Tokio Hotel was a success story straight out of a fairy tale book. Four boys from a village near Magdeburg, in the center of Germany, got together in a band. A music manager heard them play, Sony BMG signed the youngsters — only to bow out before the first recording. The manager was later fired for what turned out to be poor judgement. In 2005, Universal Music Group took over the band's marketing.

Bill (center) and his twin brother Tom Kaulitz were 15 when they founded Tokio Hotel along with their two friends from school, Georg Listing and Gustav Schäfer. The boys' debut single, "Through the Monsoon," skyrocketed to the top of the charts. Teenage girls stormed the record stores.

Bill, the band's singer, and guitarist Tom rocked the stage, while Georg and Gustav stayed in the background. Six months after they started, Tokio Hotel had become Germany's most successful boy band, winning prizes right and left. Fame came with a price, however: Screeching girls pursued the twins, who could no longer set foot outside without being surrounded by fans.

Two years later, Tokio Hotel released their second album, "Zimmer 483." It was yet another mega success story, along with the single release "Übers Ende der Welt." The charismatic German shooting stars had by then become pros at press conferences and in front of the camera.

In 2009, the band toured through 18 European countries. Their "Welcome to Humanoid City" show, with Bill in flashy stage outfits created by international designers Dean & Dan Caten, played to packed concert halls.

The band's decision to adopt a new direction and a new look in 2014 — Tom shed his dreadlocks, Bill tried his hand as a fashion model — did not have the desired effect. Record sales slumped, and concert ticket sales were down, too. The band's new appearance in particular didn't sit well with the girls who wanted "cute Bill" back.

In 2016, Tokio Hotel announced the band would henceforth be producing their own music. After the album "Dream Machine" was released in 2017, a concert tour across Europe took them to smaller, more intimate concert halls and clubs than in the past.

A 2017 film documentary titled "Behind the World" gave the members of the band an opportunity to speak out about what it was like to be so famous at a young age and how they each dealt with that overwhelming fame in their own way. Their music has obviously matured since their very first teenager hit song; their latest album, which came out in 2022, is titled "2001."

Unlike their band colleagues Gustav and Georg who still live in Germany, the Tokio Hotel Kaulitz twins moved to Los Angeles many years ago, where they get together regularly to work on new songs. They are still beloved interview guests in their native Germany, and they also remain in the spotlight of tabloid papers. They are shown here performing at the 2019 finale of Germany's Next Top Model.

In 2019, Tom Kaulitz married to German supermodel Heidi Klum, fueling the tabloids' fascination. The 16-year age gap between the famous TV producer, now 50, and the Tokio Hotel guitarist has served as a major talking point.

Now the brothers will star in their own TV show. The Netflix reality series "Kaulitz & Kaulitz" promises exclusive access to the twins' private lives, "following Bill and Tom over eight months, charting their international career, family life, tour bus incidents, parties, drama and flirtations on a road trip through the USA," Netflix announced. The series is set to be released on June 25.

At the heart of "The Crown" is the woman who wore it for 70 years — the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Actors Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton respectively play the queen in this fictional dramatization of her evolution as head of the House of Windsor. After the real queen's death in September 2022, Netflix reported a surge in viewership, logging 17.6 million hours viewed.

The Prince of Wales, who was heir to the throne, was crowned King Charles on May 6, 2023 and gave his inaugural King's Speech at the British Parliament on November 7, 2023. On his way to Parliament the king and Camilla, the queen consort, passed anti-monarchy pressure group Republic, who held up placards with the words "Not my King" as they protested outside the Palace of Westminster in London.

Charles' uneasy journey to the throne is a recurring theme in the series. In the third season, he becomes the Prince of Wales, though many in Wales oppose being ruled by an English prince. To prepare for his investiture speech in Welsh, he gets language lessons from an anti-monarchist and, in Netflix's version, begins to understand their case for self-determination, as it echoes his own hardships.

Long before social media, Charles' marital problems with the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was regular tabloid fodder, both in the British and foreign press. His infamous response about being "in love" during a press Q&A after their engagement actually happened but he'd added that it's "open to interpretation." Diana would later reveal in an interview that Charles' response "traumatized" her.

The late Princess Diana eerily predicted in the now condemned BBC interview with journalist Martin Bashir: "I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being queen of this country. I don't think many people will want me to be queen." The finale of "The Crown," divided into two parts, will see the first four episodes covering Diana's final days.

Princess Diana famously said in the BBC interview that "there were three of us in the marriage," referring to Camilla Parker-Bowles, who eventually married Charles in 2005 and became Queen Camilla in 2023. From once being reviled as "the other woman," she has long since been accepted by the British public as a senior royal. Their marriage will also be dramatized in Netflix's final season.

Season 4 saw Gillian Anderson uncannily portraying Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister. One riveting episode was when Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth "clashed" on imposing economic sanctions on apartheid South Africa. But was this true? Thatcher herself wrote in her 1993 biography: "Of course, stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up."

In 2021, executive producer Suzanne Mackie said the royal biopic won't continue beyond Season 6 that will cover key events of the early 2000s. She explained that series creator Peter Morgan "can't write something" unless at least 10 years have passed between a real-life event and the show's later portrayal, as he "needs that time to allow perspective."

Thus, the latter part of "The Crown" finale will also feature the budding romance between current heir-to-the-throne Prince William (played by Ed McVey) and Kate Middleton (played by Meg Bellamy) in the early 2000s at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The pair, who were married in 2011, were declared Prince and Princess of Wales by King Charles in September 2022.

However, given series creator Peter Morgan's "10-year space" rule for writing, the romance, marriage and eventual breakaway from the royal family of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan won't be featured in "The Crown." However, King Charles' second son has shared his side of the story with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey in a Netflix documentary, as well as in his 2023 biography, "Spare."

"The Crown" creator Peter Morgan told "Variety" in October 2023 that Queen Elizabeth's death last year simply could not be left unaddressed in the series, even though the final season will end around 2005, nearly two decades before the monarch's actual passing. "I had to try and find a way in which the final episode dealt with the character's death, even though she hadn't died yet."

In 2020, Netflix revealed that 73 million households worldwide had watched the royal drama since it began in 2016. Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, said at the time that the series is "part of the global cultural zeitgeist." The Observer's Sarah Ditum wrote, "it's always been easy to see the privilege. But no documentary can match 'The Crown' in evoking the cost of that privilege."