Queen Imelda’s visit to the Kremlin... in London Town
She’s a dead ringer for Elizabeth II – and edgy London district makes a convincing Moscow – as The Crown recreates historic 1994 visit
ON HER only visit to Moscow, Queen Elizabeth told the Russian people, newly free of the Soviet regime: ‘In future, we shall work together; together, we shall build a better future.’
Such noble ambition now seems remote, given the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, as does any royal visit to Moscow.
But last week the historic 1994 visit was recreated – with Imelda Staunton standing in for the monarch and a disused former magistrates’ court in edgy Camberwell, South London, playing the part of the drab, authoritarian buildings of the former Soviet Union.
It was, of course, a scene for the next series of The Crown, with Ms Staunton, 66, dressed just as the Queen was 28 years ago in a blue coat, matching hat and black gloves, being greeted by children waving flags for her visit to Moscow School No.20.
‘It’s great casting… she has same mannerisms’
Extras donned the grey uniforms of the Russian military while classic cars were brought on set for the shoot, which took place close to where Karl Marx lived for a period in the 1850s.
One onlooker said: ‘Imelda is really great casting. She has the same mannerisms and a real aura about her. She is also very friendly and happy to chat and have a laugh with the crew members and the children between filming.’
Season five of the Netflix drama focuses on tumultuous events the Queen navigated during the 1990s, including the Windsor Castle fire, the divorces of Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne and the death of Princess Diana.
Five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she became the first British sovereign to visit the Russian state, at the invitation of President Boris Yeltsin. It was a dizzying trip in which she saw the treasures of the Kremlin, watched a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre, strolled across Red Square and drove through the city in a Rolls Royce shipped in from Britain.
During a state banquet, at which she was served caviar, salmon and vodka, she said: ‘The process of change has brought uncertainty and not all are convinced that this great effort will be rewarded with the success it deserves. I firmly believe it will be.’ Given the current crisis, such grand hopes now seem unrealistically optimistic. Ms Staunton has taken over the role of the Queen from Olivia Colman.
Jonathan Pryce, 74, who replaces Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, was not required for this shoot – though the Duke of Edinburgh did accompany his wife to Moscow for the first full state visit since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Philip was a descendant of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who was executed along with his wife Alexandra and thier five children in 1918. In a characteristically blunt comment before going on the the 1994 trip, Philip said: ‘I would like to go to Russia even though the b ****** s murdered half my family.’