The first instalment of the final series of Netflix’s blockbuster The Crown is back.
The first four episodes detail the harrowing circumstances of Princess Diana’s death – culminating in the recreation of several scenes that are embedded into the nation’s memory.
Here Sky News details the four biggest moments of the final season’s first instalment.
Warning, spoilers ahead.
The car crash
While The Crown’s producers said last year they would not show the car crash in Paris that killed Princess Diana, Dodi al Fayed and his chauffeur Henri Paul, the viewer is confronted with the paparazzi chase into the Pont de l’Alma tunnel within the first two minutes of episode one.
The crash is not recreated but the viewer hears the brakes screeching and glass breaking. The motorbikes chasing Diana and Dodi come to a halt and later the blue flashing lights of emergency vehicles are seen.
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in the sixth and final series of The Crown. Pic: Netflix
The first four episodes released this morning cover the eight weeks in the lead-up to her death in August 1997, as well as her deteriorating relationship with the paparazzi and her relationship with Dodi al Fayed.
While the world is familiar with the shocking events leading up to and after the princess’s death, nothing reduces the impact of seeing the crash and its aftermath recreated for high-brow television.
Diana’s ghost… and Dodi’s
It was one of the talking points of the controversial series before season six’s partial release – Diana’s ghost appears not once but twice to both Charles and the Queen.
On the plane home from collecting Diana’s body in Paris, the princess appears opposite Charles for one last poignant conversation.
Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed in the sixth and final series of The Crown. Pic: Netflix
He tells her: “You were always the most beloved out of all of us” before she says she loved him “so deeply, so painfully too”.
Her ghost returns later in episode four to comfort the Queen.
Their conversation is less emotional, with the monarch remarking: “You’ve finally succeeded in turning me and this house upside down.”
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed in the sixth and final series of The Crown. Pic: Netflix
She adds that the outpouring of grief from the public after Diana’s death is “nothing less than revolution”.
But it’s not just Diana’s ghost that features – Dodi al Fayed returns from the dead to have a conversation with his father, Mohamad.
They plead for forgiveness from each other after Mohamad comes to terms with the fact he had “unfair expectations” of his son.
Prince William goes missing
While planning Diana’s funeral with then Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles is informed the young Prince William has gone missing.
Dominic West as Prince Charles, with Rufus Kampa and Fflyn Edwards as William and Harry, in the sixth and final series of The Crown. Pic: Netflix
A large search operation, which includes Prince Harry, scours the lands around Balmoral for most of the day before we see Prince William walking back to the castle in the pouring rain after 14 hours missing.
His simmering grief and the weight of being the future King are obvious in this first instalment, with episode four culminating in Prince Philip supporting him as he walks behind Diana’s coffin.
Diana vs the Royal Family
The worsening relationship between Diana and Charles – as well as the rest of the royal family- is on full show in the first instalment of season six.
Imelda Staunton as the Queen in the sixth and final series of The Crown. Pic: Netflix
The divorced couple engage in rival media briefings in an effort to win the public’s affection in the war of the Waleses – Charles is furious in the first episode when Camilla Parker-Bowles’ 50th birthday is overshadowed by photographs from Diana’s holiday with the al Fayeds.
A meeting of the wider royal family became angry when being forced to address Diana’s burgeoning relationship with Dodi with the Queen referring disdainfully to her as “that girl”.
Even after her death, the Queen says Diana was the “person who caused me the most pain” and wanted her funeral to be a “Spencer family matter”.
