The Crown producers reiterate commitment to delicate handling of Princess Diana's death

Royalists hate her! The Crown has ruffled many a feather over the years, but the upcoming episode dealing with Princess Diana’s death is perhaps most dreaded by the series’ critics. A previous report suggested that there was a “palpable sense of being slightly on edge” on set while filming the event, which recreated the car crash that killed King Charles’ ex-wife, and the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry, in 1997.

Nevertheless, The Crown wants to reassure everyone that this tragic real-life event will be handled with the utmost class. “The show might be big and noisy, but we’re not. We’re thoughtful people and we’re sensitive people,” producer Suzanne Mackie said at the Edinburgh TV Festival (per Deadline). “There was a very, very careful, long, long, long conversation about how we do it—and I hope, you know, the audience will judge it in the end, but I think it’s been delicately, thoughtfully recreated. Elizabeth Debicki is an extraordinary actress and she was so thoughtful and considerate. She loved Diana. There’s a huge amount of respect from us all, I hope that’s evident.”

The Crown has had its detractors in the seven years since its premiere, but even more so since the death of the real-life Queen Elizabeth II, around whom the series is centered. (Dame Judi Dench was one of its more famous critics.) The team behind The Crown has not been deterred, however. “The passing of Her Majesty impacted on us all… It didn’t change [the story] fundamentally, but it did change it in a sense,” producer Andy Harries said in Edinburgh. “When you see it, I think you will know what I mean. It’s a very powerful film and a very respectful episode.”