The trailer for season five of The Crown opens with the Queen standing outside 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 shown. Possibly, though, the end of the public's patience with a script which critics say ignores the truth. 

The new season is set in the 1990s and covers what the Queen 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 and the collapse of three of her children's marriages.

In one scene the writer, Peter Morgan, has the Queen accuse 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.

There is also 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 widely criticised for its 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.

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.

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 for 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 young people and overseas viewers it is.