Even by The Crown's standards, the new season's trailer is over the top. It opens with the Queen standing among the charred timbers of fire-damaged Windsor Castle. "The Royal Family is in genuine crisis," says the voice of John MajorMajor was the British prime minister from 1990 to 1997. . There are glimpses of a miserable Princess DianaThe first wife of Britain's King Charles III and the mother of Princes William and Harry, who died in a car crash in 1997. , and Prince Charles kissing Camilla Parker-BowlesThe second wife of King Charles III, now known as Camilla, Queen Consort. . The words on screen read "THE BEGINNING... OF THE END." 

"The end of what?" viewers might ask. Not the Royal Family - we know that it has survived the events depicted. Possibly, though, the end of the viewing public's patience with a script that critics accuse of showing a blatantUndisguised, obvious and unashamed. disregard for the truth. 

The new series is set in the 1990s, with a new cast. Imelda Staunton plays the Queen and Jonathan Pryce the Duke of EdinburghThe title used by Prince Philip, who was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. He died in 2021.; Dominic West is Prince Charles, while Elizabeth Debicki is Princess Diana.

As it begins, the Queen is in her sixties and about to face what she called her "annus horribilisA Latin phrase meaning "horrible year," made famous by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1990s. ".¹ It includes the fire at Windsor, Prince Andrew's separation from his wife Sarah, Princess Anne's divorce from Mark Phillips and the much-publicised collapse of Charles and Diana's marriage.

But the scriptwriter Peter Morgan also includes a scene in which the Queen accuses Prince Philip of having an affair. Philip denies it, but speaks of his disenchantment with their marriage. There is no evidence that the conversation ever took place.

More controversial still is a scene in which Charles tells John Major that the Queen is too old for the job and should be persuaded to abdicate so that he can take over. In another scene, Major tells his wife Norma that "the senior royals seem deluded and out of touch, the junior royals fecklessIrresponsible and useless., entitled and lost".

Major has issued a furious statement, denying that any of these things were said. He describes the scenes as "damaging and malicious fiction". It is, he says, "a barrel load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum - and entirely false - dramatic impact".

Since the first season in 2016, The Crown has been criticised for inaccuracies. These range from simple mistakes about how the royal household works to wilful distortions of the truth.

But supporters of Peter Morgan claim that the show is carefully researched and grounded in "the events and feeling of the times". They say that Charles is sympathetically portrayed as someone who knows that the monarchy must move with the times.

The argument has become more heated as the series comes closer to the present day. Many viewers and experts are indignant about how it shows events they can remember, and people who are still in the public eye.

Some argue that the new season should not be shown so soon after the Queen's death. And it will certainly not make life easier for Charles as he begins his reign.

Such has been the criticism that Netflix now describes the show as a "fictional dramatisation" which is "inspired by real-life events". But not everyone believes that audiences will make the distinction.

Yes: It is extremely hurtful to the people it is based on to have their thoughts and deeds misrepresented. It is also very damaging to the monarchy at a particularly difficult time for it.

No: No drama can be entirely accurate - there will always be conversations between people that nobody else can know about - and The Crown does not claim to be. We should just treat it as the fun it is.

Or... How you see it depends on how much you know of the historical background. For people in Britain who remember the events that is not a problem, but for younger people and overseas viewers it is.