The Crown season 5 focuses on Princess Diana’s constant anxiety and paranoia regarding her phone being tracked. However, not all of it was true to real events.
Princess Diana constantly feared a violation of her privacy. She complained about someone listening to her phone calls and tracking her whereabouts. This leads to Martin Bashir taking advantage of Diana’s vulnerabilities and securing her infamous Panorama interview.
Though The Crown’s storyline is generally considered to be close to reality, the show sometimes moves away from facts. For instance, season 5 leaves it unclear whether Princess Diana’s phone was actually tapped.
Princess Diana’s fears about her phone being bugged were not entirely wrong. Evidence suggests that her phone calls were recorded at least once in reality. Many suggest that Diana’s phone being bugged was a very real fear that the princess had before her death.
However, The Crown season 5 depicted Bashir presenting proof of the so-called spying to the Spencer siblings, which is completely false. So, while it is true that Diana’s phone could have been tapped, the real story is not entirely similar to what was depicted in The Crown season 5.
In season 5, Diana hears unusual clicking noises during phone calls. Suspecting something strange, the Princess of Wales asks Prince William if he hears the same. However, William says he hears nothing.
This is followed by an intrusion into biographer Andrew Morton’s residence and Princess Diana’s friend, James Colthurst, facing a bike accident. All of this together convinces Diana that she is being spied on.
Diana’s private secretary assures her that tapping her calls would be fairly difficult, considering they all are connected to the main palace switchboard. But Diana remains convinced that she’s being spied on and her meeting with Martin Bashir further aggravates them.
As mentioned above, part of what was shown in The Crown season 5 is true. However, the series did not depict everything that actually happened with Diana’s phone.
There is clear evidence of Diana’s phone calls being bugged. The transcripts reached the public in a manner similar to Charles and Camilla’s phone scandal, which season 5 covered. Diana’s recorded conversation was named “Squidgygate” and remains one of the most well-known scandals of Charles and Diana’s marriage.
Though the scandal was quite popular in the media, The Crown season 5 completely skipped it. It is assumed that Diana’s phone leak fell into the hands of amateur radio users. However, bigger organizations such as the CIA also allegedly bugged the princess’ phone towards the end of her life.
The CIA has been accused of bugging Princess Diana’s phone on the night of her death, but they denied the claims. Either way, we all know the Princess of Wales’ life will end on a tragic note.
The upcoming season 6 of The Crown may give us more insight into Diana’s paranoia and fears regarding her phone being tapped.
About The Crown
The Crown is a historical drama on Netflix which revolves around the British royal family. It focuses on Elizabeth II’s journey from a princess to the revered queen of England. The series is created by screenwriter Peter Morgan, and produced by Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television for Netflix.
The first season covers the period from Elizabeth’s marriage to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947 to the disintegration of her sister Princess Margaret’s engagement to Group Captain Peter Townsend in 1955. The second season covers the period from the Suez Crisis in 1956 to the retirement of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1963 and the birth of Prince Edward in 1964.
The third season spans 1964 to 1977, including Harold Wilson’s two periods as prime minister, and introduces Camilla Shand as Queen Elizabeth. The fourth season spans 1979 to the early 1990s and includes Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister and Prince Charles’s marriage to Lady Diana Spencer.
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