Queen Elizabeth II supposedly liked to watch The Crown on Sundays

In the days following the death and period of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, many started to wonder how many well-kept royal secrets might emerge.

And at last, we have an answer to one of them — yes, the Queen did watch The Crown.

While appearing on the ABC live broadcast of Queen Elizabeth's funeral coverage, royal contributor George Jobson, considered one of Britain's leading royal commentators, noted that the Queen had a habit of settling in to watch the Netflix series on Sundays.

Since the hit series from Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Audience) premiered on Netflix in 2016, audiences and journalists alike have wondered if the royal family ever watched the show out of morbid curiosity. Oprah even asked about it in her 2021 interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

But according to Jobson, Elizabeth II was a regular viewer, at least for the first few seasons. He also noted that Prince Philip personally told him of the late royal's predilection for tuning in, and that Philip tried to discourage his wife from watching it because he knew it would irritate her (or maybe he wasn't a fan of the series' portrayal of him as a callous, unfaithful spouse who bristled at Elizabeth's stature in contrast to his own?).

In February 2021, Harry admitted to James Corden that he watched the series. "I'm way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family or my wife or myself... They don't pretend to be news, it's fictional," Harry said. "But it's loosely based on the truth. Of course it's not strictly accurate, but… it gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that."

He also added that he'd like to see Damian Lewis play him in a future season.

The series has always had a respectful, if somewhat contentious relationship with the royal family and their cohort. They're currently shooting season 6 and paused production out of respect for the Queen's passing, but Princess Diana's friend Jemima Khan split with The Crown in her role as advisor over its depiction of the late royal.

Netflix has also side-stepped requests to add a fiction disclaimer to the start of episodes.

Season 5 is slated to premiere in November with no official date yet announced.

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