‘The Crown’ slammed as ‘sick’ for recreating mangled Princess Diana death crash Mercedes

20 March 2023

‘The Crown’ is being blasted as “sick” for recreating the mangled Mercedes that carried Princess Diana to her death.

‘The Crown’ is being blasted as ‘sick’ for recreating the mangled Mercedes that carried Princess Diana to her death

Bosses on the award-winning Netflix hit had insisted it would not recreate the “exact moment” of the Paris tunnel car smash that killed the royal in 1997 aged 36, but fury has erupted after pictures emerged of a replica of the smashed car that is to be used in its new series.

A source told the Daily Mail: “I think a lot of people will find it quite sick that they went into such detail to recreate how the car was smashed up.

“I think it’s going to cause a lot of upset with the Royal Family. If it was any other family I’m not sure they’d do it.”

The image of the crumpled S-Class Mercedes – complete with a caved-in bonnet, smashed windscreen and buckled wheels – was released by the Mail and shows in on set at Elstree Studios.

It was said to have been transported in secret under tarpaulin to Paris.

In October Netflix crews in the French capital were seen reconstructing Diana's final journey and other scenes shot in December showed investigators examining the wreckage.

Netflix insisted at the time: “The exact moment of the crash impact will not be shown.”

Diana’s companion Dodi Fayed, 42, and driver Henri Paul, 41, were also killed in the August 31 crash at the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in central Paris, leaving bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, 55, its only survivor.

Di, who will be played by Elizabeth Debicki, 32, in the upcoming sixth series of ‘The Crown’, died hours after the crash in hospital, while Dodi and Henri were instantly killed.

The latest run of the Netflix show will follow the royals from the late 1990s through to the early 2000s, and the Mail said the streamer declined to comment on the use of the mangled Mercedes replica.

It comes after politicians, royal experts and celebrities led calls for a disclaimer to be added to the show warning viewers it was fiction not fact – which was put on the show by Netflix in 2022.

Diana’s brother Earl Spencer, 58, has said he felt uncomfortable watching his sister portrayed in the drama and admitted he fears viewers will “forget it is fiction”.