The Crown creator defends controversial King Charles storyline

Season five of Netflix's hugely popular drama The Crown is right around the corner and the show has run into some controversy over the storylines it'll show.

As we get closer to the present day, the events depicted on screen are fresher in the memory with more people around to say whether it was true to what really happened.

A teaser for the show gave viewers a glimpse at 'all out war' brewing between Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) as their marriage falls apart, but the show has been hit with some backlash.

Watch a teaser for season five of The Crown below:

The first hit of controversy came after a royal source described as a close friend to the new King Charles III said the show was 'a drama, not a documentary'.

They said Netflix would have 'no qualms about mangling people's expectations' and claimed the streaming giant was being 'exploitative'.

Arguing that there were 'real human beings and real lives at the heart of this', it was a clear sign of concern over the way Charles will be portrayed in this season.

Netflix

Now, however, The Crown creator Peter Morgan has stood up for the show and argued that the show isn't unkind to Charles in the way it portrays him.

Speaking to Variety, he said: "I think we must all accept that the 1990s was a difficult time for the royal family, and King Charles will almost certainly have some painful memories of that period.

"But that doesn’t mean that, with the benefit of hindsight, history will be unkind to him, or the monarchy. The show certainly isn't.

"I have enormous sympathy for a man in his position - indeed, a family in their position. People are more understanding and compassionate than we expect sometimes."

Netflix

Morgan is right that the 90s were a tough time for the royal family, with the Queen describing 1992 in particular as her 'annus horribilis' as her children divorced and Windsor palace caught fire.

Season five of The Crown looks set to cover those difficult years leading up to the death of Princess Diana in 1997, though Netflix has said it won't show the moment of the crash.

Debicki said the showrunners took great care to 'handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity', while West described the upcoming episodes as a 'hell of a season' which everyone involved 'all take pretty seriously'.

Season five of The Crown will release on Netflix on 9 November.