Lord Julian Fellowes has insisted Netflix’s royal drama ‘The Crown’ has been "unfair" to Prince Philip.
The ‘Downton Abbey’ creator has praised the show but admitted he had some issues with the idea of portraying the Duke of Edinburgh’s marriage to Queen Elizabeth on screen in the second season.
Speaking on Katie Couric’s self-titled podcast, he said: "It was beautifully acted, beautifully written. For me, I’m not completely comfortable with dramatising people who are still alive and still living their lives.
"Because I think it’s possible to be unfair. And in the second series, I didn’t think it was fair to Prince Philip, to the Duke of Edinburgh, based on very little."
The 68-year-old writer praised the show for its "great success", and said while the drama is deserving of such a large audience he just has an issue with its treatment of Philip after 70 years of pubic service.
He added: "Now I’ll be punished for that because it’s a great success and it deserves to be. I don’t know.
"I think when people are still alive, living their lives, doing a good job and popular and loved, do they deserve it? And in that sense, I’m not sure they do."
While he hailed writer Peter Morgan as the best in his profession, he took issue with the idea of liberties being taken based on rumours on a show rooted in reality.
On the subject of artistic license, he explained: "You’re getting me into a tricky area here. I think that a lot of it was based on obviously very good research, but some of it was not.
"Some of it was extrapolation from a rumour or someone’s rather prejudiced account. And then it was presented as fact. I’m not sure that’s just."
Julian Fellowes: The Crown was ‘unfair’ to Prince Philip
