The Real Reason This Steamy Scene Was Cut From The Crown

The Crown, Netflix's big-budget depiction (and, it's worth adding, fictionalized depiction) of the royal family has taken the world by storm. In fact, the show has become so popular that Netflix's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, told the BBC the series has become a major "part of the global cultural zeitgeist." With The Crown shaping the current cultural spirit, it is no wonder viewers had so many questions.

Is Prince Charles really as awful as he's depicted on the show? Why did cast members find Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher so scary? And one of the biggest questions: Does the royal family ever watch The Crown?

While the series tackles life behind palace doors in a way no one could imagine, The Crown also leaves out major moments in royal history. There is no shot of Charles and Diana's wedding for a notable reason. Fans also will not see Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's storyline played out on-screen. Princess Margaret's children do not appear anywhere in the series, and a scary moment in Princess Anne's history is missing from the show.

One other element that's notably absent from The Crown is sex. We know, looking at all the heirs, that it is happening — it is just not something that became a part of the series. In fact, one particularly steamy scene got cut and there is a very specific reason why.

Vanessa Kirby, who played young Princess Margaret in Seasons 1 and 2 of The Crown, spoke about the deliberate decision to edit out royal sex. On the podcast Love Stories With Dolly Alderton, Kirby explained that it was a conscious decision to cut out any intimate moments with the royal family. She said that there was a planned scene with young Queen Elizabeth (Claire Foy) and Prince Philip (Matt Smith) while they were touring South Africa. However, after careful discussion, producers decided to delete it because they didn't "think anyone wants to see the queen having sex."

For her own character, there was supposed to be a scene between Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Goode), but Kirby said "...It just became clear that to sort of titillate was not the aim. With Margaret I was like, 'no one wants to see royal boob, not really.'"

Kirby addressed this again with reporters, as Vanity Fair noted, telling them: "There was originally a sex scene between Margaret and Antony that was supposed to be really important for her to finally meet her man, come together with him." Kirby added, "It wasn't raunchy at all in the end, it was respectful." However, it was ultimately decided that this scene was not necessary for their storyline.

While viewers are more than willing to imagine the royal family behind palace gates, entering their bedrooms during intimate moments clearly took the fictionalized storyline one step too far.