The actor recalled meeting William at a lineup at the polo during an interview on The Graham Norton Show alongside his co-star Claire Foy, who played the Queen. He said that the Duke of Cambridge’s aide informed him that Matt would be playing the Duke of Edinburgh and asked him whether he had any advice for him. Matt put his head in his hands, explaining that he felt very embarrassed by the whole thing.
However, William’s only acting tip was that Philip is a “legend”.
He said: “So, the lady who was doing the lineup said ‘And this is Matt and he’s about to play’ ‒ and I thought ‘don’t say it, don’t say it’ ‒ ‘and he’s about to play Prince Philip’
“And I thought ‘oh God’.
“And then she said, ‘Have you got any advice for him?’ and I thought ‘God, I’m going to die’.
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Prince William had some bizarre advice for the star playing his grandfather in The Crown (Image: GETTY)
Matt Smith recalled meeting Prince William at the polo (Image: GETTY)
“And all he said was: ‘Legend. He’s an absolute legend.’ And I went, ‘Yeah he is.’”
Graham Norton joked: “Good acting note. ‘And you’re playing legend, go!’!
Matt said: “I know, panic now.”
Even the circumstances around their meeting seemed to embarrass the actor, who has previously starred in films such as ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’.
Matt Smith as Prince Philip in The Crown (Image: YouTube (jayzhelle001))
He said: “I met him very briefly in a lineup at the polo.”
Claire then teased him about being “posh, not common at all” because he was “just casually at the polo”.
Polo is known to be the favoured sport for both Prince William and Prince Harry, and tends to be played by those in the upper classes.
Matt insisted “I am common!” before admitting: “Damn it, we are the middle classes.”
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Matt Smith on The Graham Norton Show (Image: GETTY)
Matt has also met Prince Harry before, also at the polo.
He told Jimmy Kimmel in 2017 that he presented an award to Harry at the Audi Polo once, joking that he got an award for being “the best prince”.
The actor said Harry is “charming” and “lovely”, but said he had no insight into anything to do with him and Meghan.
Matt added that he would love to meet Prince Philip himself but that the Duke is “too cool for school” and an “enigma”.
He also said a friend of his once had dinner with the Queen and Philip and that he had asked the Duke whether he had watched ‘The Crown’, to which he said: “Don’t be ridiculous”.
Matt has been graced with other royalty though – he met Charles and Camilla while he was playing The Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’.
Jimmy presented a picture of Matt and his co-star Jenna Coleman standing outside the TARDIS with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
They joked about Charles’ pose in the picture, where he had one hand in his pocket.
Matt Smith on The Graham Norton Show (Image: BBC)
Jimmy said he looked like he could be reaching for a gun, and that he would be “worried” if someone did that.
However, Matt explained that it is actually a very common pose for princes.
The actor joked that he was not very good at emulating the royal wave, but added that because Philip is the “dissident” it didn’t matter so much if he didn’t manage to master the proper royal protocol.
