The Crowns Imelda Staunton admits she was inconsolable after Queen died
The Crown actor Imelda Staunton has revealed she was “inconsolable” after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She also claimed that the crew on the Netflix show found it “hard” to look at her in the following days.
Imelda, 67, is set to appear alongside Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa and singer Gregory Porter on Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show. When discussing series six of The Crown, the Harry Potter star said she felt “pressure” to perform in her role as the former monarch.
She told 60-year-old Graham: “Everyone knows this version of her, so it felt very present, and I felt a bit more pressure. In this final six episodes, there are particular issues that she faced at this point in her reign, which dramatically is interesting to play – Margaret has gone, The Queen Mother, and we have Charles and Camilla.”
Imelda also revealed that she had been filming the show on the day that Elizabeth died, age 96, and said she was asked if she wanted to “carry on”. She explained: “We carried on and finished the day. Weirdly in the schedule I had 10 days off which was the 10 days of mourning. I was inconsolable that night.
“Obviously, I would have been sad, but I think it was fuelled by living with her for so long. I think when I went back to work people found it hard looking at me.”
Read more Jonathan Ross’ daughter ‘sad’ for Royal Family over ‘icky’ scenes in The Crown
Elsewhere in the interview, the mum-of-one chatted about studying the Queen’s address to the nation on the eve of Princess Diana’s funeral.
She explained that she had been submerged in it “every moment of every day”.
The actress said: “When we came to do it, I didn’t talk to anyone because it was a very serious moment and a serious time, and I thought I would try and recreate that.
“It was very still on set, and I got lost in the moment.”
The sixth and final season of The Crown has drawn criticism from Jonathan Ross and his daughter Honey Ross.
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The pair took to their TV and film podcast, Reel Talk, to discuss the last episodes of the royal-centric series.
Honey, 26, told her dad that while Elizabeth Debikci’s performance as Princess Diana was “good”, it left her feeling “icky”.
She told the 63-year-old host: “Because she’s so good it’s almost ghoulish, ghoulish is a complicated choice of words here because we do then meet the ghost of Diana which I have issues with and I’m sure you do too…
“I don’t blame any of the actors because they’re all doing their absolute best, it’s an incredible performance that Elizabeth Debicki is giving but, it felt icky to me, it felt like…”
When asked if it was because events felt so “recent” she explained that she feels “overexposed” to the history.
“I think what I was trying to say earlier, is we have been overexposed in the public eye at different times in our lives and it’s a horrible feeling, it’s so invasive.
“And I hate for Will, I hate for them that they’re…, I feel really sad for the family that is still alive that they have to watch or hear about people watching the most traumatic time in their lives being recreated beautifully for Netflix.”
Imelda is set to appear on The Graham Norton Show, this Friday evening at 10.40pm. Tune in via BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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