How Diana feels like a friend, by Crown star who plays her
SHE’S a little-known actress about to join the A-list after playing Princess Diana on our TV screens.
And now Emma Corrin has revealed that playing her in Netflix hit The Crown gives her a feeling of friendship with the late Princess of Wales.
‘I feel I’ve got to know Diana like you would a friend,’ Miss Corrin, 24, told Vogue magazine. ‘I know that sounds really weird, but I get a great sense of companionship from her.
‘I suppose, over time, you kind of start to patch together a sense of empathy and a sense of understanding. I love figuring people out.’ Miss Corrin was cast as Diana for the fourth season, which will follow her relationship with Prince Charles, played by Josh O’Connor, as well as their wedding day.
Filming for the recreation of the 1981 royal wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral took place at Winchester Cathedral. Miss Corrin said the crew fell silent when she wore a replica of the dress.
‘The Emanuels, who designed the original, gave us the patterns, and then it was made for me,’ she said.
‘We were filming the scene when you first see her in the wedding dress and I had a team of about ten people helping me put it on, because it’s massive. I walked out and everyone went completely silent.’
Miss Corrin will make her debut in the upcoming series alongside Olivia Colman as the Queen and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret. It will also document the births of William and Harry.
Elizabeth Debicki, who starred in BBC drama The Night Manager, will replace Miss Corrin for the fifth and sixth series – covering her split from Charles until her death in 1997. The Crown returns to Netflix on November 15.
See the full interview in the October issue of British Vogue available on Friday, September 11.
‘Great sense of companionship’