The Queen’s former aide Dickie Arbiter blasts The Crown for suggesting she had an affair with her horse racing manager

"Not only is this muckraking — this is gossip that’s been washing around for decades. It’s got absolutely no substance."

The Queen remained close to Porchie until his death in 2001, bonding over a shared love of horses, and there is no evidence they were anything more than friends.

Lord Porchester was married with three kids, including George Reginald Oliver Molyneux Herbert, the current Earl of Carnarvon, who is The Queen's godson.

Dickie accused The Crown's writer Peter Morgan of "beefing up" his scripts and said he worries "people will take whatever he writes as sacrosanct".

"The Crown is fiction," he added, "people will tell the story they want to and sensationalise it."

Netflix's provocative royal drama previously touched on the affair rumours in series two.

In one scene, The Queen told Prince Philip: "I have nothing to hide from you, Porchie is a friend.

"And yes, there are those who would have preferred me to marry him, but to everyone's regret and frustration the only person I have ever loved is you."

Series three, in which Olivia Coleman plays The Queen, covers the late sixties and seventies - blending historical fact with fiction.

It includes a racy scene where Princess Anne cavorts in sexy underwear with muscly soldier Andrew Parker Bowles, ex-husband of Charles' wife Camilla, and a highly charged one where Princess Margaret takes an overdose of sedatives.

Buckingham Palace insiders have refused to be drawn into debates about the show's content, but Morgan insists there is always an "underlying truth" to the script.

In other news, The Queen shed a tear for our war heroes at Cenotaph Remembrance Sunday service today.

You can read more about The Crown's most controversial series three moments here.