Netflix accused of suggesting Queen may have had a fling with horse racing boss

Netflix has been accused of muck-raking in the new series of The Crown for suggesting that the Queen may have had a fling with Lord Porchester, her horse racing manager.

Dickie Arbiter, her former press secretary said over the weekend:

This is very distasteful and totally unfounded. The Queen is the last person in the world to have ever considered looking at another man. Not only is this muck raking, this is gossip that’s been washing around for decades. It’s got absolutely no substance.

In the third series of the Crown, to be released by Netflix next Sunday, the Queen played by Olivia Colman is shown to have a close relationship with the man she affectionately calls Porchie.

In one hour-long episode she spends a month visiting stud farms in France and America accompanied by Porchie.

In the drama, Prince Philip is suspicious and grills her when she returns to Buckingham Palace.

Irritated by Philip’s attitude the Queen snaps: 

If you have something to say say it now, otherwise if you don’t mind, I’m busy.

Philip, played by Tobias Menzies starts to walk away but the scene ends with him returning to the Queen and then kissing her.

The Queen remained close to Porchie until his death in 2001. There has never been any evidence that they were more than friends.

Mr Arbiter, 79, said Peter Morgan, the writer of The Crown, has a habit of “beefing up” his scripts and is concerned that “people will take whatever he writes as sacrosanct”.

Arbiter added: 

The Crown is fiction. No-one knows any conversation between members of the Royal Family but people will tell the story they want to and sensationalize it.