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Everyone watches The Crown. Okay, not everyone, but it feels like it – it’s said that over 29 million people watched season four. Previously, 73 million people in total tuned in to seasons one through three. Why? Part of it is the acting – so far, it’s been nominated for 69 Emmys and won 21. Part of it is the lavish visuals – rumour has it that The Crown is the most expensive show ever made for the streaming service. But part of it is also the delicate balance of dramatising the British royal family’s private lives while, at the same time, refusing to stray far from real-life events. Whether we’d like to admit it or not, we’re insatiably interested by literal palace intrigue.
In 2021, Netflix released its first picture of Elizabeth Debicki playing Princess Diana – sending the internet into a tizzy over their uncanny resemblance. It’s par for the course: throughout its multiple seasons, the creators of The Crown have taken great care in casting talent who capture the complicated essence of their royal personas. Claire Foy, for example, was critically lauded for her reserved, poised portrayal of a coming-of-age Queen Elizabeth. Meanwhile Josh O’Connor mastered the aristocratic manner of Prince Charles in seasons three and four.
Below, we’ve chronicled a master list of the cast compared to their real-life counterparts, from season one all the way to season six.
Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II (Seasons 1 and 2)
When she became Queen at just 25 years old, Queen Elizabeth II was seen by many as the new modern face of the monarchy. And while we now picture her as a monarch with a regal white coif and a fabulous collection of hats, it turns out she was once kind of a babe. Claire Foy played the queen in the first two seasons of the show.
Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II (Seasons 3 and 4)
Olivia Colman is brilliant as an older, more self-assured Queen struggling to lead her nation.
Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II (Seasons 5 and 6)
Best known for her role as Harry Potter’s Dolores Umbridge, Staunton plays Queen Elizabeth in the final two seasons of the show, which take place during the 1990s and 2000s. In July 2021, Netflix released an official portrait of the actor playing the former monarch.
Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret (Seasons 1 and 2)
Queen Elizabeth’s only sibling, Princess Margaret, was known as the more fun-loving and free-spirited royal. When she was 22, she scandalously fell in love with her father’s aide, Group Captain Peter Townsend, a divorced man 16 years her senior. Their romance was frowned upon within the royal family, and after much pressure, she ended their relationship. Vanessa Kirby played the role before Helena Bonham Carter assumed it in season three.
Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret (Seasons 3 and 4)
Among other things, Princess Margaret was known for initiating one of the most infamous divorces in royal history. Helena Bonham Carter brought new life to the character in season three, making Margaret’s frustration with her marriage and family role clear.
Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret (Seasons 5 and 6)
Taking over for Bonham Carter is Lesley Manville, who received an Oscar nomination for her role in 2018’s Phantom Thread. Margaret was in poor health for much of her later life: in 1993, she was hospitalised for pneumonia, and in 1998 suffered a mild stroke that affected her mobility.
Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles (Seasons 3 and 4)
While a non-factor in the early episodes, Prince Charles emerges as a major character in season three and season four. He’s played by Josh O’Connor.
Dominic West as Prince Charles (Seasons 5 and 6)
In August 2021, Netflix released its first photograph of a brooding Dominic West as Prince Charles. Previously, West starred in The Affair, a role that has surely helped him play the married Prince of Wales as he continues his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Matt Smith as Prince Philip (Seasons 1 and 2)
Were we the only ones Googling “Young Prince Philip” after falling for Matt Smith’s charming version of Queen Elizabeth’s dashing husband? That hair! That style! No wonder Elizabeth never loved anyone else.
Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip (Seasons 3 and 4)
Tobias Menzies took over the role of Prince Philip from Matt Smith for the show’s third and fourth season. The resemblance is a little uncanny, you have to admit.
Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip (Seasons 5 and 6)
The Two Popes actor plays the man Queen Elizabeth called her “strength and stay” in seasons five and six. That strength will be needed: 1992 was the year the Queen dubbed her “annus horribilis” due to the many scandals that plagued the royal family.
Emma Corrin as Princess Diana (Season 4)
Emma Corrin originated the role of Princess Diana for The Crown, playing a teenage Lady Di – she married Charles when she was only 19 – throughout her twenties.
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana (Seasons 5 and 6)
The Great Gatsby actor takes over the role from Corrin in season five and season six, which covers Diana and Charles’s tumultuous divorce.
Emerald Fennell as Camilla Shand (Seasons 3 and 4)
Camilla Shand (later Parker Bowles), the woman who would eventually come between Charles and Diana, was introduced in season three. She’s played by Emerald Fennell, who was also the showrunner for the second season of Killing Eve and directed Promising Young Woman.
Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles (Seasons 5 and 6)
Olivia Williams takes the role of Camilla Parker Bowles in season five and six. In the 1990s, Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles’s affair became public knowledge due to television interviews by the royals themselves.
Jonny Lee Miller as John Major (Season 5)
Jonny Lee Miller, known for playing Sherlock in Elementary, takes on the role of Conservative Prime Minister John Major in season five. His tenure lasted from 1990 to 1997, encompassing several royal scandals and some of the most turbulent years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.
Matthew Goode as Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon (Season 2)
A dapper photographer who married Princess Margaret in 1960, Armstrong-Jones was a bohemian who suddenly entered a life of privileges, parties, quarrels and infidelities that ended in divorce 18 years later. Known as a bit of a womaniser, he shook up the monarchy as outsiders like Wallis Simpson had in the past. Matthew Goode took on the mantle of this divisive character in The Crown’s second season.
Jared Harris as King George VI (Season 1)
King George VI wasn’t supposed to be king at all. His brother, Edward VIII, was destined for the throne, until he abdicated the crown in order to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson. George famously had a stammer and was terrified of public speaking, but eventually overcame it with the help of his speech therapist and friend Lionel Logue.
John Lithgow as Winston Churchill (Seasons 1 and 2)
It was an interesting choice to cast an American actor to play Britain’s most memorable statesman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill. But Lithgow delivers a captivating performance of the British bulldog during his last years in office.
Victoria Hamilton as the Queen Mother (Seasons 1 and 2)
Queen Elizabeth II’s mother was one of the most popular royals in British history. In fact, she was so beloved by the people that Adolf Hitler once described her as “the most dangerous woman in Europe.” She lived to be 101 years old before dying peacefully in her sleep, her eldest daughter by her side.
Ben Miles as Group Captain Peter Townsend (Seasons 1 and 2)
A war hero and equerry to King George VI, Townsend became a scandalous figure in Britain after falling in love with Princess Margaret.
Alex Jennings as the Duke of Windsor (Seasons 1 and 2)
King Edward VIII is best known for almost destroying the monarchy after proposing to the twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. His decision to marry a woman with two living ex-husbands would have created a constitutional crisis in Britain, so Edward renounced the throne in order to wed Simpson. The couple later went into exile in France, where they spent much of the rest of their lives.
Rufus Kampa as Prince William (Season 6)
The young star of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ is set to play the royal at 15, as he struggles to cope with the death of his mother, Diana.
Ed McVey as Prince William (Season 6)
1899 and Shadow and Bone’s Fflyn Edwards takes the part of a young Prince Harry, also attempting to process the loss of his mother.
Fflyn Edwards as Prince Harry (Season 6)
1899 and Shadow and Bone’s Fflyn Edwards takes the part of a young Prince Harry, also attempting to process the loss of his mother.
Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton (Season 6)
The newcomer joins the ensemble as a young Kate Middleton, who meets her future husband, Prince William, while studying at St Andrews in 2001.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
