Prince William wasn't as "sad and unfulfilled" as The Crown suggests, expert says

He had happy times among the difficult ones.

Prince William Sledging In Lech, Austria
(Image credit: Photo by Julian Parker / Getty)

The Royal Family is reportedly pretty worried over The Crown season 5, which hits Netflix later this week.

The series plot has now made it into the '90s, a decade of turbulence for the royals, which included the breakdown of Charles and Diana's marriage and the alleged affair between Prince Philip and Penny Knatchbull, among other scandals.

There is so much concern over the upcoming episodes that such important public figures as former Prime Minister John Major and actress Dame Judi Dench have expressed their disapproval of what they see as the show's blurring of the lines between fiction and reality.

Apparently, the new series will show a young Prince William as being very unhappy, a point on which one royal expert wants to set the record straight.

"Those watching what The Crown shows should also bear in mind that there were, even in the nineties, happy times for William too," Richard Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail.

"Whereas many of the events it portrays were indeed grim, it should surely also show how William was loved as a child."

Richard reckons that William's relationship with his mother Diana was a huge source of happiness for him.

"William, it has been reported, is portrayed as sad, unfulfilled and melancholy in the fifth series," the expert said.

"It was from Diana that he learnt to care for the less fortunate, especially the homeless and those in hospital and that has benefited them both in later life.

"William later said what an eye opener seeing a different side to life was and, when he turned 40, reportedly became a Big Issue seller in memory of what his mother taught him."

Not only did William learn from his mum, they also simply had loads of fun together.

Richard explains that Diana was 'more casual than Charles' and would take her sons to the cinema, skiing or amusement parks to give them 'as normal an upbringing as possible'.

Something to keep in mind on your upcoming binge-watch!

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire.
As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles.
Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York.
As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.