A former royal aide has expressed his anger over the portrayal of the Queen Mother in Netflix's The Crown, calling the depiction inaccurate and a 'travesty'. Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, who served as equerry to the Queen Mother, said he was 'livid' about how she was shown in the series.
Lowther-Pinkerton's Close Relationship with the Queen Mother
Lowther-Pinkerton is best known as a former royal aide to Prince William and Prince Harry, but he also worked closely with the Queen Mother. As her equerry, he spent considerable time with her, including making her martinis and having lunch together. Their bond was so strong that he and his wife spent their honeymoon at her home, the Castle of Mey, where they were hosted by the royal.
Criticism of The Crown's Portrayal
In an interview with The Times, Lowther-Pinkerton said he was 'livid' about the portrayal. 'She was made out to be whisky-swilling, half-drunk, tittering, retro, backwards-looking. But she was a sort of paragon actually, as were her staff,' he said. He added that the 'travesty of that programme was not all the sort of spurious stories, but it was how they portrayed her.'
Praise for the Queen Mother's Character
Lowther-Pinkerton described the Queen Mother as 'absolutely marvellous' and praised her household as 'one of the best-run things I’ve ever been part of'. He recalled: 'She took you under her wing. You could have lunch with her every day, unless you wanted to, as she put it, “have lunch with some beautiful girl”. So, you had to book out, rather than book in.'
