Meet the Windsors: A family tree of actors who’ve played the royals
Portraying a member of the royal family requires a special kind of skill, as Mary McNamara spells out in her essay. Three, in fact: the ability to match the person’s public persona; the ability to imagine their private life; and, most difficult, the ability to capture the navigation between the two. Perhaps that’s why the best of the best — Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Colman — are called upon again and again.
With the release of Season 3 of “The Crown,” Netflix’s decades-spanning drama about the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II, we tracked actors who have portrayed members of the House of Windsor in major film and television productions over the last four decades. Highlighted in blue are those who have played multiple members of the royal family, or played the same character multiple times.
Elizabeth II
Claire Foy
(Seasons 1-2)
Olivia Colman
(Season 3)
Claire Foy, Elizabeth II in Seasons 1 and 2, played royal Anne Boleyn in “Wolf Hall.” Olivia Colman, who takes over the lead role from Claire Foy, just won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Anne in “The Favorite.” Colman also played the Queen Mother in 2012.
Other portrayals
Penelope Wilton
“The BFG” (2016 film)
Sarah Gadon
“A Royal Night Out”
(2015 film)
June Squibb
“7 Days in Hell”
(2015 TV movie)
Emma Thompson
“Walking the Dogs” (2012 TV episode)
Rosemary Leach
“Margaret” (2009 TV movie)
Leach has played Queen Elizabeth II in three different BBC movies, also including “Tea with Betty” (2006) and “Prince William” (2002).
Helen Mirren
“The Queen”
(2006 film)
Helen Mirren won an Oscar for playing Elizabeth II in 2006’s “The Queen,” whom she also portrayed in “The Audience,” a 2013 stage play from “The Queen” and “The Crown” writer Peter Morgan. Mirren also portrayed the 16th century’s Elizabeth I in a miniseries, winning an Emmy in the process. She is the only actor to play both Elizabeth I and II in live-action projects.
Neve Campbell
“Churchhill: The Hollywood Years”
(2004 film)
Margaret Tyzack
“Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story”
(1982 TV movie)
Tyzack also portrayed Queen Mary in 2005’s “Wallis & Edward.”
George VI / Bertie
Jared Harris
(Season 1)
Jared Harris (of “Mad Men” and “Chernobyl” fame) played Queen Elizabeth’s beloved father, who passed away in Season 1. (Spoiler alert?)
Other portrayals
Rupert Everett
“A Royal Night Out”
(2015 film)
Samuel West
“Hyde Park on Hudson”
(2012 film)
Colin Firth
“The Kings Speech”
(2011 film)
Firth took home a lead actor Oscar for the role in “The King’s Speech” (2011)
Lawrence Fox
“W.E.” (2011 film)
James Wilby
“Bertie and Elizabeth”
(2002 TV movie)
Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother)
Victoria Hamilton
(Seasons 1-2)
Marion Bailey
(Season 3)
Marion Bailey takes over the role of Elizabeth II’s mother from Victoria Hamilton, who previously played Queen Victoria in the 2001 miniseries “Victoria & Albert.”
Other portrayals
Emily Watson
“A Royal Night Out”
(2015 film)
Olivia Colman
“Hyde Park on Hudson”
(2012 film)
Season 3’s crown-holder Olivia Colman appeared as Queen Elizabeth, mother to Elizabeth II, in 2012.
Helena Bonham Carter
“The King’s Speech”
(2011 film)
In addition to playing both mother and daughter (Princess Margaret in season 3), Carter played Anne Boleyn in the 2003 TV movie “Henry VIII,” written by “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan.
Natalie Dormer
“W.E.”
(2011 film)
Dormer also played royalty (of the Westeros kind) as Margaery of House Tyrell in HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
Sylvia Syms
“The Queen”
(2006 film)
Olivia de Havilland
“The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana” (1982 TV movie)
Mona Washbourne
“Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story”
(1982 TV movie)
King Edward VIII / David, Duke of Windsor
Alex Jennings
(Seasons 1-2)
Derek Jacobi
(Season 3)
Derek Jacobi takes over the role of Elizabeth II’s uncle and Bertie’s brother, the former king who abdicated the throne for Wallis Simpson. Alex Jennings, the duke for the first two seasons, also portrayed Prince Charles in “The Queen” (2006).
Other portrayals
Guy Pearce
“The King’s Speech”
(2011 film)
James D’Arcy
“W.E”
(2011 film)
Stephen Campbell Moore
“Wallis & Edward” (2005 TV movie)
Charles Edwards
“Bertie and Elizabeth”
(2002 TV movie)
Edwards also played the duke’s brother, Bertie, in the original stage production of “The King’s Speech.”
Peter Barkworth
“Crown Matrimonial”
(1974 TV movie)
Queen Mary
Eileen Atkins
(Season 1)
Eileen Atkins played Elizabeth’s grandmother in both a 2002 movie and in Season 1 of “The Crown.”
Other portrayals
Geraldine James
“Downton Abbey”
(2019 film)
Margaret Tyzack
“Wallis & Edward” (2005 TV movie)
Tyzack also played Queen Mary’s granddaughter, Elizabeth II, in 1982.
Miranda Richardson
“The Lost Prince” (2003 TV series)
Eileen Atkins
“Bertie and Elizabeth”
(2002 TV movie)
Atkins was also Season 1’s Queen Mary.
Peggy Ashcroft
“Edward & Mrs. Simpson”
(1978 TV miniseries)
Greer Garson
“Crown Matrimonial”
(1974 TV movie)
Princess Margaret
Vanessa Kirby
(Seasons 1-2)
Helena Bonham Carter
(Season 3)
Helena Bonham Carter replaces Vanessa Kirby as the queen’s sister for Season 3. As with this season’s queen, Olivia Colman, Carter has played both royal mother and daughter.
Other portrayals
Bel Powley
“A Royal Night Out”
(2015 film)
Ramona Marquez
“The King’s Speech” (2011 film)
Katie McGrath
“The Queen” (2009-present TV series)
Lucy Cohu
“The Queen’s Sister” (2005 TV movie)
Lord Snowdon / Tony Armstrong-Jones
Matthew Goode
(Season 2)
Ben Daniels
(Season 3)
Ben Daniels takes over the role of Margaret’s husband, a renowned photographer of famous artists, actors, writers —as well as the royal family, including Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and their children William and Harry.
Prince Philip
Matt Smith
(Seasons 1-2)
Tobias Menzies
(Season 3)
For Season 3, Tobias Menzies takes on the role of husband to the Queen and nephew to Lord Mountbatten.
Other portrayals
James Cromwell
“The Queen”
(2006 film)
While Cromwell has not played another Windsor, he has played U.S. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson (2002’s “RFK”) and George H.W. Bush (2008’s “W.”)
David Threlfall
“The Queen’s Sister” (2005 TV movie)
Twenty years before this movie, Threlfall played Philip’s son, Charles.
Christopher Lee
“Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story”
(1982 TV movie)
Stewart Granger
“The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana” (1982 TV movie)
Lord Mountbatten
Greg Wise
(Seasons 1-2)
Charles Dance
(Season 3)
Before taking on the role of Prince Philip’s uncle, Charles Dance portrayed Tywin Lannister on HBO’s “Game of Thrones”
Other portrayals
Hugh Bonneville
“The Viceroy’s House”
(2017 film)
Nicol Williamson
“Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy”
(1986 TV miniseries)
Prince Charles
Billy Jenkins
(Season 1)
Julian Baring
(Season 2)
Josh O'Conner
(Season 3)
The first three seasons have shown the eldest son of Elizabeth and Philip, and heir to the crown, grow into a young man interested in acting — and in a young woman named Camilla Shand (Emerald Fennell), later known as Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles’ second wife.
Other portrayals
Martin Turner
“The Queen” (2009-present TV series)
Paul Rhys
“The Queen” (2009-present TV series)
Alex Jennings
“The Queen”
(2006 film)
Jennings, who played the Duke of Windsor in the first two seasons, also played King George III in the miniseries “Liberty! The American Revolution” and King Leopold in the series “Victoria.”
David Threlfall
“Diana: Her True Story”
(1993 TV movie)
Threlfall also played Charles’ father, Prince Philip, in the 2006 TV movie “The Queen’s Sister.”
David Robb
“Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story”
(1982 TV movie)
Robb played Thomas Boleyn in “Wolf Hall” and Claudius’ brother Germanicus in “I, Claudius”
Christopher Baines
“The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana” (1982 TV movie)
Princess Anne
Grace and Amelia Gilmour
(Season 1)
Lyla Barrett-Rye
(Season 2)
Erin Doherty
(Season 3)
Erin Doherty takes on the part of the queens’s daughter in Season 3, her first on-screen role as a royal.
Other portrayals
Annie Page
“Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story”
(1982 TV movie)