different school. In real life: It probably didn't happen exactly like that. Some biographers claim that Jackie Kennedy was less than impressed by the monarch and the furnishings at Buckingham Palace. Regardless, there was definitely no overt rivalry. The real-life meeting is pictured here. In real life: It was way more complicated. While Margaret was initially forbidden to marry him (by Parliament, not the queen) she could have given up her spot in the line of royal succession to marry whoever she wanted. But Margaret ended the relationship and remained in the line of succession. In real life: Diana definitely struggled with an eating disorder — she said so herself, and said the family knew about her binging and purging.  In real life: Margaret and her then-husband, Lord Snowdon, did go to an event at the White House, and President Johnson did reportedly enjoy the royals a lot. But there's no evidence that anything scandalous happened.  In real life: The Marburg Files are definitely real. But, while Elizabeth did admonish her uncle, she never fully banished him. He remained in contact with his family throughout his life and occasionally made official appearances. In real life: Roddy Llewellyn (seen here) wasn't a lowly gardener as depicted in the show. He was a baronet who was introduced to gardening by his nanny. They started an affair in 1973, and were caught by paparazzi in 1976. It's unclear if Margaret attempted suicide or what Elizabeth thought. In real life: Prince Philip grew up mostly without his parents. His mother had a mental breakdown and ended up as a nun in Greece. But they weren't completely estranged. Here they are pictured together at a wedding. In real life: There was no Venetia Scott. She was just a plot device in the show. In real life: Princess Alice was formally diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1930, a label that would later be explored in medical publications. After spending time in a hospital, she devoted her life to charity.  In real life: It's unknown if the royals really used a trip to Balmoral as any sort of "test." This is a photo of Charles and Diana pictured there in 1981, two months before they were married. In real life: There is no evidence of such an ask. After over 11 years as prime minister, Thatcher's ministers asked her to resign, and the very next morning, after informing the queen, she did. In real life: Thatcher and Elizabeth's biographers have denied that the queen leaked any kind of story to The Sunday Times. However, Buckingham Palace did remove Michael Shea from his role after the story dropped.  In real life: A documentary called "Royal Family" really was made, but it was well received. The family itself disliked it, thinking it invaded their privacy, so it is no longer officially shown or distributed. This photo shows the family having lunch as part of the documentary. In real life: There is zero evidence that the two ever conspired to break up Camilla and Charles. In real life: The relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth wasn't nearly as frosty as was depicted in the show. But Thatcher did reportedly tell people that she hated weekends at Balmoral, calling it "purgatory." In real life: Blunt (seen here) confessed to being a KGB spy in 1964. He was granted anonymity... until Margaret Thatcher publicly identified him in 1979 and stripped him of his titles. Did the queen know? It's not certain, but the New York Times once reported that she probably did. In real life: Michael Fagan (seen here) did break into Buckingham Palace — twice. But he didn't really have a clear reason, and when he made it into Queen Elizabeth's bedroom, she immediately called for help.  In real life: Anne did briefly date Andrew Parker Bowles in 1970; it wasn't an extramarital affair. Camilla didn't even meet Charles until later. Their relationship ended in 1973 and Camilla got back together with Andrew. In real life: There was no John Armstrong, and no interview was done with Princess Alice. In real life: There's no evidence that the queen was uncaring about the Aberfan disaster. She did wait eight days to visit, while Philip arrived the day after. However, historians say it was because she didn't want to take the attention from the rescuers, who were still looking for children days later.  In real life: He did learn Welsh and give his speech in Welsh, but rather than angering Elizabeth, Charles later commented that it was a "moving and meaningful moment" for him. In real life: Wilson himself (pictured here) was paranoid that he was a target of the USSR, so it's very doubtful that he was a spy for them.  In real life: There's no evidence that the Duke of Windsor made a big apology on his deathbed.  In real life: The Suez Crisis definitely happened, and it ruined Anthony Eden's political career. And believe it or not, some historians posit that drug usage may have had something to do with it.  In real life: Philip's sisters Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie and Sophie all married German nobles with ties to Nazism. Sophie even named her child "Karl Adolf." Philip wasn't a Nazi though; he was raised by relatives in England, and shunned those members of his family as he got older. In real life: Queen Elizabeth did receive the Apollo 11 astronauts. But there's no evidence Prince Philip requested a private audience. In real life: Elizabeth loved Churchill and began planning an elaborate state funeral before he even died. She and Philip did attend the funeral in person (seen here). The only other prime minister's funeral she attended was Margaret Thatcher's.  In real life: Environmentalism wasn't a huge movement in the 1950s when the Great Smog happened, but there were protests. More people did die than usual, but those deaths weren't attributed to the smog until after the fact.  In real life: There's no evidence that Margaret (or anyone else) was against the marriage of Diana and Charles.  In real life: It's unknown how much influence Lord Mountbatten had, but he arranged at least one important meeting — that between Philip and Elizabeth, who met for the first time in 1939. In real life: It really did happen. The Order of Merit is a very distinguished honor — only 24 living Brits can be members, and it's solely at the discretion of the monarch. Elizabeth is pictured here in 2002 with the members of the Order of Merit; Thatcher is the second to last in the front row. In real life: Elizabeth and Porchey had a friendship since childhood. But that's almost certainly all it ever was. The queen was never suspected of having any affair. Lord Porchester is seen here in the background walking beside Elizabeth and a gamekeeper named James Gillan. In real life: The nicknames were all seen in confirmed royal correspondence. Nicknames and pet names continue to be common (usually for more innocuous reasons) among the royal family. The most well-known is that Elizabeth was called Lilibet — which Prince Harry and Meghan Markle later named their daughter. Queen Elizabeth is seen here with her family — Charles, Anne, Andrew, Philip and Edward — in a photo from the '70s. In real life: There was no speech at a Jaguar factory. Lord Altrincham did write an article expressing disapproval with the queen's public speeches, but it wasn't about one particular speech.  In real life: Biographers say she really did cry in Aberfan, and was pictured crying at remembrance ceremonies for soldiers who'd lost their lives. She also appeared to cry at the decommissioning of the royal yacht Britannia. In real life: Wilson was famously paranoid that people were trying to undermine him, and some writers have claimed there was a coup attempt — but others, including Cecil King, have disputed that. Regardless, Mountbatten left his position in 1965, and the supposed coup attempt wasn't until 1968.  In real life: This one is true... except the conversation between the king and the prime minister probably didn't happen. Elizabeth and Philip were on tour in Kenya at the Treetops Hotel when she officially became the sovereign. She's seen here with her father in July 1946. In real life: In 1974, Anne and then-husband Mark Phillips were headed to Buckingham Palace when their car was forced to stop. A man named Ian Ball approached Anne in her car with a gun and said he was going to kidnap her for ransom. She responded sarcastically, "Bloody likely!" Anne's bodyguard James Beaton is seen here being visited by Anne as he recovered from his wounds after being shot by Ball.  In real life: These events happened, but the timing is wrong. Mark Thatcher went missing for a week in January 1982, and the Thatchers pulled out all the stops to find him. Argentina didn't invade the Falklands until April of that same year, and the British took back control of the islands in 10 weeks.