How the actors from The Crown compare to the real-life British royals

Lord Louis Mountbatten, the man affectionately known as Uncle Dickie to the royal family, was Princess Alice of Battenberg’s brother. Portrayed by Greg Wise in the first two seasons, Uncle Dickie is charming and lovable, setting up the great tragedy of his death in the fourth season (when he was played by Charles Dance). Prince Philip had been close with his uncle during his youth, and Uncle Dickie also became Prince Charles’ mentor.

While the death of Lord Mountbatten was shocking and tragic for the royal family, it did, nevertheless, provide a way for the writers of The Crown to offer a depiction of the future Princess Diana (who uses the death as an opening to flirt with Prince Charles) as less naive than many of us might have believed.

Thus far, The Crown has not given us much of the adult Prince Andrew, who is played by Tom Byrne. That said, we’re led to believe that if the Queen has, or perhaps had, a favourite child, it might have been Prince Andrew. On the other hand, there’s also a bit of hedging (and perhaps winking from the scriptwriters) as the Queen expresses to Philip that she’s concerned about what might become of Andrew if he doesn’t make some changes to himself. Years later, as we all know, Prince Andrew was forced to step back from his royal duties following a scandal involving the late Jeffrey Epstein.

Here’s what happens when a member of the royal family gets fired.

Prince Edward is one of the least publicly recognisable of Queen Elizabeth II’s children, so it’s refreshing that The Crown offers surprising insight about him. In a memorable scene, a teenage Prince Edward, played by Angus Imrie, reveals to the Queen in no uncertain terms that being the son of the Queen is not necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.

If it’s wrong that The Crown cast an American actor to play the great Winston Churchill, then would we even want it to be right? Even those who aren’t fans of the royal family should get something valuable out of watching John Lithgow virtually disappear into the role of the legendary prime minister in all his gaucheness, wilfulness and, ultimately, humanity.

Gillian Anderson, who played Agent Scully on The X-Files, makes a star turn as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during Season 4 of The Crown. She portrays the Iron Lady with dignity and surprising pathos (we even get to see her cry after being ostracised by members of Parliament). And talk about disappearing into a role – the resemblance between the real-life person and the actress playing her is nothing if not startling.

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Source: RD.com