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'PART OF HISTORY'

Lord Mountbatten’s granddaughter says Crown’s portrayal of his assassination ‘powerful’ as show angers other royals

LORD Mountbatten's granddaughter today revealed The Crown was "deeply personal" as it portrays his assassination.

Mountbatten - the Queen’s cousin - was killed when the IRA detonated a bomb on the boat as he headed out for a fishing trip in 1979.

India Hicks said The Crown's new series would be 'deeply personal'
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India Hicks said The Crown's new series would be 'deeply personal'Credit: Getty - Contributor
India is seen here with Lord Mountbatten, her grandfather who was killed in an IRA bombing
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India is seen here with Lord Mountbatten, her grandfather who was killed in an IRA bombing
Lord Mountbatten was the great-grandson of Queen Victoria
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Lord Mountbatten was the great-grandson of Queen VictoriaCredit: Hulton Archive - Getty
Charles Dance plays Lord Mountbatten in The Crown
Charles Dance plays Lord Mountbatten in The CrownCredit: Netflix

The 79-year-old, his fourteen-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, and teenage crew member Paul Maxwell were killed in the bombing off the coast of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in the west of Ireland.

Nicholas's grandmother, Lady Brabourne - the mother-in-law of Mountbatten's daughter Patricia, who was also on board at the time of the blast with husband John and other son Timothy - died the next day.

The tragedy is now expected to shape much of the latest series of The Crown, which is released today on Netflix.

India Hicks, 53, was just 12-years-old when the bombing devastated her family - today revealing how she felt about the controversial series.

, the mum-of-five said: "The Crown, I know the first two episodes, maybe the first three - focus on the murder of my grandfather, by the IRA.

"Apparently, it's very, very powerful those first two episodes. So this whole series of The Crown, for me, is a deeply personal one."

She added: "It's weird when you think the whole world is going to share and relive what happened to us as a family.

"But then you reconcile yourself to the fact that this was history, my grandfather's murder was part of history. It was a political assassination and there were very complicated reasons all around it."

Interior designer and former model India is the goddaughter of Prince Charles and was a bridesmaid at the Prince of Wales’ wedding to Princess Diana in 1981.

She is the third daughter of Mountbatten's younger daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks, as well as a second cousin to Charles and 678th in line to the throne.

Her comments come amid reports the Royal family are "furious" over the latest series.

Lord Mountbatten was Prince Charles' great uncle
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Lord Mountbatten was Prince Charles' great uncleCredit: Getty - Contributor
Mountbatten was a well respected member of the Royal family
Mountbatten was a well respected member of the Royal family
Lord Mountbatten's funeral in 1979
Lord Mountbatten's funeral in 1979Credit: Alamy
India was a bridesmaid during Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding
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India was a bridesmaid during Prince Charles and Princess Diana's weddingCredit: PA:Press Association
The mum-of-five said the episodes would be 'powerful'
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The mum-of-five said the episodes would be 'powerful'Credit: Getty - Contributor

The royal drama is set to depict Princess Diana's eating disorder and Prince Charles' affair.

Friends of Charles have slammed the series ahead of its airing, noting that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex recently signed a £75million contract with the streaming giant.

The pair quit as senior royals earlier this year and "shopped themselves around" for a big money TV deal before settling on Netflix, the firm's boss Reed Hastings revealed.

One insider : "There are raised eyebrows about Harry taking millions from the company that’s behind all this.

"After all where do much of Netflix’s profits come from? The Crown."

And another accused the streaming heavyweight of "trolling on a Hollywood budget".

They said: "The Duke of Cambridge is none too pleased with it. He feels that both his parents are being exploited and being presented in a false, simplistic way to make money.

"In this case, it’s dragging up things that happened during very difficult times 25 or 30 years ago without a thought for anyone’s feelings.

"That isn’t right or fair, particularly when so many of the things being depicted don’t represent the truth.

"The new series paints the Prince and Duchess in a very unflattering light but at least at the start of reality shows like The Only Way Is Essex they admit that some scenes have been invented for entertainment."

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are thought to have been unhappy with previous series of the hit show.

Scenes of Princess Diana suffering from bulimia in The Crown were deemed to be so shocking that Netflix has put warnings at the start of the episodes.

Meanwhile more details around Meghan and Harry's multi-million pound deal with Netflix have today been revealed.

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It was claimed the show about the couple would concentrate on the first year after they quit the Royal Family and their new life in the US.

The couple's representative has previously denied they would be in a reality show.

The new series of the Crown depicts the marriage breakdown between Princess Diana and Prince Charles
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The new series of the Crown depicts the marriage breakdown between Princess Diana and Prince CharlesCredit: PA:Press Association
The new series of the Crown starts streaming on Sunday
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The new series of the Crown starts streaming on SundayCredit: Netflix 2020, Inc
Royals are said to be unhappy about how they and past events are portrayed
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Royals are said to be unhappy about how they and past events are portrayedCredit: PA:Press Association
Harry and Meghan recently signed a £75million contract with Netflix
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Harry and Meghan recently signed a £75million contract with Netflix
Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor playing the couple in The Crown
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Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor playing the couple in The CrownCredit: Netflix 2020, Inc
The Crown Season 4 - Official trailer for the Netflix drama starring Olivia Colman and Gillian Anderson
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