Why The Crown's Olivia Williams thinks Royals don't 'totally disapprove' of the series

1 December 2023, 12:36

By Alice Dear

The Crown's Olivia Williams reveals the production team used the same orchestra King Charles and Queen Camilla hired for their real wedding for the series.

Olivia Williams, 55, has revealed why she thinks the Royal Family don't 'totally disapprove' of The Crown.

The actress has played Queen Camilla in series five and six of The Crown, depicting the time after Princess Diana and King Charles' split and the introduction of Camilla into the Royal Family.

Speaking to Heart, Olivia revealed how she feels about the hit Netflix drama coming to an end, how they filmed Camilla and Charles' wedding and why she thinks the Royals aren't completely against the series as a whole.

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You can read our full interview with Olivia Williams here.

What should we expect for the finale of The Crown and how does it come to an close?

The most important thing for me is I get to get married - which isn't a spoiler because I [Camilla] did!

The wedding is beautifully done, it's a slightly farcical situation where they had to get married in a registry office in Windsor and we shot it in Rochester in Kent at the beautiful old Guildhall. And then they had a blessing in St George's Chapel in Windsor, which we reconstructed in York Minster so I got to marry Dominic West in York Minister with a orchestra playing Handel's Water Music and a choir and 400 people bowing to me - so it was fabulous!

The series comes to a close very much with the focus going back very brilliantly on to Elizabeth at the end. Draws the series to a close on thoughts about the crown and what happens to the monarchy and where it is going to go next.

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Do you get nervous knowing that members of the Royal Family could be watching the series?

I do feel very conscious of it, but I also feel that the work we did and the work we did was very respectful and not intended to cause harm and not intended to offend.

We had a tiny inclining that maybe we weren't entirely disapproved of because the orchestra who performed for us was the same orchestra that played for Charles and Camilla at their real wedding. So I think they probably wouldn't have been given permission to do that if there was a large amount of royal disapproval for what we were doing. I like to think, to but I don't know, that's conjecture.

Do you think this is the right time to end the series?

The amount of controversy last year around mine and Dominic's depiction of the phone call, and then the much greater fury there's has been over the depiction of Diana's death I think it's definitely time to step away, it's just too close. The proximity of the events distort them.

You need distance from these things to understand their implications.

I think it is time to step away and do what Peter has mentioned, sort of off the record, is to go back before the beginning of this Crown series and see how we got in the mess we're in right now. I'm a big believer in prequels!

Where their any scenes you weren't involved in that, when you watched them, they left you feeling a certain way?

A stand out scene with Dominic and his son, I just think that's the most extraordinary - there are a couple of moments that are, I think Dominic has said you're basically doing a piece of theatre, a two-hander scene, written by Peter Morgan and you could put it on a stage, and I thought that was the most extraordinary scene.

With the read-through, reading what happened to Diana and Dodi in the hours, minutes and seconds before they got in that car. My heart was in my mouth just sitting at the table reading that. That was brilliantly researched and brilliantly detailed and the imagining of what it was like to be those people at that moment, I thought it was really brilliant drama.

What is it that helped you get into the role of Camilla?

The wig does most of the work for me, I shouldn't say this because no one will give me a job or think I can act! I love her voice, I had a very good tip for the voice because a lot of posh people speak through their nose, but she's very chesty it's all the cigarettes, she's from the chesty department of posh which was a great find.

Are you ever recognised as Camilla? The wig really does transform you!

I managed to pass through my career and through my life and through London without being recognised which I consider, given what happened to Diana and celebrity, to be a blessing.

But at the end of every season you get a present from the show, and one year I got this coat, and I forgot it had 'The Crown' written on it! I was wearing it going down Oxford Street and people kept on stopping me. I went home to my husband and said: 'Why today of all days have I been recognised?' and he said: 'Because you've got The Crown written on you!' So I stopped wearing the coat and manage to pass through the crowd unnoticed now.