The talented cast of The Crown had the challenge of accurately portraying recognizable and well-known people - but how much did the cast actually look like their characters in real life? Helped by incredibly accurate costumes, wigs, and prosthetics, almost all of the actors in The Crown have more than a passing resemblance to their real-life counterparts, and some even manage to outright disappear into the role.
The Crown follows the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, with season 4 taking place from 1979-1990 and introducing Margaret Thatcher and Lady Diana Spencer. The primary cast of The Crown, which includes Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, and their immediate family, changes every two seasons in order to showcase the passage of time. Season 4 focuses more on the children of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, with Prince Charles’ tumultuous marriage to Lady Diana Spencer becoming a primary focus of the show.
Because the cast of The Crown have to play real, extremely recognizable people, their appearance is a very important part of the show. Costume designer Amy Roberts and hair and makeup designer Cate Hall do an amazing job of transforming their cast into the members of the royal family - but how much do they actually look like their real-life counterparts?
Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II
Olivia Colman took over the role of Queen Elizabeth from Claire Foy for seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown. Queen Elizabeth is the main character of the series, and the longest reigning monarch in British history. Colman portrays Queen Elizabeth in her 50s and 60s, and the actress looks very similar to the Queen at that age without any additional prosthetics or makeup. With the help of wigs styled to match the Queen’s signature short, curly look and incredibly accurate costumes, Olivia Colman becomes a very close approximation of the Queen.
Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip
Much like Colman, Tobias Menzies took over the role of the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, from Doctor Who's Matt Smith for seasons 3 and 4. Menzies dons a blond wig to approximate Prince Philip’s hair at the time and also wears increasing amounts of aging make-up as the season goes on to represent Philip’s own aging through the years.
Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher
Gillian Anderson joined the cast of The Crown in season 4 to portray Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom. Although Anderson appears to have undergone a significant transformation to play Thatcher, including an incredibly styled bouffant wig to approximate Thatcher’s iconic hair, she isn’t wearing any prosthetics for The Crown. Instead, Anderson’s uncannily accurate representation of the prime minister is entirely due to the actress’s dedication to the role.
Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret
Helena Bonham Carter reprises her role as Princess Margaret for season 4 of The Crown, a role that she took over from Vanessa Kirby. Princess Margaret is Queen Elizabeth's embattled younger sister, and is heavily featured in season 4, episode 7 "The Hereditary Principle." Although Helena Bonham Carter isn’t an exact copy of Princess Margaret, a combination of wigs and contact lenses help the actress transform into her character. She is also helped by a series of stunning period-accurate costumes.
Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles
Unlike other members of the cast, Josh O’Connor doesn’t need the help of wigs or makeup to transform into the Queen’s oldest child, Prince Charles. Prince Charles has a major role in season 4 of The Crown, which focuses heavily on Charles' engagement and marriage to Lady Diana Spencer. The actor is already physically similar to a young Prince Charles, and his resemblance is helped by the way his hair is styled and his costumes.
Emma Corrin as Lady Diana Spencer
Season 4 of The Crown introduced Emma Corrin as Lady Diana Spencer, and the actress already had an uncanny resemblance to the late princess even before wearing wigs and replicas of Diana’s most memorable outfits. Corrin’s transformation into Diana was helped by a series of wigs that captured Diana’s iconic 1980s haircut. Although the actress didn’t wear any facial prosthetics, her period-accurate makeup and uncanny costumes helped her disappear into the role, and she managed to exude the same vulnerability that helped make Diana so relatable and beloved.
Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker Bowles
Emerald Fennell also reprised her role from season 3 of The Crown as Prince Charles’ lifelong love and eventual wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. Much like Corrin, Fennell was able to transform into an uncannily accurate Camilla with the help of a beautifully styled wig. Although Fennell’s costumes aren’t replicas of outfits that Camilla actually wore, they capture her aesthetic perfectly and make it so that Fennell is almost unrecognizable as Camilla.
Erin Doherty as Princess Anne
Although Princess Anne has a smaller role in season 4 of The Crown than she did in season 3, Erin Doherty reprised her role as the steely second child of Queen Elizabeth. Unlike other cast members of The Crown, Doherty’s hairstyle is a blend of her own hair and a wig, which supplements the volume of her hair to match Princess Anne’s famously thick style. Doherty doesn’t wear any contacts or prosthetics, and her voluminous hairstyle and immaculately structured costuming are the biggest ways that she physically transforms into the character.
Tom Byrne as Prince Andrew
Tom Byrne joined the cast of The Crown in season 4 to play Queen Elizabeth’s third, and favorite, child: Prince Andrew. Like Josh O’Connor, Byrne doesn’t have a wig or prosthetics and manages to embody the prince based on an uncanny resemblance alone.
Angus Imrie as Prince Edward
Like Byrne, Angus Imrie also joined The Crown in season 4, and he plays the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward. He also doesn’t wear a wig or any prosthetics to portray the young prince, but nonetheless has more than a passing resemblance to a young Prince Edward.
Marion Bailey as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
To transform into Queen Elizabeth’s mother, Marion Bailey wears an immaculately styled grey wig, and a bodysuit that includes a bra padded out with birdseed (via Daily Mail.) Although the padding might seem strange, it’s a classic costuming trick that has been used for years - and certainly helps Bailey’s resemblance to her character. In addition, the wig and the makeup help turn the actress into a near-perfect copy of Elizabeth.
The Crown does a spectacular job of turning the cast into their recognizable, real-life counterparts. Not only do most of the actors already resemble their characters, but the costume and wig designers of The Crown help put their transformations over the top. Although it might seem impossible for the actors to look so much like their characters, their resemblance to real-life proves that attention to detail in its design is one of the best parts of The Crown.