News that the storyline has already been completed also raises the spectre of whether the revelations which brought about Bashir’s downfall may have been precipitated byThe Crown’s enquiries.
The princess’s brother,Earl Spencer,only revealed in October last year that Bashir had shown him forged bank statements designed to hoodwink Diana into giving the interview 25 years ago.
Some have questioned why the Earl,57,sat on the paperwork for so long,after questions were first raised about Mr Bashir’s methods in 1996.
An internal investigation,which did not interview Earl Spencer,cleared Bashir of any wrongdoing at that time.
After the Earl told BBC director-general Tim Davie that he possessed records of all his contacts with Bashir showing how the journalist told the princess false information to gain her trust,an independent investigation into how the interview was obtained was launched last November.
The move coincided with royal sources raising concerns about the accuracy ofThe Crown,prompting Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to demand a “health warning” from Netflix to make clear it is “fiction”.
Lord Dyson,a Supreme Court judge,also criticised the 1996 probe led by Tony Hall,who went onto become director-general,as “woefully ineffective”,and accused the BBC of a cover up.
Prince William said the programme had contributed to his mother’s sense of “fear,paranoia and isolation”,while Prince Harry,36,said:“The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life.”
The fourth season ofThe Crown featured Diana’s courtship and marriage to Prince Charles and his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles,taking viewers up to 1989.
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Season five will take in the events leading up to the Princess’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997.
Season six will dramatise the aftermath of Diana’s death and conclude around the time of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002.
Morgan has said he will not feature any storylines that have happened in the last 20 years,meaning there will be no depiction of recent crises such as “Megxit”.