The Crown hints at Prince Andrew controversy with season 5 scene

The new season of The Crown is here, and it focuses on the royal family’s lives in the 1990s.With two seasons left to go, many are tuning in to see how the series depicts the marriage of Charles and Diana, who are now played by Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki.One thing viewers might have thought about ahead of the new seasons was how the Netflix show would continue to depict Prince Andrew. Season four, which was released in 2020, was the first to be written after allegations against the royal linked him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and one scene appeared to directly respond to the claims.Now, showrunner and writer Peter Morgan has seemingly addressed the public’s view on Andrew in the fourth episode from season five.The scene shows Andrew (James Murray) visiting his mother, Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton), to share some news about his personal life.When the Queen tells him there is some tea, he replies: ‘You might want something a little stronger than that.’Andrew then discusses his marriage to Sarah Ferguson, revealing that he wants a divorce. He tells her that there are photographs set to be published of Ferguson with another man, and when the Queen asks him to specify what they involve, he says: ‘You don’t want to know,’ adding that she was ‘doing something unmentionable’.He tells her that the man was ‘sucking Sarah’s toes’ and, when his mother expresses shock, he tells her: ‘I know! People tell me I put my foot in it from time to time – at least I don’t put it in someone’s mouth.’Andrew then says he blames the royal family for Ferguson’s indiscretions as they ‘destroy anyone that’s different’, telling the Queen: ‘It’s just the sheer humiliation of it all.’Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trialSign upPrince Andrew (James Murray) in ‘The Crown’ season 5He also suggests that Ferguson made him appear ‘more modern, more normal, more human’.In 2015, one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, alleged that she was forced to have sex with Epstein and Prince Andrew, a claim that the Duke of York has denied.Prince Andrew stepped back from his royal duties in November 2019 after a widely criticised BBC interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein. The broadcast was described as ‘disastrous’The Crown season five is available to stream on Netflix now. Find The Independent’s review here, and updates from the new batch of episodes here.Claudia Harrison, who plays Princess Anne, has said she believes the British public will be ‘surprised by’ the ‘truth’ of tampongate, which is a storyline featured in the new season.