Why 'The Crown' Chose Not to Show Princess Diana's Death

Since its first season, The Crown has had to delve into some sensitive spots in royal history, but above all, one moment has loomed large over the show's legacy, and with the arrival of the first half of the show's sixth and final season, it has arrived: the tragic death of Princess Diana.

The Parisian car crash that took the late royal's life was a pivotal point for the royal family, both as individuals and as an institution, which meant that it seemed inevitable for it to play a prominent role in the series. Indeed, The Crown creator and writer Peter Morgan was nominated for an Oscar for his 2006 film The Queen, which centered on the fallout of Diana's death for the royal family. Given those facts, speculation has swirled for some time as to how the show would choose to address the tragedy itself.

"The biggest discussion of course we had was about how to show the accident. Will we see the accident, and we decided we will not see the accident. We don't see the crash," explained Christian Schwochow, who directed episodes 2, 3, and 4 of the season. "I think the way we found of dealing with that crash is very imaginative and very dignified."

Rather than dramatizing the collision, the show instead chose to focus the camera elsewhere in the moment of the crash, with only the noise heard from off-screen at the end of the season's third episode. The following entry picks up in the aftermath for both the royal family, and the family of Diana's boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed, who was also killed in the accident.

"Episode 4 is a very dramatic. It's incredibly emotional. It's maybe one of the most emotional episodes ever on The Crown," says Schwochow. "So I was proud and I also felt quite a bit of pressure on how to deal with this story in this three part tragedy because also it's a moment in history that many people in the world still remember quite well and how to portray that in a way that we don't get too close but also be very truthful and how to tell this story in the most dignified way. That was a big challenge but a challenge I was happy to face."

According to executive producer Suzanne Mackie, it was a decision a long time in the making. "It was ten years ago we had this discussion about one day we would be telling the story of Diana's death," she said ahead of the season's release. "I mean I know myself and I could tell very quickly from Peter [Morgan], that one would want to approach with such thought and sensitivity and care. And I know we've maintained that throughout."

She previously said at the Edinburgh TV Festival, "The show might be big and noisy, but we're not. We're thoughtful people, and we're sensitive people. There were very careful, long conversations about how we were going to do it. The audience will judge it in the end, but I think it’s been delicately, thoughtfully recreated."

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