THE actor who plays Prince William in a new BBC drama has said he’s “surprised” by the controversy it has caused.

BBC Two’s “King Charles III,” which was shown Wednesday, imagines events after the death of the Queen.

It has ruffled feathers for raising the question of Prince Harry’s paternity and showing Princess Diana as a ghost.

Oliver Chris, who plays William, told “BBC Breakfast” people may find the Diana scenes “difficult to watch” but that they are handled “very sensitively.”

“King Charles III” has been adapted from the award-winning play of the same name by Mike Bartlett.

This week, the Mail on Sunday ran a front page story voicing concerns from Diana’s friend Rosa Monckton that the Prince Harry paternity suggestion was “deliberately causing pain to a real living person in a salacious fashion.”

Speaking to “BBC Breakfast” Tuesday, Chris said he had found the controversy “really surprising.”

Asked whether showing the ghost of Diana was insensitive, he replied that one of the themes of the program was to depict the “friction” between the lives of the real people in the royal family and their institutional roles.

“We can only, as the subjects, imagine what that might be like, which is exactly what this does,” he said.

“And I think it would be strange if Diana was not a part of the story because she’s such a big part of the princes’ and Charles’ psychology.”

“I understand how people might find that difficult to watch. I personally felt that what we see in ‘King Charles III’ is this really extraordinary, intelligent addition to the debate about our monarchy, and I feel that the presence of Diana is done very sensitively.”

He described the drama as “quite a pro-monarchist film because it upholds the pillars of our society.”

(SD-Agencies)