The Crown: Josh O’Connor discusses playing Prince Charles
Josh, who plays the future king in the Netflix show, noticed that whenever Charles gets out of a car he checks both cufflinks, checks his pocket square and then waves. He revealed this tidbit on The Graham Norton Show, which he appeared on with Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana in the drama. Chat show host Graham Norton had asked what their “short cuts” are for getting into character when they are on the set of The Crown.
Josh said: “Right, get ready. There’s a couple of things that I – I mean, I didn’t spend too long dwelling on the little Charles things – but there was one thing I noticed that every time he got out of a car – he still does it now.
“He gets out of the car he checks his cufflink, checks his cufflink, checks his pocket square, and then waves.
“So every time he goes to a public event or anything it’s cufflink, cufflink, pocket square, wave.”
The actor gestured to where these items would be if he were wearing them as he said it.
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Prince Charles has a bizarre habit whenever he gets out of a car according to Josh O’Connor (Image: GETTY)
Josh O’Connor touching his imaginary pocket square for Charles’ bizarre routine (Image: GETTY)
Emma said: “I wonder if he’s ever not had his pocket square and it’s completely floored him and he doesn’t know how to move.”
Josh joked that he would insist they get back in the car.
Kylie Minogue, who was also on the talk show that evening, joked that it was like a serve by Rafael Nadal, but slightly fewer steps.
The Spanish tennis star is known for his routine before serving, which includes placing his hair behind his ear, pulling his nose and adjusting his shorts while bouncing the ball.
Tennis star Rafael Nadal (Image: GETTY)
Some have accused Nadal of using his routine to break the momentum and rhythm of his opponents, but he has explained they are for his psychological benefit.
Josh agreed, joking that it was just minus the grunt when he waves.
He continued: “I think so much about The Crown is doing a bit of that sort of work, finding little things that makes people feel safe in the knowledge that you’re not just doing some random performance, you recognise something of Charles.
“With Charles he does this thing with his voice where he speaks like that, everything is through teeth.
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Josh O’Connor demonstrates the wave on the Graham Norton Show (Image: BBC)
Emma Corrin plays Princess Diana in The Crown (Image: BBC)
“And actually Emma’s amazing at it, we have competitions for who can do a better Charles and Diana and I’m rubbish at Diana but she’s very good at Charles.”
Emma then explained the short-cuts for Diana’s voice is that her pattern of speech always goes down at the end of a sentence.
She said the phrase she used to get into character was the way Diana said “alright”.
Then, in Diana’s voice she said: “Everything she says always goes down at the end, so it’s almost like even if she had the best time ever, it would always sound a little bit sad.”
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Josh admitted that he used to spend most of his time trying to perfect his “alright”.
He demonstrated it for the show, with a little head tilt, and was told by Graham that it was “very good”.
Season four of The Crown dropped on Netflix last month and caused a storm.
Josh O’Connor as Charles and Emma Corrin as Diana in The Crown (Image: Netflix)
The season arc runs up until 1990 and focuses on Charles and Diana’s relationship from its inception, through the years as it starts to break down completely.
Other key storylines are Margaret Thatcher’s premiership and her relationship with the Queen and the Queen’s other children Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward and their various problems.
It also features key individual episodes such as the Michael Fagan palace break-in, the controversy over Apartheid South Africa and Mrs Thatcher’s reluctance to impose sanctions, as well as the discovery that the Queen’s cousins had been shunted away in a hospital for people with learning disabilies, where no one visited them.
