Princess Diana’s GHOST
Prince William and Harry would find scenes in controversial new royal drama depicting their mother ‘agonising’, according to one of the show’s stars.
In the last interview before his death on April 7, Tim Pigott-Smith said how painful the new BBC film, King Charles III, would be for the princes when the ghost of their dead mother Diana, Princess of Wales, appeared.
The actor, who died aged 70, takes on the role of Prince Charles in the 90-minute film that imagines the first days of his accession to the throne after the death of the Queen.
The plot centres around the constitutional crisis that arises after the new king refuses to sign a bill into law that places harsh restrictions on press freedom.
Princess Diana’s spirit appears when Prince Charles comes to the throne as she haunts the rooms of Buckingham Palace and tells her late husband: ‘You think I didn’t love you. It’s not true.’
Mr Pigott-Smith told The Times: ‘One area of the play I found incredibly painful to do was the ghost of Princess Diana. Just because that whole incident was so terrible.
‘I don’t think it is presumptuous of us to do it or wrong of us to do it.’
He went on to describe the scenes as ‘hyper-sensitive’.
‘It would be terribly upsetting for any of them to watch,’ he said.
‘For Charles or William or Harry it would be agonising to watch. That upsets me. But I don’t think we’ve done anything unreasonable or cruel.’
King Charles III, which starts on BBC 2 next week, is the TV adaptation of a play by Mike Bartlett, which Mr Pigott-Smith also starred in.
This week Mr Bartlett was asked if Prince Harry’s recent comments about his mother’s death and the effect it had on his mental health made him regret the inclusion the ghost in the film adaptation.
He argued that Princess Diana played a central role in the royal family and that it would be ‘very strange’ to tell the story without her.
Source: King Charles III ‘will be agonising for Wills and Harry’ | Daily Mail Online
