Queen Elizabeth’s Former Press Secretary Doesn’t Remember Her Being As “Glum and Boring” In Real Life As She Is Portrayed On ‘The Crown’

And just like that, it’s over: after seven years, Netflix’s The Crown has aired its final episode, with part two of season six dropping on the streaming service this past Thursday. Three women have undertaken the daunting task of playing the larger than life Queen Elizabeth on the show: first Claire Foy, then Olivia Colman, and, finally, Imelda Staunton; now, Deadline reports, Her late Majesty’s former press secretary is weighing in on how accurate (or not) their portrayal of her was.

(Minor spoiler alert) Foy, Colman, and Staunton all appeared together in a scene where they unite under the arches of St. George’s Chapel, where the late Queen is buried. Dickie Arbiter, Her late Majesty’s former press secretary, has been, as Deadline puts it, “a hawkish viewer” of the series since its inception in 2016 and, now that the series has concluded, can reflect on the performances of the three women who undertook the role of the longest-serving British monarch in history.

In particular Arbiter “was withering about Colman and Staunton’s portrayals of Queen Elizabeth over the past four seasons of The Crown—the period in which he worked closely with Her Majesty,” Deadline writes. Arbiter said he didn’t recognize the “drawn” woman played by Colman and added that Staunton’s portrayal was “gloomy in a way that did the Queen a disservice,” the outlet reports. 

“I don’t remember her being glum and boring,” Arbiter said. “Glum if there was a death in the family or one of the dogs had to be put down, but she was playing glum and boring right the way through.”

That said, Arbiter said Staunton nailed it in one scene: “when she delivered an address to the nation after Princess Diana’s death,” Deadline writes. (Arbiter played a key role in orchestrating that speech in real life, so he would know.) 

Arbiter’s favorite portrayal of Queen Elizabeth came from Foy, who played a young Elizabeth in the first two seasons of the show; Arbiter called her performance “brilliant.” Yet Arbiter was critical, in particular of The Crown’s creator Peter Morgan, of “dramatic license gone bonkers” in his portrayal of the events surrounding Diana’s death in 1997, in particular scenes where Prince Charles (played by Dominic West) breaks the news of Diana’s death to their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

“The sequence of Charles telling his sons of their mother’s death was so insensitive,” he said. “It was so unnecessary. The death of their mother is still raw with both of them.”