When Crown’s Olivia My 4-letter reaction when I met the real Queen.. by accident
Royal roles means strong bond with co-star Hele na
OLIVIA Colman was a picture of regal composure playing the Queen in The Crown but when she encountered Her Majesty in person she lost it – and out popped a four-letter word.
Luckily the monarch was not in earshot and Oscar winner Olivia drew on her impressive acting skills to regain her calm.
Clearly there was no long-term offence because last year at the Palace, Olivia, 46, was presented with a CBE for services to drama in the birthday honours.
Her awkward moment came six years ago at a film industry evening at Windsor Castle.
Olivia recalls finding herself in a line of people and for some reason she had not been forewarned what was to come.
Despite the location, it hadn’t crossed her mind she would meet the Queen.
Olivia said: “I didn’t think she’d be there and suddenly we all ended up in a big queue.
“I thought somebody was using the rooms for the bash and then suddenly we looked down the corridor and went ‘oh f**k!’
“A man in epaulettes was telling us to do ‘just a little bow, don’t overdo it’.
“He sort of shuffled us forwards saying ‘your majesty, then your royal highness, then keep moving because she has hundreds of people to get through’.”
Olivia took over from Claire Foy as the Queen in season three of Netflix’s The Crown, which returns for its fourth series in November.
Princess Diana will enter the frame and marry Prince Charles. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who swept to power in 1979, will be played by Gillian Anderson.
Warm
One of the big pluses of acting in The Crown for Olivia is the close bond she has developed with co-star Helena Bonham Carter, who plays her sister Princess Margaret.
The pair did not properly meet until a read through of the script.
Olivia, who has won a best actress Golden Globe for the series, said: “I’d like to say we have become lifelong friends and we found it very easy to get on with one another. It became quite sisterly.”
Harry Potter star Helena, 54, said: “I’ve never had a sister and I’ve always wanted one and now I have got one.”
Speaking on a Variety video call, Helena said of meeting Olivia: “It felt like jumping into warm water. I t hink t here was an i mmediate understanding.
“With season three my problem was we didn’t actually have that much to do scene wise.
“I think that’s rectified in season four. There’s a lot more of their friendship and a lot of people I met who knew Margaret and told me things said they were slightly frustrated that in the first two seasons there wasn’t enough of the closeness which you now see in season four of that relationship.
“There were all s orts of c o n f l i c t s but ultimately they were also incredibly close and sympathetic and
I always wanted a sister and now I’ve got one
WIN: Crown Golden Globe
Margaret was very loyal. To a fault.”
The Crown’s creator, British screenwriter Peter Morgan, said the two actresses have followed in the footsteps of their Crown predecessors Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby, who played Margaret, in the first two seasons. The pair are still firm friends all years later.
He said of Olivia and Helena : “I think it’s not surprising that the two get very close throughout the course. Vanessa and Claire talk all the time.”
Olivia did admit to an affinity with the Queen over their dress sense, pointing to Her Majesty’s love of jumpers and wool skirts.
These were the star’s favourite looks during filming. She said: “I like the clothes we wore in Scotland, which were jumpers and wool socks, which were the least glamorous.
“Amy Roberts and Kate and her team, in costume design, did three quarters of my job for me. If I turned up looking like this no one would believe I was the Queen, so they do so much for you and without them it would be impossible to do it.”
But Olivia did not struggle wearing the actual crown, unlike the real Queen who had
I love masks. I went to the shops for first time in years
LOYALTY: The Queen and Princess Margaret in 1999 to practise before her Coronation to be able to bear the weight. Olivia said: “We have stage versions. They copy them and make them in lighter material.
“The Queen had to practise to strengthen her neck because she had to sit still for hours and it weighs so many pounds.
“That’s really horrible, so ours are a piece of cake, they can dig a bit but we’re easy.”
Quirky
The Queen is renowned for her cool leadership and calm, gracious manner – characteristics which Helena says Olivia has too.
Helena said: “She was a very responsive leader – she was very good as the Queen. She is very quick at responding, di she h i is on it i immediately, di t before I press send, the answer has already come back.
“She’s also a real font at anything organisational. If you are doing up a house she knows exactly what to recommend. We do quite a lot apart from act in hair and make-up because we are mothers who run households there’s a lot of time where we are exchanging, ‘Where did you get that?’”
According to Helena, the lockdown
PALS: At Crown premiere has been something of a blessing for Olivia, who she described as “the most reluctant famous person in the world. She’s under seven baseball caps”.
Olivia laughed: “I absolutely love mask wearing. Baseball cap, sunglasses and mask I can go anywhere, it is lovely. I’ve been to the shops for the first time in years.
“My husband is grateful because normally I’m like please can you go, I don’t want to go to the shops. I love it, whole new lease of life.” Playing
another monarch won Olivia her s e c o n d Golden Globe as well as the 2019 best actress Oscar. She was a frail but petulant Queen Anne i n comedy drama The Favourite.
The quirky film, set in the early 18th century, also won best supporting actress Oscar nominations for so- stars
Rachel Weisz and
Emma Stone.
Olivia’s first
Golden Globe came in 2017 for her supporting role
REIGN ON: Her
Majesty in 2020
in the highly acclaimed TV adaptation of John Le Carré crime drama The Night Manager.
The serious role, alongside her part in hits such as Broadchurch, showed the acting versatility of Olivia, who initially made her name in TV comedies such as Peep Show and Green Wing.
Royal roles have also been successful for Helena.
In 2011 she was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for playing the Queen Mother – George VI’S wife – in The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as the king. It won four Oscars, includ
ing for best picture.