Season four of The Crown has certainly been one of the more popular instalments due to its telling of modern-day events.
The fourth season picked up as the 1970s drew to a close. Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) is Prime Minister — and her divisive policies ruffle more than a few feathers in Britain. We also see Lord Mountbatten’s (Charles Dance) assassination and the disappearance of Thatcher’s son during a car race in the Sahara. The series also touches on two of Thatcher’s biggest conflicts — the Falklands War and her forced resignation.
The other major story arch is the turbulent early years of Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) and Diana’s (Emma Corrin) relationship including their trip to Australia and while these have all been major talking points, there were some events that have not been included.
From Prince Charles’ awkward and dirty leaked phone call with Camilla to an attempted assassination on Thatcher and an avalanche investigation, here are some major real-life events that were left out.
Details of Prince Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles
While the majority of the romantic affair is played out on the small screen (can you seriously imagine being them right now??), there are a few details that have been missed.
For starters (and the most disgusting), is “tampon-gate”.
In 1989, a leaked phone called heard Charles wishing he was a box of “Tampax”.
“I want to feel my way along you, all over you and up and down you and in and out…,” the Prince of Wales says. We’ll spare you the full conversation, but if you really must read it, you can find it here via The Tab.
O’Connor actually said that he wouldn’t do the show if this part was included and we’re pretty grateful for that.
Another key moment in their affair is Diana confronting Camilla at a party in 1989. Recalling the moment in The Diana Tapes, the late Princess of Wales says: “I was terrified of her. I said, ‘I know what’s going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that.”
“She said to me: ‘You’ve got everything you ever wanted. All the men in the world fall in love with you and you’ve got two beautiful children, what more do you want?'”
“So I said, ‘I want my husband.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry I’m in the way…and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know what’s going on. Don’t treat me like an idiot.'”
Princess Diana’s self-harm
There’s no denying that the story of Lady Diana Spencer is one of the most tragic in modern history, however, one thing the show didn’t depict was an attempt at self-harm.
In the taped interviews with biographer Andrew Morton, Diana said that she tried to injure herself weeks after the wedding.
“I was in a very bad way…I was so depressed, and I was trying to cut my wrists with razor blades,” she detailed in The Diana Tapes. “It rained and rained and rained. I came down early [to London] to seek treatment, not because I hated Balmoral, but because I was in such a bad way.”
The assassination attempt on Margaret Thatcher
Season four did not address a key event in British history — the IRA’s bombing of the Brighton Hotel in 1984.
According to reports, the long-delay time bomb was set with the intent to kill the Prime Minister, however, she managed to escape the blast.
The IRA admitted to the attack, releasing the following statement the morning after:
“Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once,” they wrote. “You will have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no more war.”
Princess Anne’s love letters
Storylines about Princess Anne (Erin Doherty) do seem to be glossed over in this series, however, one of the more notable were the love letters exchanged with Royal Navy Commanding Officer Timothy Laurence.
The notes were stolen and leaked to the press, prompting the palace to release an unprecedented statement and prompted Princess Anne and her husband Mark to divorce in 1992.
“We have nothing to say about the contents of personal letters sent to Her Royal Highness by a friend which were stolen and which are the subject of a police investigation,” the statement read.
The avalanche investigation
We do see the June 1988 events play out in episode nine, however, the series did leave out the investigation into Hugh Lindsay’s death.
An aide mentions that Charles led the group into the snow and that the conditions were OK, however, in reality. according to the Los Angeles Times, it was determined that the entire group were partly responsible as there was an avalanche warning that day.
“By skiing outside official marked runs, the group had assumed a collective risk that excluded any one member from personal responsibility for the accident,” the notes read.