SHAMELESS Netflix bosses were last night branded “sadistic and wicked” for recreating Princess Diana’s final hours for The Crown.
Haunting scenes show Di — played by Elizabeth Debicki — in a limo before her horrific crash in a Paris tunnel.
7
7
Her close friend Simone Simmons told The Sun that the hit drama risked forcing Princes William and Harry to recall “the most painful time” of their lives.
She said: “These are cruel, sadistic and wicked people to recreate these moments. They are the lowest of the low.
“They are rewriting history as they go along and that’s what makes me very angry.
“Netflix are deliberately reviving the most painful time in the boys’ lives.
“It’s forcing them to relive the pain, agony, and psychological torment they suffered when their mother died.
“I think it’s disgusting and sick. Why are they setting out to upset William and Harry?
“The makers of this programme do not care about the heir to the throne and everything he has been through.
“Why do these callous, insensitive people feel the need to recreate that horrible day?
“They are going out of their way to hurt the Royal Family.”
Producers used Barcelona to double as Paris, where Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed were killed in 1997.
It is feared Wills, 40, will be angered and dismayed when the scenes are screened next month — along with a reconstruction of the discredited 1995 interview between his mother and the BBC’s Martin Bashir.
In an emotional statement, he previously said that clips “should never be aired again”.
Harry, 38 — facing pressure over his Netflix deal, reportedly worth £135million — will also be dreading bosses screening a recreation of Diana’s funeral.
The Duke of Sussex has told biographer Angela Levin: “’My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.
“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.
“I don’t think it would happen today.
“No child should lose their mother at such a young age and then have his grief observed by thousands of people.”
The Crown has already been criticised for blending fact with fiction — and for a storyline showing Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip pursuing an affair with younger peeress Penny Knatchbull.
Stage and screen veteran Dame Judi Dench, 87, last week blasted the big budget drama for being “inaccurate and hurtful” and for its “crude sensationalism”.
In a letter to The Times, she called in vain for a factual disclaimer be slapped on every episode “as a mark of respect” to the late Queen.
She wrote: “The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism.
7
“No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged.
“Despite this week stating publicly that The Crown has always been a ‘fictionalised drama’, the programme makers have resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start.”
Former PM Sir John Major also blasted scenes alleging Prince Charles — played by Dominic West — had once asked him to help persuade the Queen to abdicate.
His spokesman described the storyline as “damaging and malicious fiction” and “a barrel-load of nonsense”.
Yesterday, one of the Queen’s closest friends added her voice to the growing condemnation of the latest series.
The unnamed pal, who attended the Her Majesty’s Windsor Castle committal service last month, told The Sunday Times: “I’m horrified by what is going on with Netflix and how they are vilifying the Royal Family.
“It is vicious. It’s as if they’re trying to destroy the Royal Family. It would have destroyed [the Queen].”
In a trailer released last week, a clip shows the Queen — played by Imelda Staunton — implying Charles and Diana’s behaviour is “threatening” the monarchy.
Another scene shows journalist Bashir saying of the infamous Panorama interview: “She opens her mouth and hand grenades come out.”
Diana is played by Australian star Debicki, 32, and Dodi by 40-year-old Egyptian-British actor Khalid Abdalla.
Both were pictured filming in Francesc Macia Square in one of Barcelona’s main business areas.
Netflix has been contacted for comment over the latest row.
Bosses have earlier insisted: “The exact moment of the crash impact will not be shown.”
A spokesman for King Charles declined to comment.
7
7
7