7 fascinating behind-the-scenes facts about The Crown

The Crown has just dropped the first volume of its sixth season on Netflix last week. The show arrived with four episodes as part of its first part on November 16, 2023, and is set to release the remaining six episodes on December 14, 2023.

The Crown is a historical drama series from the house of Netflix. Created by Peter Morgan, the show was inspired by his very own 2006 film, The Queen. Since arriving on the streaming platform in 2016, the series has been a favorite and is currently in its sixth and final season.

With that in mind, we have curated a list of some very exciting and fascinating BTS scenes from the sets of The Crown that could pique your interest.

7 fun tidbits about Netflix's The Crown that you might not know

1) The faux Buckingham Palace

The Crown has done a great job in retelling the story of Queen Elizabeth II's journey and reign. With its meticulous attention to detail, the series has recreated even the living quarters of the royal family in Buckingham Palace. However, it wasn't the same building but one that had been used time and again for a similar purpose.

The Buckingham Palace portrayed in the show is actually called the Lancaster House, a mansion in the West End of London in the St. James district. Created as a royal townhouse for the Duke of Sutherland, the Lancaster House has been used to portray Buckingham Palace in multiple shows like The Young Victoria, Downton Abbey, and The King's Speech.

2) The hardships of the costume department

A still from The Crown (Image via Netflix)

One of the things that took a huge amount of effort during production was the costume department. Alongside maintaining extravagant sets, great performances, and historical accuracy, the team also paid a lot of attention to recreating some of the most iconic dresses worn by the Queen.

In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, costume designer Michele Clapton talked about how the historical accuracy of the looks was maintained. The wedding dress for Queen Elizabeth was one of the hardest costumes to recreate because of its elaborate design and embroidery.

There were three teams working on the dress. One team worked on the train, while two other teams worked on embroidering the bodice and the dress over a long period of time. However, another iconic dress from the show, from Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, did not take as much effort. It was actually a borrowed piece from Swarovski, a replica they had made for the Queen's 75 years in 2012.

3) Olivia Colman had a hard time being the Queen

Olivia Colman as the Queen in The Crown (Image via Netflix)

Olivia Colman is an extremely talented actor without doubt. However, in an interview with Vanity Fair, she talked about the hardships that came with the responsibility of portraying one of the most recognized persons on the face of the Earth.

Being a master thespian, Colman is more suited to emote compared to the stoic nature of the Queen. Portraying the character meant surfing through archival footage, studying every minute movement and mannerism. To recreate her stoic attitude, Colman used to listen to BBC Radio's monotonous weather reports over the dialogues.

"My problem is, I emote. The Queen is not meant to do it. She’s got to be a rock for everyone, and [has] been trained not to. We’ve discovered that I can’t do it."

4) An inspiration from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet

Retelling the story of the life and reign of one of the most popular monarchs in the world needs a lot of attention to detail and historical accuracy. However, this does not leave a lot of space for the creators to practice their own ideas and styles throughout the show.

However, one of the pivotal sequences in the series was inspired by another iconic scene. A sequence in the first episode of season 4 of The Crown shows Prince Charles going on a date with Lady Sarah Spencer, when he comes to meet Lady Diana, her younger sister, for the first time. The meeting is however shrouded by decorative shrubbery, a nymph's costume from A Midsummer's Night Dream, and a mask.

Josh O'Connor, the actor who portrayed Prince Charles in this season of The Crown, told IndieWire that this scene was actually inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) by Baz Luhrmann. Particularly, the sequence where Romeo and Juliet see each other for the first time through the fish tank.

5) Flies interfered with filming

The sixth episode of season four of The Crown, Terra Nullius, packed a punch with a powerful scene between Charles and Diana. The couple while on their royal visit to Australia, find themselves some time alone and talk about the difficulties they had been facing in their marriage. It was a pivotal moment in their relationship as well as in the series, making it of utmost importance.

However, what stood between the makers and a perfect shot was none other than flies. When it was Josh O'Connor's turn to give his take, he was swarmed by numerous and huge flies, making it impossible to get a good shot. The team had to take numerous takes, with most of them being raided by the flies.

6) The royal family on The Crown

The Crown's popularity has been far-reaching throughout its six-season run. Not only has it been a hit among critics and the general audience, but even members of the royal family have come to like the show.

Prince Harry talked about his take on The Crown and the retelling of his and his family's story while spending an afternoon with James Corden on The Late Late Show. He said that he was okay with the show, as it was a fictionalized version of the truth, albeit inspired by the same and not portrayed as cold hard facts.

Among the royal members, it was not only Prince Harry who had seen the show but also the Queen herself. According to Matt Smith in his interview on NBC News, the Queen apparently watched a screening of the show. And Prince Harry even greeted Smith by grandad, referencing the character he played in the show.

7) A simple way of paying tributes to the Queen on her death

"As a mark of respect, filming on The Crown was suspended today. Filming will also be suspended on the day of Her Majesty The Queen’s funeral."

The Queen's death put a hold on the shooting schedule for The Crown. According to Deadline, the production of The Crown was stopped when news of the Queen's death came on September 8, 2023.

Netflix actually had already thought about how they would pay their respects in case the death of the Queen happened during the show's production. They stopped filming on the day of, and also on her funeral.

If you are a fan of Netflix's The Crown, then this list of fascinating tidbits must have been right up your alley.

The Crown just dropped the first volume of its latest sixth season. The first four episodes premiered on Netflix on November 16, 2023, while six more episodes are expected to arrive on the streaming platform on December 14, 2023.

Edited by Abigail Kevichusa