The Crown: Netflix releases first part of final series featuring tragic death of Princess Diana

Season six of the royal drama depicts events from 1997 through to 2005, broadly spanning the tenure of Tony Blair as Prime Minister.

The first four episodes (Part 1) depict the relationship blossoming between Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, and Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) before a fateful car journey in Paris has devastating consequences.

The final chapter is told across six episodes (Part 2), being released on December 14. Prince William tries to integrate back into life at Eton in the wake of his mother’s death as the monarchy has to ride the wave of public opinion. As she reaches her Golden Jubilee, the Queen reflects on the future of the monarchy with the marriage of Charles (Dominic West) and Camilla and the beginnings of a new Royal fairytale in William and Kate.

Imelda Staunton said she felt ‘huge responsibility’ as she reprised the infamous speech that Queen Elizabeth made to the nation in 1997 the day before Princess Diana’s funeral.

“It was an incredibly powerful address to the nation which many people remember. The significance of that was not taken lightly by anyone involved, and I spent a lot of time listening to recordings of the real speech, as I needed to be as accurate as I could be with the extremely sensitive subject matter.”

For Part 2, taking on the roles of Prince William and Prince Harry will be Ed McVey and Luther Ford. Joining them will be Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton. These will be debut roles for all three actors.

Since arriving on Netflix in 2016, The Crown has been nominated for and won multiple awards, including 15 BAFTA nominations, 10 Golden Globe Nominations (including 4 wins), 69 Emmy Nominations across 5 seasons (with 21 wins across 4 seasons) and more.