‘The Crown’ portrayal of Countess Mountbatten slammed: report

nypost.com:

The Crown” as “deliberately cruel” and “unnecessarily unsympathetic.”The source called the dramatic series — which is based on true stories of the royals but also adds in some fictional plots — “republican fiction.”The upcoming season of the Netflix show reportedly suggests that Prince Philip was “pursuing an affair” with Penelope “Penny” Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

It’s believed that they filmed “intimate scenes” between the two characters. The show apparently uses the 1991 death of the countess’ daughter, Leonora, from kidney cancer at 5 years old as a way to start the relationship between her and the prince.“This is indeed an ill-judged, unnecessarily unsympathetic and unfortunate decision,” the source told the Telegraph. “I imagine it is however carefully considered and very deliberate in that it has done what was probably intended in garnering media attention and therefore publicity for this continued work of republican fiction.”It’s reported that scenes of the prince (Jonathan Pryce) comforting the countess (Natascha McElhone) are juxtaposed with scenes of him and the queen sleeping in separate bedrooms. “It is one thing for a script to be drivel, another to be so deliberately cruel.

I think maybe they have shot themselves in the foot rather with this but for the majority, it will simply pass them by,” the source added, saying the fictional portrayal is “inordinately insensitive.”“As ever, those with any intelligence and true knowledge of the individuals will see it as fanciful imaginings,” they continued, admitting they had not seen the Netflix series.In “The Crown,” the countess and the prince become close over a “shared love of carriage driving,” and he confesses to her that he and the queen have.