Eton refused to allow ‘The Crown’ to film on campus, but did Netflix even ask?

The Crown’s Season 5 doesn’t premiere for another eleven months or so, but they’re currently filming the season all over the UK. This season will deal with the 1990s, the “War of the Waleses,” Diana’s Panorama interview, and Charles’s continuing relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Prince Charles is really mad that he can’t bully Peter Morgan and Netflix out of revealing just how badly he treated Diana. We’ve already been gifted with dozens of stories about how Charles and Prince William are incandescent with rage at The Crown and Netflix, and how they’re trying to throw their weight around and deny Netflix’s requests to film on royal or royal-adjacent property. While The Crown didn’t film at Althorp, they did film at Kensington Gardens AND the BBC parking lot. LMAO. And now the Daily Mail claims that Eton refused Netflix’s request to film there.

Netflix was barred from using Eton College as a filming location for The Crown after the streaming giant was accused of publishing a ‘sinister’ tweet about the Royal Family, it has been revealed. The £14,000-a-term all boys school, in Windsor, Berkshire, said it wanted nothing to do with the hit series, which chronicles the lives of the British monarchy throughout the 20th century.

It comes after senior palace sources reacted with anger in December last year after Netflix posted a tweet inviting viewers to watch a documentary on Princess Diana which they claimed would provide ‘answers’ to criticism of its flagship drama. Critics had said The Crown’s account of the breakdown of Prince Charles’s marriage to the Princess of Wales was ‘distorted and at times downright inaccurate’.

‘Eton didn’t want anything to do with The Crown,’ a source at the 581-year-old school told the Daily Mail. ‘It’s very much aware of the criticism of the series.’

Netflix’s post promoting Diana: In Her Own Words, was accompanied by a video that painted the Duchess of Cornwall in a particularly unedifying light by appearing to imply that she was seeking to remain romantically involved with Charles right at the start of his marriage to the Diana. The post was accused of prompting a wave of online abuse towards both Prince Charles and Camilla – with many of the messages too vile to print.

While Eton shunned the hit series following the furore, the historic college’s rival, Winchester College, in Hampshire, was chosen as a filming site instead. The Crown’s forthcoming series is set to be controversial, as it will cover Prince William’s reaction to his parents’ marital breakdown. Eton’s decision follows in the footsteps of Buckingham Palace and Althorp, the stately home owned by Diana’s brother.

A spokesman for Eton College declined to comment. A Netflix spokesman denied that it had made an official request to film at school, but confirmed: ‘We have, however, been filming at Winchester College.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, I wonder if Netflix even asked Eton? And if they did ask, did they honestly expect to film there, or was it more of a “it never hurts to ask” sort of thing? What’s remarkable about The Crown is how often they find historic properties which easily double as the real thing. I’m sure no one at Netflix is like “oh no, we can’t film at Eton, we should abandon this storyline.” Oh, I doubt Netflix asked to film at Buckingham Palace entirely. Netflix knows that they’re pissing off the Windsors and they don’t give a sh-t. And that upsets the Windsors even more, that they don’t have some kind of angle to get Netflix on their side.

The whole side-angle about how Netflix published a tweet which “painted the Duchess of Cornwall in a particularly unedifying light by appearing to imply that she was seeking to remain romantically involved with Charles right at the start of his marriage” to Diana… it was literally a tweet with audio of Diana’s own voice, describing how Camilla cozied up to her before Diana and Charles were married. They’re truly mad that Diana’s voice is still out there and that people are still listening!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix.

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