The story behind The Crown's most hated scene.

The first four episodes of The Crown's sixth – and final – season are streaming on Netflix, and are drawing rather polarised reactions from everyone who hits play.

The episodes portray the final weeks of Princess Diana's life: her last European holidays with Dodi Fayed, the intensity of paparazzi following them around, and the car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel that killed them. Followed, of course, by the royal family's highly documented actions in the aftermath.

Unsurprisingly, many people have strong opinions about the portrayal of the deaths, and the scenes that depict the worst moment of some people's lives – namely, two young princes. But the biggest faux pas, according to not only critics but also audiences, are two moments featuring Diana. After her death.

Watch: the trailer for The Crown season six. Post continues below video.

In the first, Diana appears talking to Charles on a plane after he has had to identify her body in a Paris morgue. In a scene 20 minutes later, she strikes up conversation with Queen Elizabeth, who is watching footage of devastated crowds while trying to figure out what to do for the funeral.

Yes, they're ghost scenes. But the team behind the show really don't want us to call them that.

The Crown creator Peter Morgan dismissed the word "ghost" when referring to the character's reappearance in interviews, explaining the plot device as something less spooky.

"The word 'ghost' is unhelpful. I was never writing anything from a supernatural perspective, not at all," he told Deadline. "When someone has just passed, they're still vivid in the minds of all those close to them and love them. And sometimes it's impossible to keep them out of the minds." 

He also told Variety he wanted to portray the uniqueness of Diana's public persona.

"Diana was such a mythic character, with such a strong hold over all of our imaginations. That was evident in the aftermath of her death, and in the mass outpouring of grief. Diana was unique, and I suppose that's what inspired me to find a unique way of representing her. She deserved special treatment narratively," he said.

The Crown, though editorialising about the thoughts, motivations and private moments of these very real people, has always prided itself on meticulous fact checking and tight scripting.

The ghost scenes that we aren't supposed to call ghost scenes feel at odds with both those things.

"You know I loved you so much, so deeply, but so painfully too," the conjuring of Diana tells Charles in the scene. "It's over now. It'll be easier for everyone with me gone. Admit it. You've had that thought already."

Easier for who? Is the series portraying these as thoughts that Diana, a very real person who died, would say about her own death? Or is it meant to be Charles' thoughts and projections played back to him? Is it a meta-commentary on the years that followed 1997? 

It is not explained further, but actress Elizabeth Debicki told the Hollywood Reporter the scene was about being able to portray the unsaid between her Diana and Dominic West's Prince Charles.

"In this imaginary incarnation, they're able to say what they never maybe were able to say, and I think that's very real and accurate in grieving somebody," she said. "Having the opportunity as the character to say the thing that I feel I probably wanted to say inside that character for two seasons just absolutely destroyed me, but in the best way."

Debicki said she and West barely rehearsed the scene – a stark change from the of the rest of the show, which has been meticulous in everything from the costuming to the choreography of who stands where.

"What people see is very raw," Debicki said. "It's like the first or second take for both of us. It's kind of a meta conversation about grief. And for me, it felt so real, the idea that if you suddenly lose somebody that you love, you have to speak to them again."

So, that is the intent. But as a moment on screen, it is jarring. It makes sense that in dozens of critical reviews (and even more critical tweets), the 'ghost scenes' have been so derided.

Princess Diana is one of modern history's most famous people. But she's also become one of pop culture's most well-trodden characters, from too many documentaries to count, to Naomi Watts' 2013 film Diana and Kristen Stewart's 2021 Spencer, to Helen Mirren's Oscar-winning performance in The Queen – which is less about Diana and more about what happened after her. There was even a short-lived Broadway musical (titled Diana: The Musical of course).

We know the story of Princess Diana. Her life has been examined from every angle. She was also a real person, beyond an interesting character for entertainment. Is there really anything fresh to say about her story if we're having to bring in ghost scenes?

Or can we finally let Diana – the character, but especially the human being – rest?

Feature image: Netflix.