Who plays the Queen in The Crown?
AFTER nearly a two-year wait, The Crown returns to our screens for season five of the period drama.
As the Netflix show is entering a new era, a cast of new faces will be moving into the royal residences, which means a different actress now takes on the role of the Queen.
Who plays the Queen in The Crown?
Season five and six of The Crown sees a new cast taking over the reins.
Actress Imelda Staunton takes on the role of the Queen for the last two seasons.
Staunton received critical acclaim for her role in the period drama Vera Drake, winning the Bafta for Best Actress, along with an Oscar nomination.
Many will recognise her from playing sickly sweet Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter series.
She has also starred in the Downton Abbey: A New Era movie as Lady Maud Bagshaw.
Speaking about joining the cast of The Crown, she told the : "I have loved watching The Crown from the very start.
"As an actor, it was a joy to see how both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman brought something special and unique to Peter Morgan’s scripts.
"I am genuinely honoured to be joining such an exceptional creative team and to be taking The Crown to its conclusion."
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Who else has played the Queen?
In series one and two the Queen was played by Claire Foy.
Her performance earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series.
She was also nominated for the Bafta TV Award for Best Actress and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Taking over for series three and four, playing a slightly more mature Queen, was the legendary Olivia Colman.
The actress has racked up a long list of film and TV credits, most notably ITV crime drama Broadchurch, in which she plays Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Olivia said at the time: “I’m really nervous to take over something that’s been so great — it’s scary.
“They’re giving me a great voice coach who will make sure I speak like the Queen.
"So I’ll just learn the lines and try and copy exactly what they do.
“Claire Foy has let me know I can call if I need to.”
What are the main storylines about the Queen in The Crown?
Elizabeth inherits the throne
Season one of The crown depicts King George VI’s death.
News of the monarch’s death reaches Elizabeth while she and her husband, Prince Philip, are in Nairobi, carrying out a royal tour on behalf of her father.
The king’s death is conveyed to Elizabeth without words as she spots Philip's harrowing expression from across the lawn of their lodge.
The princess’s worst fears are confirmed when the aide who informed her husband of his father-in-law’s passing bows his head before her.
Elizabeth inherits the throne and is instantly cognizant that all eyes are on her as the new monarch.
The Queen's complicated relationship with Charles
The complicated relationship between the Queen and Charles is highlighted throughout season three as his desire to be with the woman of his choosing (Camilla Parker Bowles) is declined.
Charles steps up his royal duties, delivering a speech in Wales amid increased calls for independence in the region.
Though he nails the speech, his mother, who later reads a translation of his address from Welsh to English, is unimpressed, having picked up subtle allusions to Charles’s issues with the monarchy.
In a heated scene, the Queen tells Charles: "We have all made sacrifices and suppressed who we are. Some portion of our natural selves is always lost.”
The Queen's alleged tussle with Thatcher
Season four of The Crown shows the relationship between the sovereign and the government when the Queen disagrees with then-PM Margaret Thatcher's response to South African apartheid.
Elizabeth wanted Thatcher to impose economic sanctions against the regime in line with the rest of the Commonwealth nations, a point on which the Prime Minister refused.
The backlash leaks out to the papers, and as a result, the Queen's press secretary Michael Shea is axed, a blood sacrifice to protect the crown.
Her strained relationship Princess Anne
As season four begins, Anne's appearances become more frequent.
But in the fourth episode, titled Favourites, her somewhat strained relationship with Queen Elizabeth is more apparent.
When Prince Philip mentions that Anne is his favourite of their four children, the Queen sets up one-on-one meetings with each of them.
Overwhelmed by her role as Queen, Elizabeth has little time for her children and tries to find out more about them.
The monarch organises a picnic with her only daughter, but the meeting gradually turns sour when she mentions her daughter's marriage to Mark Phillips, the father of her two children, Zara and Peter.
The Queen more notably mentions rumours concerning an affair between Princess Anne and her bodyguard, Sergeant Peter Cross.
These rumours encourage the Queen to make a drastic decision.
In light of the gossip surrounding Anne, Elizabeth informs her daughter that Scotland Yard has decided that Peter will be reassigned to "desk duties," despite the princess's pleas.
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