Season Two of the fabulous Netflix Original series, The Crown, returns to our screens today. MiNDOOD Lifestyle Editor, Donna Duggan, chats to actress Vanessa Kirby who plays Princess Margaret in Season One and Two.
What can we expect from Season Two?
Season Two is different in that Season One was very much in the palace with the family and we break out of the palace for Season Two. Philip goes on a world tour, Margaret gets involved in 60s London and the Queen meets the Kennedys. It also gets darker and deeper.
Can we expect another fabulous wardrobe?
Yes! We got to design a lot more in terms of the movement. It’s more 60s so we got to experiment with new shapes and bold colours. Choosing the wardrobe is very collaborative. It was never going to be a period drama, a factual recreation of the royal family. We wanted to get to the human, emotional story so we didn’t need to have the same hair and clothes, we knew the style and parameters and then decided how far we could push them and tell a story with them. Margaret’s clothes had hints of what she wore. I would send the costume designer, Jane [Petrie], tons of pictures and try and push it, for better or worse.
There’s one particular scene were she is going over to Antony Armstrong-Jones’s house to have a picture taken. She feels the sexual energy between them. Margaret is always very deliberate in what she does, she had time and resources to be able to express herself through her clothes. We knew she had to wear something suggestive but not obvious. The outfit had a suggestion of sensuality.
Is it a challenge when people know the general story to keep it interesting?
It was quite scary to begin with because I thought is anyone going to care when they can look at Wikipedia and see what happens. But I didn’t know much about that time period and it taught me a lot in a way that it didn’t matter whether or not you know the outcome, what we did was try to get to the psychological truth, how they actually felt.
Do you see any correlation with the modern day royals?
I think there is a lot of comparison going on with the Harry situation because Meghan is a divorcee, but has lots has changed.
What were some of your personal challenges with the role?
I had to get over my fear of playing a real person. I questioned ‘was I going to sound right? Are people going to laugh at me? Are people going to find me annoying?’ But when Claire [Foy] won her Golden Globe it was good to think that people do enjoy it.
Does your mother [founder of Country Living magazine] have any advice on handling media?
She gives me lots of annoying advice like mothers do. She is always telling me to speak slower and louder. And don’t swear which I’m trying to get better at.