Helena gets into the spirit of festival
HELENA Bonham-carter has revealed that she sought help from a psychic to play the role of Princess Margaret.
The actress told Cheltenham Literature Festival that she attempted to contact the deceased royal through a medium.
Bonham-carter will be starring in the third and fourth series of The Crown, where she will be seen playing the role of Princess Margaret alongside Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth.
Speaking to interviewer Emma Freud at the Ballie Gifford Stage at Cheltenham Town Hall, Helena said the last meeting with her psychic meant she could speak to the royal herself.
She recounted to the audience: “She said, apparently, she was glad it was me.
“My main thing when you play someone who is real, you kind of want their blessing because you have a responsibility.
“So I asked her, are you OK with me playing you, and she said, ‘You’re better than the other actress.’.. that they were thinking of.
“They will not admit who it was. It was me and somebody else.
“That made me think maybe she is here because that is a classic Margaret thing to say.
“She was really good at complimenting you and putting you down at the same time.
“Then she said’ ‘But you’re going to have to brush up and be more groomed and neater.’ Then she said, ‘Get the smoking right – I smoked in a very particular way. Remember that – this is a big note – the cigarette holder was as much a weapon for expression as it was for smoking.’”
Bonham-carter detailed the cadre of Princess Margaret’s close friends who she contacted in preparation for the role: “Three ladies in waiting, a couple of relatives, a very close relative and some really close friends.
“They loved the woman and were very happy to talk about her because they miss her.”
She said Margaret was akin to her father, King George VI, with his stammer and anxiety.
“She smoked throughout her life and she drank it was like she didn’t have the extra layer of skin.”
Bonham Carter added she had learned that Margaret was unbothered by social niceties: “She just couldn’t feign, which is an appalling lack when you are famous and you have to meet all these people. Whatever was in her head popped out of her mouth. She was like a time bomb.”