'Being Challenged is what gets you up in the morning', The Crown's Imelda Staunton tells Janet Christie

From the death of Diana to The Queen’s Golden Jubilee, the Netflix series covers a lifetime of events and gave the award-winning actor a royal role to perform

Imelda Staunton as The Queen in Netflix series, The Crown. Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix

For two seasons now Imelda Stuanton has played Queen Elizabeth II in the award-winning Netflix series, The Crown. Running across seven decades, the fictional dramatisation of the life of the late monarch which has been running since 2016 has seen three actors play the role, with Staunton following Claire Foy and Olivia Colman. Now the sixth and final season, starting in 1997 and ending in 2005 takes us behind the balcony to see how the royals reacted to the death of Diana, the meeting of Kate and William, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and a host of historic and homely events. Imelda Staunton took time to talk to The Scotsman about playing the royal role.

DID YOU FIND PLAYING THE QUEEN A CHALLENGE?

Each part has its own individual challenges, and not only have you got other performances of the Queen, you’ve got The Queen, an iconic figure, but you take that on board then push it to the side and look at the script you have to do.

Imelda Staunton enjoyed scenes where she played The Queen walking her dogs along beaches in Scotland. Pic: Contributed

Every day was difficult and challenging and rewarding and all those things that make you really enjoy the job and work hard, so in that respect it was, a long run in the West End has different challenges to do with stamina. This was unique, there’s no doubt about it and being challenged is what gets you up in the morning.

DID YOU TREAT IT LIKE ANY OTHER ROLE, OR WAS IT DIFFERENT BECAUSE IT WAS A REAL PERSON?

A bit of both because it’s a dramatisation and we had [writer] Peter Morgan’s scripts and take on everything, but of course it is informed by the fact that my character is an institution. So it wasn’t any different from doing another role in many respects but all the extra stuff around it - that other actress have played it, that it’s The Crown - you have to put that somewhere in your metabolism and let it relax and then just do this script on the day.

BECAUSE IT’S A DRAMA INSPIRED BY FACT, DID YOU FEEL A RESPONSIBILITY THAT THEY MIGHT BE OFFENDED?

Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip in The Crown. Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix

No, it doesn’t come into it because that work’s already been done by the creatives, it’s not done by the actors. And I think Peter Morgan does a very good job of presenting fact and fiction going along simultaneously, not trying to trick anyone, but he investigates what might have happened behind closed doors and that’s what drama is. It takes a situation, holds a mirror up to it or it presents another point of view. It’s not saying this is the only point of view, it’s presenting a person you might not like and a person who you really like, and you make your decision, and I think he’s so good at the balance of this particular family.

THE LOCATIONS ARE AMAZING, WHICH DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST?

Pretty much every day you are in a beautiful place or an extraordinary set or setting, obviously Scotland, which is just so stunning. It’s wonderful to be in these very grand places but for The Queen, those were her homes and she wouldn’t have gone round saying ‘oh, isn’t this amazing’ so you have to play the character.

But there wasn’t a day where I didn’t think ‘oh for goodness sake, now look at this’, then you have to forget it. In addition Elstree Studios made some phenomenal sets - you couldn’t tell the difference - so it was always the top tier of places, and every day was pretty remarkable.

Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Claudia Harrison as Princess Anne in Netflix series, The Crown. Pic: Keith Bernstein/Left Bank Pictures (Television) Ltd

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF FILMING IN SCOTLAND?

I was inside most of the time, so I didn’t get the midgie effect, but there was one day where we were filming in absolutely torrential rain and of course that felt more like Scotland. There were glorious scenes on lochs or walking along a beach where there was no-one around. The cameras had to be really far back and I was on a beach with all the dogs and just walking along and I thought ‘don’t say cut’, just let me keep walking along this beautiful, beautiful beach. So that was so stunning and you feel like you don’t know you’re in a film, you’re just walking in this beautiful place.

DO YOU GET THE SENSE THAT THE ROYALS REALLY DO LIKE SCOTLAND, DESPITE THE WEATHER?

Oh totally because you know she was a countrywoman. If she hadn’t been Queen I think she’d have been living in Scotland most of the time with dogs and horses and been perfectly happy. I would imagine for the head space she needed, a bit of sanctuary in the 24/7 decade after decade of going to work every single day, I think Scotland gave her that.

DID IT CHANGE YOUR OPINION OF THE QUEEN AT ALL, PLAYING HER?

I didn’t realise quite how much her faith meant to her, and I think that was her inner strength. Also her life was relentless and there’s no let up apart from those little moments in Sandringham and Scotland. I think work ethic is probably too small a way to describe what she had to do her whole life and I did respect her sense of duty, her constancy and ability to move with the times but remain constant and familiar to everyone without changing her hair, her fashion. She knew she had to retain an image so people could identify her, so her clothes always had to be bright so she would be recognised and not loud, but visible and constant and recognisable.

DID YOU FEEL THAT WHEN YOU PUT THE CLOTHES ON IT HELPED YOU GET INTO CHARACTER?

Totally. Wigs, make up, clothes and fittings and shapes, yes it did. It’s very hard to do her voice if you’re not wearing everything so all those elements were instrumental in helping me deliver that performance.

DID YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE AMONG HER OUTFITS?

They were all so good, and of course it’s ruined me. I can’t go shopping now because I just go ‘look at the cut of that, that hasn’t been cut well enough’, because everything was hand made for me. Ruined!

Imelda Staunton plays Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, season six, which is streaming now on Netflix.

DID YOU LIKE THE CASHMERE AND KILTS.

Oh my gosh it was lovely! And I started to feel ‘do you know I quite like these clothes, I think I’m going to wear this’ and then I was ‘no Imelda that’s not you’. But it felt so right, not like a costume; it felt like her clothes. She couldn't turn up in jeans and a jumper and also came from a generation - obviously more heightened because you’re the royal family - but who were always dressed well for any sort of function, so it felt practical and serviceable but beautiful at the same time.

WERE THE CORGIS ON THE SET A LOT AND DID YOU LIKE THEM?

I did, well I’ve got a dog myself - not a corgi - so I loved having the dogs. You feed them sometimes and suddenly they’re like a shark, it’s bark, bark, bark, god almighty, but they’re great little dogs and I liked them a lot.

THERE ARE A LOT OF HORSES HORSES TOO IN THE CROWN.

Yes. My analogy was that the horses wear blinkers and I felt The Queen sort of had them in a way because she would just be concentrating on where she was going at any one time. So she would come into a room, not look all over, just come and shake the hand of the person she was there to meet, then she’d turn her full body, full attention, to the next person, and I loved that and used that. She was always extremely focused on the job in hand.

DID YOU EVER GET ANY FEEDBACK OR IMPRESSION OF WHAT SHE THOUGHT?

Oh, gosh, no. Not at all. I don’t suppose she watched it for a moment. That’s her life, she’s lived it. She doesn’t need to see someone else living it. But I hope she realised it was written and done with great admiration. Because it is The Crown, and the institution, and Peter Morgan has been living with this for over 20 years so I don’t think you write about a subject you’re not really interested in or don’t care greatly about. So I hope they know it was done with affection.

IF YOU COULD CHANGE PLACES WITH THE QUEEN WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I would insist on a bit more kindness and look at the people who don’t have what they should have, which is the ability to have a decent living and a decent life. None of us need riches beyond our wildest dreams, we just need to be able to exist, to be able to live our lives, have somewhere to live and be able to not panic and struggle. I think the pandemic changed us all and we need to reintroduce kindness everywhere.

DID YOU THINK YOU HAVE ANYTHING IN COMMON WITH THE QUEEN?

I think any actor playing The Queen recognises someone who says I’ll do a job and will do it till the end. If you’re an actor doing a very long run in the West End you’re on every night and tired or not, you do the show, do what you said you would do. Hard work and resilience and all that sort of stuff. I do take things quite seriously and I’m really responsible and think she was obviously like that, had that in spades. So I slightly identify with that ‘no matter what, I will do what I said I would do’.

Imelda Staunton plays Queen Elizabeth II in season six of The Crown, streaming now on www.netflix.com