THE Crown bosses have admitted why they made up the “heart-breaking” Princess Diana singing scene that left fans sobbing in the latest series.
During episode nine, titled Avalanche, the Princess of Wales (Emma Corrin) treated Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) to a recording of her singing All I Ask Of You from Phantom Of The Opera to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
The Crown bosses have revealed why Princess Diana actress Emma Corrin sung for Charles on a tape in episode nine
Earlier on in the same instalment of the popular show, Diana left Charles fuming after her performance of Uptown Girl at the Royal Opera House which she dedicated to his birthday.
She tried to make things right by creating a VHS tape for his eyes only, after he made it clear that he didn’t like all the public attention she received after his first performance.
But according to the show’s directors, the late Princess never actually sung in the original tape, but they thought that Emma’s stunning voice would work well in the scene and “break viewers hearts”.
Annie Sulzberger, the show’s head of research told the Telegraph: “When we found out that Emma could sing we thought, ‘ok, even if Diana wasn’t the best singer in the world and would have preferred to dance this, we don’t know. We have never seen the video'”.
Diana decided to treat Charles to a video for their anniversary
He didn’t seem particularly impressed with the present
Earlier on in the episode Prince Charles wasn’t happy with Diana’s performance at the Royal Opera House
Princess Diana performed a Duet to Uptown Girl in 1985
Actress Emma Corrin has portrayed Princess Diana in the fourth series of The Crown
She admitted that whilst discussing what to do they thought: “Let’s have her sing because it’s going to break out hearts, right?”
The researcher, who has worked on the likes of The Good Shepherd (Universal), The Iron Lady and The Special Relationship, also described Emma’s take on the song as “magnetic and impactful”.
Director of the episode, Jessica Hobbs, revealed that they decided to do what they thought was best – and it definitely worked in their favours.
She added: “Our understanding was that she’d done a dance for him that was filmed on stage, in the costumes, on the real set.
The latest series focuses a lot more on Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s relationship
“That’s what we understood from the research. So we extended that to her singing.”
Last month 25-year-old Emma spoke out about how she found filming that particular scene, and admitted that she completely freaked out and put too much pressure on herself to perfect it.
She told Vulture: “I did about two [takes] and I had a complete panic attack, had a nosebleed. I had a proper, like, a proper breakdown.
“I went downstairs and they were so sweet. They were like, “You don’t have to do it. You can do it tomorrow.”
Emma recently spoke out about performing on a West End stage for the singing scene and suffered with a panic attack
“And I was like, “You can’t do it tomorrow! We’ve hired a theatre!” They were very lovely, but I did it. I did it a lot of times.”
The Crown first hit our screens back in 2016 and has become a firm favourite with fans, with a total of four successful seasons so far.
It is a fictional series guided by historical events that have happened over the years within the Royal Family, as nobody truly knows what has happened in the past between them all.
Emma Corrin’s singing scene highlights this perfectly, and just last week Netflix refused to put a disclaimer on the show because they believe that viewers already know the royal drama is a “work of fiction”.
The government’s culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, raised his concerns despite praising the programme for being a “beautifully produced work of fiction“.
The MP thinks that some fans of the much-loved show could accidentally mistake what they see in the show as true events that have previously happened because there is no warning to say otherwise.
Netflix revealed a statement on Sunday that explained: “We have always presented The Crown as a drama, and we have every confidence our members understand it’s a work of fiction that’s broadly based on historical events.
