The fourth season of The Crown taught us a lot about the royal family — especially about the intricate goings on in Princess Diana and Prince Charles' complex relationship. But there are just as many fun facts about the making of the show as there are fun facts revealed about the royals in the show.
BuzzFeed recently rounded up several behind-the-scenes facts about The Crown season four, and we've highlighted 20 of the most interesting ones here. For example, Emma Corrin — who played Diana — had such a clever trick to get into Diana's accent while filming. And she's far from the only actress to dive in deep on mimicking her character's real voice. Plus, viewers will want to know where those Australia scenes were really filmed and what Emma stole from the set after playing Diana.
Fans of the series need to read these fascinating tidbits about the filming process now.
Emma Corrin Had a Princess Diana Accent Trick
To get into character, actress Emma Corrin would say the words "all right" over and over again in Diana's voice. She also noticed that the princess had a habit of ending her sentences in a bit of a sad lower tone, so Emma copied that as well. The end result is uncannily accurate.
How Gillian Anderson Perfected Her Margaret Thatcher Voice
Quite a lot of work went into Gillian Anderson perfecting her Margaret Thatcher voice as well. It's a well-known voice, so she didn't want to get it wrong. Emma revealed in a video interview for Netflix that Gillian would listen to the prime minister's real voice in her headphones while she did the script read-through.
Gillian's Performance Made Olivia Colman Laugh
Olivia Colman, who played Queen Elizabeth in season four of The Crown, had a lot of intense scenes with Gillian as Margaret Thatcher. But Olivia had a hard time keeping a serious look sometimes. "Gillian’s voice and walk were very funny. It was very difficult to keep a straight face," the actress admitted to Elle magazine.
Both Emma & Gillian Worked With a Movement Coach
According to Town & Country, part of Emma's training to play Diana included working with a movement coach. They practiced everything, including small things like how the princess would stand in a doorway.
IndieWire reported that Gillian also worked with a movement coach to perfect Margaret Thatcher's walk. "She put most of her weight on the front of her feet. Her left foot is always slightly pigeon-toed," Gillian said. "She swings her left arm, kind of pumps herself through the room. Those are things that if you want to play Margaret Thatcher, you don’t want to miss."
The Filming Order Was Challenging for Emma
TV shows often film out of order. In the case of The Crown season four, which covered several years of time, that meant an extra challenge for the cast as their characters hopped back and forth in time. For example, Emma Corrin had to play Diana at age 19 and then at age 28 within days of each other.
Emma Was Really Nervous To Play Diana
Emma is a relative newbie to acting, and she was originally just helping The Crown's production team with casting when they decided she was their perfect Diana. So she was nervous to take on such an iconic role. The actress told Glass magazine: "I needed to shut off all the noise that was saying, 'This is huge. It's her, how are you going to do this? What will people think?' It was terrifying and it's not conducive to good work."
We think she did a spot-on job in the end.
Sometimes They Would Just Let the Cameras Run
For big family group scenes like the ones that took place at Balmoral, the crew would sometimes just turn the cameras on and see what happened. "The kids would get the wrong camera and start bashing each other over the head and running around," Olivia told Elle of those scenes. She added that the dogs would often misbehave.
Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret, added, "It's hilarious. We play ridiculous games and have too much fun. By the end of it, we weren't really concentrating."
Gillian Dated the Showrunner
Although they have since split up, Gillian was dating The Crown's showrunner Peter Morgan when she played Margaret Thatcher. Vogue reported that Gillian said she was a bit nervous about them working together for the first time in their four years of being together, but they set "strong boundaries" for the health of their relationship. Unfortunately it didn't end up working out anyway.
The Replica Wedding Dress Took 14 Weeks to Make
Diana's infamous wedding dress is shown for just a few moments on screen at the end of the third episode, but the work that went into it was intense. According to Netflix, the costume took 14 weeks to create because of how intricate the details were — not to mention how much fabric was required for things like the big puffy sleeves and long train.
Netflix Got Permission to Remake the Dress
Before the costume team could copy the wedding dress design, they had to get permission from the original designers — David and Elizabeth Emanuel. According to The Los Angeles Times, David helped the team select the fabric and supplied design information. But he also encouraged them to not worry too much about getting every last detail right so much as the essence of the dress.
Why Josh O'Conner Attended One Pivotal Scene's Filming
To create more tension between Diana and Camilla Parker Bowles during their pre-wedding lunch, Josh O'Connor — who plays Prince Charles — was brought in for rehearsals. He sat out of camera range but close enough to the actresses to provide extra incentive for their characters to want to prove that they were the rightful woman to be in the prince's life.
Production Was Cut Short
Production had six days of filming left when it had to shut down earlier this year. One of the final scenes crews still had to shoot was the avalanche that Prince Charles was involved in during the '80s. So instead of reproducing the moment, the production team decided to rely on news and archive footage so the season could be finished as planned.
Gillian Had To Hold Her Mouth a Certain Way
Not only did Gillian learn how to talk like Margaret Thatcher and walk like her, but she had to hold her mouth a certain way throughout filming so that their mouths would look alike. "She had very distinctive teeth," Gillian said in the Vogue interview. "Someone built a prosthesis that matched, but it was too much and didn't look natural at all … I figured out a way to hold my mouth so that I had more of an overbite."
The Costume Team Made 17 Outfits for Diana's Australia Trip
For the episode where Princess Diana and Prince Charles visit Australia, 17 of Diana's looks were recreated. But that's just a fraction of the wardrobe that the real Diana brought along for the 1983 tour. According to The Los Angeles Times, the princess took a whopping 200 outfits on the trip.
The Australia Scenes Were Shot in Spain
Josh O'Conner revealed to Grazia UK that the Australia seen in The Crown during Diana and Charles' 1983 tour was actually filmed in Spain. Malaga in the south of Spain doubled as Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra down under. Could have fooled us!
Emma Took One of Diana's Necklaces
As a parting memory from her time playing Diana, Emma told Grazia that she snagged one of the princess' gold chain necklaces from the set. Now she'll have it to remember her time on the show since Emma's role will be replaced with actress Elizabeth Debicki in season five.
Diana's Signature Hairstyle Started as a Long Wig
To achieve Diana's signature short hairstyle, a long blond wig was custom cut to size for Emma. The actress said she even has a time lapse video of it being cut as it became more like Diana's hair. Olivia added that everyone freaked out when Emma finally came to set in the wig because she was such an uncanny Diana.
A Rat Runs Through One Palace Scene
Eagle-eyed fans noticed that in one palace scene, a real rat runs across the floor in front of the Queen Mother. It's not clear if it was intentional or not, but it does add to the realistic atmosphere of the scene. After the discovery, the show's Twitter page joked that the rat should be nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series.
Helena Had Dog Treats for the Corgis
In the scenes with the Queen's corgis, Helena told Elle that she "had pockets full of biscuits" to hand out to the dogs. Not all actors love working with animals, but Helena is not all actors. Good thing there was a plethora of furry creatures for her to play with on set.
Olivia Was Super Sick During Some Filming
According to Glamour, Olivia came down with a bad cold while filming. "I had to watch the episode back, and I know I didn't do a very good job of it because I was trying just not to be sick, so that’s fun to look out for," she said. Glamour noted that it's too hard to tell which episode she's talking about, though, because Olivia is just that good an actor.
