In season six, episode four of The Crown, Prince William goes missing from Balmoral. Soon, an entire search operation is underway at the Scottish castle, with members of the royal family and staffers searching for the young prince (played by Rufus Kampa). Princess Anne (Claudia Harrison) and Prince Harry (Fflyn Edwards) go looking with their dog, and Prince Charles (Dominic West) drives off in a Land Rover. Everyone is stressed, shouting for William, and they can’t find him as it begins to rain.

Soon, the drama shows Prince William walking by himself, coming back to the castle. Everyone is relieved, welcoming the 15-year-old back. Charles asks him, “All right?” He shrugs off his father, telling him, “Fine.”

Rufus Kampa as Prince William in The Crown.

“Fourteen hours that poor boy was gone,” Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) tells Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce). “He’s never done anything like that before.”

But did this really happen?

While we can never know, as the royal family would be unlikely to publicize a lost, runaway prince, it’s unlikely Prince William actually ran away from Balmoral—and that the royals would be able to keep a 14-hour disappearance a secret from the public. However, in The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown writes that Prince Philip said during a call planning the funeral, “Our worry at the moment is William. He’s run away up the hill, and we can’t find him. That’s the only thing we’re concerned with at the moment.”

Prince William discussed the aftermath of his mother’s death in a speech in 2021, saying, “Still in shock, I found sanctuary in the service at Crathie Kirk that very morning, and in the dark days of grief that followed, I found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors.”

We also have Prince Harry as a primary source, and he did not mention anything about his brother disappearing into the Scottish highlands in the days immediately after his mother’s death. As he writes in his memoir, Spare, “The next few days passed in a vacuum, no one saying anything. We all remained ensconced inside the castle. It was like being inside a crypt, except a crypt where everyone’s wearing trews and keeping to normal routines and schedules. If anyone talked about anything, I didn’t hear them.”

Emily Burack (she/her) is the news writer for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.