The hit Netflix series The Crown is stirring up controversy. From the story of Princess Diana and Prince Charles and their failed marriage to the heartbreaking story of the unexpected death of Major Hugh Lindsay. Sarah Horsley, the wife of Lindsay, was not happy because producers showed the story of his untimely death, even requesting that they omit it from the Season 4 storyline.
“I was horrified when I was told [the episode] was happening and was very concerned about the impact on my daughter,” Horsley told the Sunday Telegraph, according to PEOPLE. “I’m very upset by it, and I’m dreading people seeing it.” Horsley’s husband was on a ski trip with Prince Charles and Prince Andrew in Klosters, Switzerland, when an avalanche claimed Lindsay’s life. Horsley wrote the producers a letter requesting they leave that out of season, but producers responded by saying they would be considerate with the storyline instead.
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“I wrote to them asking them not to do it, not to use the accident,” she explained. “I suppose members of the royal family have to grin and bear it, but for me, it’s a very private tragedy.” Producers responded with “a very kind letter” that said “they understood my concerns, but they hope I will feel that they deal with difficult subject matters with integrity and great sensitivity,” adding, “I think it’s very unkind to many members of the family [to dramatize the accident].”
The accident took place in March 1988. When the avalanche took place, while both princes could safely escape, Lindsay and Patti Palmer-Tomkinson were buried by the snow. According to BBC via PEOPLE, “As soon as the danger had passed, Prince Charles, the guide and a Swiss police officer, who was skiing with the party, raced back to help the victims, digging with their bare hands in the snow to reach them.”
Princess Diana, who chose to stay back that day, said in Andrew Morton’s 1992 biography Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words, “What a nice person he was. Out of all the people who went, it should never have been him.” Princess Diana was also the topic of discussion in Season 4. In fact, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla had to turn off their comments on Twitter after the backlash her storyline caused in the most recent episodes. Chronicling the stories of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and their unhappy marriage, it hit a little too close to home for many as they took to social media to vent their thoughts and support for Diana.
