Dominic West has opened up on the scene where Prince Charles breaks the news of their mother's death to his young sons in The Crown season 6.
Set in the summer of 1997, the first part of the final season tells the story of Princess Diana's whirlwind romance with Dodi Al-Fayed, their deaths in a Paris car crash and the aftermath of that tragic event.
Charles was holidaying with Princes William and Harry — who are played by Rufus Kampa and Fflyn Edwards in the opening four episodes — at Balmoral when the news came through.
"It's sort of the worst period of Charles's life," says Dominic West. "There's a lot of scenes of Charles trying to come to terms with that and breaking the news to his sons and trying to help his sons mourn and having varying degrees of success at that."
West says he had wanted to portray Charles as having "real compassion" during the scene where he broke the terrible news, saying he'd always suspected the Prince was an emotional and open-hearted guy in private.
However, when Prince Harry's famous book "Spare" was published in January 2023, he was forced to re-examine his portrayal and that scene in particular.
"Then Harry wrote his book and said he never hugged him or anything," explains West. "So we had to change that slightly."
"Spare" caused a great furore when it hit the shelves earlier this year and begins with the Prince's memories of his mother's death and how his father didn't embrace his son as he broke the news.
"He wasn’t great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis?" Harry writes. "But his hand did fall once more on my knee and he said: It’s going to be OK. That was quite a lot for him. Fatherly, hopeful, kind. And so very untrue."
Whether Charles hugs his sons or not, the scene promises to be one of several deeply moving moments in the final season of Netflix's royal drama .
"We also see the last time Charles and Diana see each other and the last time she ever sees her boys." continues Dominic. "It's desperately moving and you can't help that colour the way you play it even though they wouldn't have known it was the last time. Charles tells her he’s really looking forward to this next chapter of being friends and co-parents, because they've sort of relaxed and found what they like about each other again."
The Crown season 6 — Part 1 arrives on Netflix on Thursday 16 November
