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Omid Scobie claimed staff at Clarence House, the office of the Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is concerned over the “negative impact” the upcoming fifth season of Netflix’s The Crown may have on Prince Charles’s popularity. Mr Scobie, who penned the unauthorised biography of the Sussexes titled Finding Freedom, noted how the next episodes of the fictionalised portrayal of the Royal Family, to be released in November, will likely heavily focus on Charles and Camilla’s affair.

In his weekly column for Yahoo! News, Mr Scobie wrote: “In just over eight weeks, the series’ fifth instalment will be released, with episodes focusing heavily on Prince Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles and Diana’s suffering.

“To say that staff at Clarence House are concerned about its negative impact on the future king’s popularity is an understatement (things got so bad during the previous season that they had to temporarily shut down the ability to comment on their Instagram account).”

Prince Charles and Camilla were hit by a wave of abuse in particular on Twitter in November 2020, with some online users attacking the royals for their extramarital affair in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Clarence House temporarily left the ability to reply to its tweets only to people it was either mentioning or following. 

However, the abuse and mockery continued for weeks, with Twitter users attacking Charles and Camilla either by retweeting their content or writing separate messages on the social media platform.

The royals’ office never officially confirmed the reason behind the decision to temporarily turn off comments on Twitter.

The wave of abuse came as Netflix released The Crown’s fourth season, which portrayed Princess Diana’s first years in the Royal Family and the Prince of Wales’s relationship with then Camilla Parker Bowles.

The drama, in particular following the release of its latest season, was criticised by some for blurring fact and reality. 

Fear the dramatisation of events so close in time and linked to royals still alive would end up seriously damaging the Firm prompted many royal commentators and watchers to call on Netflix to make clear its show was a work of fiction.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden joined this chorus, telling the Mail on Sunday at the end of November 2020: “It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction, so as with other TV productions, Netflix should be very clear at the beginning it is just that.

“Without this, I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact.” 

Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, also weighed in on the issue.

He told ITV: “It would help The Crown an enormous amount if at the beginning of each episode it stated that, ‘This isn’t true but is based around some real events’.

“Because then everyone would understand it’s drama for drama’s sake.”

However, the US streaming giant said in early December two years ago it had “no plans” to comply with these requests. 

Its statement said: “We have always presented The Crown as a drama and we have every confidence our members understand it’s a work of fiction that’s broadly based on historical events.

“As a result we have no plans, and see no need, to add a disclaimer

No member of the Royal Family has spoken publicly about The Crown but Prince Harry.

In February last year, during an interview with James Corden, he said of the programme: “It’s fictional. But it’s loosely based on the truth. 

“Of course it’s not strictly accurate.”

The Duke added the show gave a “rough idea” of the pressures of “putting duty and service above family and everything else”.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle signed a deal with Netflix in 2020 to produce content, including documentaries, for the streaming platform. 

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