The close friend of Lady Di Jemima Khan leaves ‘The Crown’ due to discrepancies with the portrait offered of the princess

He has never spoken publicly about his close friendship with Diana of Wales, but even so, Jemima Khan agreed in 2019 to help the team of The Crown to collaborate in the realization of the fifth season of the Netflix series. Specifically, her job would be to help her creator Peter Morgan accurately reflect the last years of her friend’s life before the fatal traffic accident she suffered in 1997. To do this, as reported The Sunday TimesIt was very important to Khan that these years “be portrayed accurately and compassionately, as has not always been the case in the past.” Now, the ex-wife of the current Prime Minister of Pakistan and daughter of billionaire businessman and politician James Goldsmith has decided to withdraw from the project because she believes that the story of Lady Di was not being handled “with the respect or compassion that she expected”, as publishes the British newspaper.

Between September 2020 and February this year, Morgan and Khan worked together on schematics and scripts for stories about the life of Diana of Wales including romances with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and Harrods heir Dodi Al- Fayed, the visits to Pakistan and the interview given to Martin Bashir on the BBC and for which the network recently apologized for the deceptions it used to obtain it. A conversation between Bashir and the princess, described as historical, marked a before and after in her relationship with the British royal house since she spoke openly about her ill-fated relationship with Carlos, including infidelities. When Khan realized that these stories were going in a direction other than what she considered desirable, she requested that all of her contributions “be removed from the series” and declined to appear in the “written credits.”

Friends for years, Khan and Morgan have also ended the romantic relationship that began in late 2020, after he split from his four-year partner, actress Gillian Anderson, who won an Emmy for her Margaret Thatcher’s performance in The Crown. For his part, Morgan has written the script for films such as Frost vs. Nixon and The last king of Scotland.

Diana of Wales visited Jemima and Imram Khan in Pakistan – who were married between 1995 and 2004 – twice, in 1996 and 1997. After separating from Charles of England, Diana found support in Jemima’s mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, Former British celebrity and creator of one of London’s most famous private clubs, Annabel’s. In this way the relationship between Lady Di and Jemima became increasingly close and even almost familiar. Hasnat Khan, who is said to have been Diana’s great love and with whom she began a secret relationship in 1995, is a distant cousin of Imram Khan.

As the British newspaper recalls, Khan has not always been against the approach of the series. Last year, she herself tweeted in support of season four calling it “the best yet” and praised Emma Corrin’s portrayal as Diana because it “captured all the magic of a shy Di.” A spokesperson for The Crown has assured of Khan’s decision that she “has been part of a wide network of varied and well-informed sources who have provided background information” to the writers of the production by providing “context.” However, said spokesman has specified, according to The Sunday Times, Khan “has never been hired as a screenwriter on the show.”