Main

• Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II^[4]
• Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth's husband^[4]
• Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, Elizabeth's younger sister^[4]
• Dominic West as Charles, Prince of Wales, Elizabeth and Philip's eldest child and the heir apparent^[4]
• Jonny Lee Miller as John Major, Prime Minister 1990–1997^[4]
• Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles's long-time lover^[5]
• Claudia Harrison as Anne, Princess Royal, Elizabeth and Philip's second child and only daughter^[6]
• Natascha McElhone as Penny Knatchbull, Lady Romsey, wife of Lord Romsey, first cousin once removed of Prince Philip
• Marcia Warren as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, King George VI's widow, Elizabeth II and Margaret's mother^[7]
• Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Princess of Wales, Charles's wife^[4]

Recurring

Notable guests

Casting

In January 2020, Imelda Staunton was announced as succeeding Colman as the Queen in the fifth season, and her role in the final sixth season was reported in July.^[23][24] Also in July 2020, Lesley Manville was announced as portraying Princess Margaret,^[25][24] and the following month, Jonathan Pryce and Elizabeth Debicki had been cast as Prince Philip and Diana, Princess of Wales, respectively.^[26][27] In October 2020, Dominic West was in talks to play Prince Charles and was officially confirmed as part of the cast in April 2021.^[28][29][30] In June 2021, Jonny Lee Miller was cast as John Major and Olivia Williams announced that she would portray Camilla Parker Bowles.^[31][32] On 18 November 2021, it was announced that Senan West, the real-life son of Dominic, was cast as Prince William.^[33] In March 2022, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu was cast as Monique Ritz.^[22] Khalid Abdalla plays Dodi Fayed; he relied on a piece of audio of Fayed doing a call-in for The Larry King Show to get a handle on Fayed's accent whilst speaking English, as Abdalla was unable to find an audio clip of Dodi Fayed online.^[34]

Filming

Filming for the season began in July 2021.^[35] Jemima Khan, who was a friend of Princess Diana, revealed that she had stepped down as a consultant and co-writer on episodes focusing on the Princess over concerns that the story of her final years would not be properly portrayed.^[36] Filming was temporarily halted that December after eight crew members tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in them being quarantined.^[37]

Music

While not on the soundtrack, "Emotions" by American singer Mariah Carey was featured in the first episode.^[38]

Audience viewership

During its debut week, the season topped Netflix's Top ten TV English titles with 107.39 million hours viewed.^[40][41] The following week, it remained number one with 84.31 million viewing hours.^[42][43] In its third week, it ranked at number three and generated 42.36 million viewing hours.^[44][45]

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes reported a 71% approval rating for the season based on 101 reviews, with an average rating of 6.75/10. Its critical consensus reads: "In its fifth season, it's hard to shake the feeling that this series has lost some of its luster – but addictive drama and a sterling cast remain The Crown's jewels."^[46] On Metacritic, the season holds a score of 65 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[47]

TVLine named Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West the "Performers of the Week" on 19 November 2022, for their performances in the penultimate episode "Couple 31", writing: "...in one masterful scene near the end of the season's penultimate episode, the newly divorced pair met in private to share a few laughs and take a hard look what went wrong with their relationship, with Debicki and West bringing shocking candor and fresh vulnerability to the two former sweethearts. In the extended scene [...] Debicki and West [displayed] a warmth we hadn’t seen between these two since they first started dating".^[48] Meanwhile, Lesley Manville was given an honourable mention on 12 November 2022 for her performance in the episode "Annus Horribilis". The website wrote: "...Manville [brought] magnificent depth to a woman looking back on her life and wondering if things could’ve been different".^[49] However, many reviewers criticised the season for comparing poorly with earlier ones. Writing for The Atlantic, Shirley Li comments that "The new season of The Crown never risks challenging anyone's reputation. Instead, it merely risks its own as a compelling show".^[50] In Variety, Caroline Framke comments that "Morgan's scripts [hammer] their most obvious themes home with clattering thuds, pushing allegory after allegory with vanishingly little nuance".^[51] In The Guardian, Jack Seale concludes that "these new episodes are bitty and often just boring, with Morgan casting around for side plots to hide the fact that everything he has to say about the Windsors has already been said".^[52]

Controversy

After the fourth season, there were increased calls for Netflix to add a disclaimer to The Crown to emphasise that the series is a fictionalised portrayal based on historical events. These calls increased given that the fifth season was released only two months after the Queen's death. Veteran actress Judi Dench wrote an open letter to The Times, deeming the series "crude sensationalism" and calling for a disclaimer to be added.^[53] Netflix updated both the series description and the season five trailer caption on YouTube to refer to the series as a "fictional dramatization".^[54] However, upon the release of the series, no episode contained a disclaimer.^[55]

Historical accuracy

Ahead of its release, the former Prime Minister John Major publicly criticised the series, and Tony Blair's spokesman described the first episode of the season, where in 1991 Prince Charles is portrayed attempting to recruit John Major and Tony Blair to support the Queen's abdication in favour of him, as "complete and utter rubbish".^[56][57] Major stated that no such conversation took place, and that the scene was "a barrel-load of malicious nonsense".^[58] The Sunday Times article recorded that at the time nine out of ten people felt 'very favourably' or 'mainly favourably' about the Queen, while four in ten felt she should abdicate 'at some point in the future', rather than continue until her death.^[59] In the same episode, Major suggests that the Queen should give up on the idea of having HMY Britannia refurbished or replaced at a time of national belt-tightening. Correspondence with his principal private secretary Alex Allan, however, shows that the decision was made "in the light of the current debate about the Royal Family and the Monarchy", which stemmed from high-profile separations and divorces among family members.^[60] The plot in episode two which shows James Colthurst run off the road by a white van and Andrew Morton finding his home ransacked is fictionalised.^[60]

Episode three shows the Duke and Duchess of Windsor visiting Alexandria in 1946, where they are seen by a young Mohamed Al-Fayed from a distance. However, there is no record of the couple having visited Egypt that year.^[60] The episode also suggests that Diana met Dodi Fayed during a polo match in the 1990s, but they reportedly met during a match in 1986 where Charles was also present.^[60] In episode three after the death of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor in 1986, Sydney Johnson the former valet for 30 years to her husband Edward VIII is deeply saddened and so his new employer Mohamed Al-Fayed takes him to visit her now dilapidated Paris home nicknamed Villa Windsor. Al Fayed is shocked to learn that the French government has seized the house with intent to auction it and its contents. Fayed purchases the estate from France and renovates everything as a gift to the Royal Family. A representative of the family arrives in place of a Royal visit, and requests all the restored items including the abdication desk, paintings and papers. Rather than being upset at the apparent snub Al-Fayed is instead overjoyed that his efforts have been recognised. The true circumstances however were different: the house had always been rented from the Paris Council, Al Fayed took a 50-year lease for $1m per year under the proviso that he would restore it; he was also allowed to keep the art and furniture to decorate it. She bequeathed the rest of her belongings, which had personal value to the Royal Family, as charity to the Pasteur Institute. Al Fayed paid $4.5m to acquire them at auction but was outbid on her jewellery which sold the following year for $50m. In 1998 he auctioned the Windsor Collection in aid of his and his sons' charities raising $23m.^[61] The Royal Family were believed to have acquired all the items by bidding via proxies, finally returning the abdication desk (sale price $415,000), papers and other belongings to the family.

Episode four, which covers the Queen's annus horribilis speech, shows her acknowledging "the errors of the past" in her speech, none of which occurred during the lunch at the Guildhall.^[60] The episode also incorrectly depicts Princess Margaret appearing on Desert Island Discs, whereas she was a guest on the show in 1981. Additionally, her initial reunion with Peter Townsend had occurred in 1978, not in the 1990s.^[60] The scene in the next episode which depicts Prince Charles breakdancing in the mid-1990s is inspired by a charity visit by the prince in 1985.^[60] Episode six features the execution of the Romanov family and portrays King George V refusing to offer political asylum to the Russian imperial family at the advice of his wife Queen Mary, who is shown to have opposed the idea because the tsarina was pro-German. Government papers released in the 1980s show that it was George himself who opposed the idea due to the tsar's unpopularity in Britain.^[60]

Episode eight shows Diana warning the Queen about her forthcoming Panorama interview, but it has been reported that in reality the interview had surprised the royal family, with no advance warning.^[60] A scene in episode ten that shows Charles confronting the Queen about the prospects of her abdication is an invention, but the prince did privately meet Blair — then Prime Minister — during the Handover of Hong Kong Sovereignty, although the meeting was brief.^[60]