The Crown: Screenwriter Jemima Khan says she bowed out over the show’s depiction of Princess Diana

Screenwriter and journalist was a friend of the late royal

Screenwriter and journalist Jemima Khan has said she stopped working on The Crown over concerns she had with the show’s portrayal of Princess Diana.

Khan – who knew the Princess of Wales personally – said she had been asked by the drama’s creator Peter Morgan to help write The Crown’s fifth season.

The forthcoming season sees Elizabeth Debicki take over the role of Princess Diana from Emma Corrin, and will depict the late royal’s final years.

Khan told The Sunday Times that she felt it was “really important to me that the final years of my friend’s life be portrayed accurately and with compassion, as has not always happened in the past”.

She said: “In 2019, Peter Morgan asked me to co-write on the fifth series of The Crown, particularly those episodes which concerned Princess Diana’s last years before she died.

“After a great deal of thought, having never spoken publicly about any of this before, I decided to contribute.”

The 47-year-old added, however, that after working on the series for five months, she “realised that particular storyline would not necessarily be told as respectfully or compassionately as I had hoped”. Khan pulled out from her work on the hit drama.

“I requested that all my contributions be removed from the series and I declined a credit,” Khan revealed.

Jemima Khan with Princess Diana (Saeed Khan/AFP)

A spokesperson for The Crown told The Standard that Khan “has never been contracted as a writer on the series”.

“Jemima Khan has been a friend, fan and a vocal public supporter of The Crown since season one,” they said.

“She has been part of a wide network of well-informed and varied sources who have provided extensive background information to our writers and research team – providing context for the drama that is The Crown. She has never been contracted as a writer on the series.”

Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in ‘The Crown’ (Des Willie/Netflix)

Over the weekend, photos of Debicki as Princess Diana emerged on social media.

In them, the Tenet actor is seen wearing a black dress in the same style as the one worn by the Princess of Wales at a 1994 dinner following the televised admission of adultery by Prince Charles.

The forthcoming season of The Crown will see Dominic West take over the role of Prince Charles from Josh O’Connor, with Imelda Staunton portraying the lead role of Queen Elizabeth II.

You can find everything we know about The Crown season five here.