My Natural Ageing Has Helped A Bit!

Olivia Colman chats to ok! About playing the queen one last time her love for balmoral and how it’s been one of her favourite roles

- Jennifer Rodger

If you were going to ask anyone to rule Britannia, you’d not look much further than Olivia Colman. As an actress, she’s a safe pair of hands – whether discovering her own husband is a killer (ITV’s Broadchurch), playing a stepmother-from-hell in the award-winning Fleabag, or portraying 18th Century Queen Anne in The Favourite, for which she nabbed an Oscar.

So when she stepped in to play Queen Elizabeth II in the third series of The Crown, fans of the hit Netflix series knew that she’d bring exactly what was required to such an important role.

“I have enjoyed it so much,” smiles Olivia, who will now appear in the fourth series where we find the Queen (possibly) meeting her match in the arrival of shy aristocrat Diana Spencer and all the drama that follows.

When talking about filming the epic show, the 46-year-old actress makes it sound like a breeze. She’s brimming with delight about the stunning outdoor locations, grand houses, her co-stars and, mostly, the Queen’s wardrobe.

“My job is three-quarters done before I step on set,” she says about the costumes, which include six handbags, most of which were bought from the company the Queen actually uses.

“They knew how to adapt something to fit my very different shape to the Queen’s – she was tiny-waisted.”

This series covers the period 1979-1990 when Her Majesty is firmly in middle-age. But in many ways she has become more comfortable with herself. We see her being driven around in a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, but where her heart lies is behind the wheel of her beloved S2 Land Rover in Balmoral. It’s a part of the country where the royal family are most relaxed, and a place that has left its mark on Olivia, too.