[ On set exclusive ]

Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, whose marriage with Antony Armstrong-Jones ( played by Matthew Goode, “ right) brought glamour to the stuffy House of Windsor. I fell in love with Margaret “ From the wild world of Princess Margaret to the private tensions inside the Queen’s marriage, Juliet Rieden goes behind the scenes on set to uncover the secrets of season two of .

t’s a chilly early Sunday morning on The for episode seven of season two of The Crown, Mall in the heart of . The regal red the multimillion-dollar (the most expensive road running from imposing Admiralty TV series ever made), critically acclaimed, hit Arch at Trafalgar Square to the heavenly show that tells the inside story of the life of gilded Winged Victory statue atop the Vanessa and Queen Elizabeth II and that has the whole world IQueen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Matthew play glued to . royal rebels Palace has been closed off to cars for a few As “action” calls for silence, a rather handsome Princess Margaret precious hours and transformed into a scene from and photographer motorbike speeds past with actor Vanessa Kirby the 1950s. Morning joggers are politely asked beau Antony in old-fashioned helmet and goggles, her arms to take a detour as vintage cars – Triumphs and Armstrong-Jones. wrapped around the waist of her co-star Matthew Rovers – are parked up and 22 Goode. I think I see Vanessa snuggle extras, picked for their retro haircuts into Matthew’s neck for a sneaky and ’50s look, parade in period kiss as he grips onto the handlebars. costume – nipped in waists, long And when the scene is reshot four, pencil skirts; and men in homburgs, five, six times more, I see I’m right. brogues, grey suits and trench coats. The breathtakingly elegant This is the only time the road can Vanessa Kirby is playing the Queen’s be closed, and director Ben Caron is troubled sister, Princess Margaret, working against the clock. who at the end of season one we The Weekly has been invited on set saw angry and broken when her

NEXTFLIX. NEXTFLIX. to watch the filming of a crucial scene proposed marriage to the love of >>

DECEMBER 2017 AWW.COM.AU 29 her life, divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend, Her Majesty launch the Gold Coast 2018 was vetoed by the Queen in a piece of what Commonwealth Games baton relay, and a few Margaret perceived to be sibling treachery. In days before that at the Women of the World this season, Margaret is back in a relationship Festival cocktail bash inside the Palace. So it’s with another less than suitable beau, society ironic that today I will be watching and meeting photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, and their the actors who play a fictionalised Queen and sex, booze and rock and roll ‘n’ roll romps, which royal family. brought a frisson of modern glamour to the stuffy revels It must be strange to be dramatising a real life in the “joy about House of Windsor, are played out in racy detail. story while the Monarch, the star of the show, is how sort of The daring storyline doesn’t pull punches as ridiculous it is” to today at least, just a few hundreds metres away. we see bored, entitled Margaret transformed, be playing the “Oh God, yeah,” says Vanessa Kirby when we sit falling in lust with the exciting, arty and part of the Queen. down to chat later in the day. “In the first week unconventional demi-monde that her I kept thinking about it. lover inhabits, a world away from “As Margaret, I was taking on her sister’s tweedy courtiers, separate somebody who is known, and it’s bed marriage and prayers before weird because I don’t really look like lights out. her. But then you just throw it all At least that’s how writer Peter out of the window and go, actually, Morgan has portrayed the two it’s about the spirit or the essence sisters. Peter is a master at creating of the person. I have got to be what feels like a very accurate voice true to Peter’s version of Margaret for not just the Queen, but all of and try to create somebody four the royals. Of course, he’s inhabited dimensional, who has lots of layers Her Majesty before, when Dame and complexity.” took on the Monarch Vanessa says she’s having a ball in his play and film playing the playgirl Princess. As a The Queen. And so far, Morgan’s 29-year-old, she didn’t grow up with interpretation has walked a very a sense of Margaret’s past, so it’s delicate line between respectful been as much a history lesson as it and revelatory. has been an acting role. “I really In season two he investigates the didn’t know anything about her. private worlds of the Queen and I had seen pictures and I thought Princess Margaret, he questions of her as an old lady. I had heard a Prince Philip’s fidelity, airing the little bit about some drinking habits In series two Claire Foy as the Queen tours Ghana (top pictures), dirty laundry of past accusations of but that was all. tackles strains in her relationship with Prince Philip (Matt impropriety, while Prince Charles’ “I tried to read everything I could Smith, right) , and meets Jackie Kennedy (Jodi Balfour, bottom difficult relationship with his father to find out who she was and how right). Princess Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), meanwhile, falls and brutal time at school is dramatised in detail. she ended up like that. I really loved taking on for Antony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Goode, below). It’s going to make decidedly uncomfortable “ the journey of somebody who was all set for viewing for the royal family, although the one thing, and then your father dies and your beating heart of the show is not salacious She’s life completely changes, and how that affects gossip but a study of what it really means on everything, even down to the person you want a private and personal level to bear the burden not in a to marry and have children with. Also, how of the monarchy. good it affects your inner self and defines you as a Earlier this year, a report revealed that the human. And I fell in love with her.” Queen had watched series one, but it’s not place, When we first see Margaret in season two she something that sits comfortably with Peter is still distraught over her love but then Morgan. “In my own heart of hearts I want to then everything changes. “She’s not in a good place pretend that she hasn’t watched and I hope she and then unexpectedly this man walks in and never does,” the writer told a UK newspaper. this there is an instant electricity that she has never As I stand on The Mall, I can see the flag flying felt before and then mayhem ensues,” explains high above Buckingham Palace, which means man Vanessa with a wicked chortle. “I think they the Queen – that’s the real one – is in residence, found their match in the energy and the power probably just waking up, maybe even watching walks both of them had. Margaret needed somebody out of the window. Only a few days ago I was in. to say no to her, actually, and somebody that part of the Australian contingent invited onto intellectually matched her. He showed this the forecourt of Buckingham Palace to watch ” whole other side of life, underground bohemian >> NETFLIX.

30 AWW.COM.AU DECEMBER 2017 London, jazz clubs, the art is that the crew and the cast scene, the things that were have done so much detailed always essentially her, but she research, they are punctilious never had access to inside these in getting it right, which makes walls. And the first season pretty my life so much easier. I mean, much showed that. You have they really are extremely good got a girl that is desperate to get at getting the detail right,” he out but doesn’t know how. Her says. “There has been very, very whole identity is royal princess. little that isn’t very accurate. So then meeting somebody who Obviously there is always going throws that away is something to be a little bit of artistic incredibly exciting, alluring, licence, that goes with the dangerous. To get on the territory, but I don’t think there motorbike, it’s danger, it’s have been any occasions that thrill-seeking and I think she I can think of where they were goes head first into it.” way off the mark.” Matthew Goode was cast As Margaret’s love life as Antony Armstrong-Jones just develops in this season, her before the death of the real life sister’s hits a few roadblocks Lord Snowdon (as he became and the Duke of Edinburgh’s after his marriage to Princess struggle with living in his wife’s Margaret). While he confesses it shadow is analysed in detail. feels odd to be playing someone “I think that was very difficult so recently deceased, it did take for him and so it’s been the pressure off his portrayal. interesting to explore the “It sounds awful, but it did. It’s conflicts of him,” explains like, I suppose he is not going to actor , who says he see it so that’s okay,” he says. approaches the role firstly by Vanessa says the secret to the mastering his physical gait. show’s success is the intimate “He is quite a rangy guy and he detail revealed on screen and the has a particular gait, he dips in searching character analysis. and out, it’s a physical shape.” “I think that they are the last remaining public Similarly, Claire Foy says the key to her Queen personas that you don’t have access to and you is the voice ,which she admits “is a lot of work”. don’t really know who they are behind the “ The camaraderie between the actors, and closed doors.” especially Claire and Matt, is very evident when But how accurate is it? After The Mall shoot, You I meet them on set. “I just love him,” says Claire. we move to Lancaster House, which doubles don’t “He is a real friend and we really got on from the for Buckingham Palace in the show. The start. I think we both don’t take ourselves very historic house that Netflix rents from the know seriously, which really helps. We both approach current owner, the UK government’s Foreign things with a humour and joy about how sort of and Commonwealth Office, is next door to who ridiculous it is that we are playing these parts.” Clarence House, where Prince Charles and Matt Smith says he didn’t really think about Camilla live, and a stone’s throw from they the royals as people before this role came along Buckingham Palace. The crew can only use the but now that’s all changed. “The royals are place at weekends and have to cover all the lavish are ingrained to your cultural sensibility, really. carpets and handrails in plastic cling wrap and behind I mean, I was aware of them but I didn’t really styrofoam to ensure nothing is damaged. pay that much attention to them. They were Major David Rankin-Hunt used to work for doors. just there. Buckingham Palace was just there. the royal family and has come out of retirement But now I drive past it with a renewed sense of to act as Royal Adviser on the series. When he ” interest. I sort of know what goes on in there was asked by Netflix, he says he made sure the and so I have become much more fond of them Palace approved, so it’s reasonable to assume the In season two, the having made this show.” Queen also has to royal household isn’t seething about the series. I suspect the viewers will agree with him. AWW play Mum to the The Major is on set most days and advises on young Prince everything from protocol, to the way people Charles and The 10-episode season two of The Crown is available

speak or how they are dressed. “The funny thing Princess Anne. to stream on Netflix from December 8. NETFLIX.

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