Just a list of six major historical events you’ll see in The Crown season five

Less than a week to go until it’s time to absolutely devour every single episode of The Crown season five in one evening. No pressure.

This is the series we’ve all been waiting for – it’s the 1990s; Charles and Diana are just two years away from breaking up, public interest in the monarchy is at an all-time low… and one of the Queen’s actual castles is about to go up in flames.

There’s a reason Lizzy called 1992 her “Annus Horiblis” (which means a year of disaster, don’t be dirty). So, for now, these are all the historical events you can expect to see in season five of The Crown:

1. The Windsor Castle fire

In November 1992, the world watched as the famous Windsor Castle; second home to the Royal Family, went up in flames. According to the Royal Collection Trust, the fire started when a faulty spotlight in Queen Victoria’s Private Chapel ignited a curtain. It spread within minutes and became uncontrollable, eventually lighting up 115 rooms in total. Firemen had to use over a MILLION gallons of water to put it out, but, thankfully, no-one was harmed.

After 15 long hours, the fire was extinguished. It took nearly five years to restore the castle in full.

2. Prince Andrew and Fergie’s divorce

Yeah, not *that* Fergie.

Among perhaps more significant events which will be shown in The Crown season five, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, split after six years of marriage. Although their relationship troubles were very much overshadowed by Charles and Diana’s, their marriage definitely wasn’t easy towards the end.

Although they had two children together, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Andrew was constantly away on military service. Sarah was forced to endure a huge amount of media criticism on her own and, eventually, the pair thought it’d be easier to go their separate ways. Tabloids later leaked intimate images of the Duchess with her financial advisor John Bryan, which led to the former couple’s divorce.

3. King Charles and Princess Diana’s separation

As we saw in the last series of The Crown, Charles and Diana’s marriage was doomed from the beginning. The Prince had been infatuated with Camilla for years before he married the Princess of Wales – but he didn’t actually start the affair until “(the marriage) became irretrievably broken down”. Meanwhile, Diana herself tried to find love with other men, including James Hewitt, a military officer.

Diana had also been struggling with her mental health throughout the marriage; which she attributed to the immense pressures of royal life. After 11 years, the pair were finally allowed to publicly separate and file for divorce.

4. The infamous Panorama interview

By the mid-1990s, all the tabloids could talk about was Charles and Diana’s failed marriage. Surrounded by rumours on what caused them to finally split; both royals decided to sit down and tell their own sides of the story on TV.

Martin Bashir and the Panorama team used all sorts of manipulation tactics to get their scoop. It emerged in 2020 that they forged bank statements to make it look like the people closest to Diana were selling her story to the papers. Bashir was found guilty of deceit and breaching BBC’s editorial guidelines.

Feeling like she had no control over her own narrative – Diana opened up to Bashir and the BBC in an interview that made history. She discussed her struggles with Bulimia, Charles’ disappointment at the birth of Harry, Camilla’s role in the breakdown of her marriage, and even admitted to having affairs herself. More than 20 million people watched the interview’s original broadcast.

5. Diana’s ‘Revenge Dress’

Charles also had his turn to open up. The stage was set for him to sit down on ITV with journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, and talk about the breakup from his own point-of-view. Insiders supposedly knew he was about to admit to having an affair with Camilla – and, as the story goes, advised Diana to wear something daring to dinner in order to snatch the headlines away from him.

Unsurprisingly, it worked! And people are still obsessed with the Revenge Dress (which literally has its own Wikipedia page, by the way), to this day.

6. ‘Tampongate’

Right, if you’re easily disgusted, click out of this article now. This one is, without a doubt, one of the worst historical events shown in The Crown season five.

Back in 1993, two (pretty freaky) phone conversations leaked to the press. One conversation – branded “Squidgygate” for reasons I’d prefer not to discuss – involved Princess Diana and a man called James Gilbey. The second – known as “Tampongate” or “Camillagate” – was a hell of a lot worse.

The call between Charles and Camilla lasted for six of the most scarring minutes in British history. Our now-King told our now-Queen Consort he’d like to “live in her trousers”, or better still, as her “tampon”. While the original call took place in 1989, series five of The Crown will supposedly deal with the leak and subsequent fallout. Can’t wait.

Season five of The Crown will be available on Netflix from 9th November. or all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• There’s a documentary version of The Good Nurse case coming to Netflix this month too
• These are the top 10 best ever episodes of The Crown, according to IMDb
• Meet Meg Bellamy, the new actress who has been cast as Kate Middleton in The Crown

Featured image via Netflix/BBC.