Actors and actress who have portrayed royalty in film and TV

Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth for the first two seasons of the critically acclaimed Netflix show The Crown. She portrayed the monarch as she ascends to the throne following the death of her father, King George VI, and struggles with her marriage to Prince Philip in the wake of her new role.

Speaking about the show, Claire told Town and Country magazine: “I would hate the idea of her watching it. When you’re playing a real person, you never want to be ghoulish. I don’t want to pick apart a person. I want to invent someone. So I would hate for her to watch it and think I overdramatised anything.”

Claire also played Anne Bolyen, King Henry VIII’s second wife in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

Olivia Coleman took over from Claire Foy in seasons three and four of The Crown, which related how the Queen dealt with political events and her own family dramas during the 1960s and 70s.

Olivia also won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Anne of Great Britain in the 2018 movie The Favourite.

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Kristen Stewart is set to play Princess Diana in a new movie to be directed by Pablo Larraín. Spencer is the title for this new film which will cover a series of dramatic events during the 1990s. The movie production is set to start in 2021.

The 2014 movie Grace of Monaco, starring the perfectly-cast Nicole Kidman, focuses on former Hollywood star Grace Kelly ’s crisis of marriage and identity, during a dispute between her husband Prince Rainier and France’s Charles de Gaulle in 1962.

However the film was not well-received by the Monaco royals themselves, who issued a statement saying: “The Prince’s Palace would like to reiterate that this feature film cannot under any circumstances be classified as a biopic.”

RELATED: Grace Kelly was born 90 years ago: the Monaco princess’ life in photos

Chameleon-like Australian character actress Cate Blanchett took on the role of Queen Elizabeth I twice: in the 1998 movie pictured and again in the 2007 follow-up Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

King George VI was the British monarch during World War II, having taken over the role from his brother who abdicated to marry Wallace Simpson. He overcame a severe stutter with the help of a speech therapist, and Colin’s performance as the determined King in 2010’s The King’s Speech won him an Oscar.

Emily played a young Queen Victoria in 2009’s The Young Victoria, which chronicled her ascension to the throne and falling in love with her husband, Prince Albert. Real royalty (and Victoria’s great-great-great-great granddaughter) also starred in the movie, in the shape of Princess Beatrice , who played a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.

The Devil Wears Prada star also played Catherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, in the 2003 TV series, Henry VIII.

Helena played King George VI’s wife and the Queen’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, perfectly in The King’s Speech. As a concerned wife who supports her husband when he is thrust into the pressure of becoming a King after his brother abdicates, Queen Elizabeth is instrumental in finding him the help he needs with his famous stutter, while supporting him all of the way.

In recent years, Helena has also taken on the role of Princess Margaret in seasons three and four of Netflix’s The Crown.

Helen Mirren has stepped into royal shoes many a time. Notably, she played the Queen at a time of crisis for the royal family following the death of the Princess Diana. With the popularity for the monarchy at an all-time low, Helen acted in The Queen as she attempted to navigate rocky political waters while dealing with her family’s grief.

Dame Judi has played Queen Victoria twice; once in a film that looked at her relationship with John Brown, and most recently in Victoria & Abdul, which focused on her close friendship with her Indian ‘Munshi’, Abdul. Speaking to the New York Post about playing the role for a second time, Dame Judi said: “I hadn’t known about this part of her life. John Brown had died. She was lonely and the general business of being in her 80s was very, very hard for her.”

The former Doctor Who star took on Prince Philip , and nailed his sarcastic sense of humor. Speaking about playing the Prince for Netflix’s The Crown, Matt told Esquire: “He gave up everything, literally everything, that made him a man. He had such a wonderful naval career, and for that to be taken away from him, and then to have to walk two steps behind his wife in public for the whole of his life – but he has a lion’s pride about him, so there were a lot of very interesting conflicts to play.”

Naomi took on the People’s Princess in the biopic titled Diana, and opened up about why she wanted to initially make the film. She said: “I didn’t know anything about this love story. I was living in Australia and then America at the time and wasn’t avidly following stories about Princess Diana so this was news to me. I was intrigued by the idea of taking on this massively, globally known woman, but terrified at the same time because people’s level of interest is going to be much higher than usual. I feel like I am always looking to take risks and move out of my comfort zone, so this was… that!”

Doctor Who seems to have been fertile ground for training actors and actresses to play royals! Jenna, like Matt Smith, also came from the British Sci-Fi series and made a name for herself by playing Queen Victoria in the ITV show, Victoria. Speaking about getting into the role, she told Harper’s Bazaar: “I think, like most people, [my image of her] was of the black, stern photographs we see of her. I knew she was known for being a passionate young queen and spirited, but I didn’t really know her character at all. I was really surprised and I think I keep on being surprised, actually, the more I learn about her.”

Lifetime released the images of the actors who play the Cambridges in the TV movie, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance. Focusing on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ’s whirlwind romance, the film also features various members of the British royal family.

Queen Elizabeth’s sister Princess Margaret’s struggle with being a modern woman and part of a monarchy steeped in tradition was portrayed perfectly by Vanessa Kirby in seasons one and two of The Crown. Her role chronicled her doomed relationship with the divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend, before eventually wedding the unconventional photographer, Antony Armstrong-Jones. Vanessa’s performance was praised by audiences, many of whom could relate to the young, bored Princess.

Kirsten Dunst starred in the 2006 movie Marie Antoinette, which detailed the French queen’s life and, ultimately, death with the fall of Versailles and the French Revolution.