ELIZABETH DEBICKI 'BEING DIANA WAS DEVASTATING'

THE ACTRESS REFLECTS AS HER REIGN AS THE 'PEOPLE'S PRINCESS' COMES TO AN END

- Naomi Toy

Soon after Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki landed the role of the late Princess Diana for Season 5 of The Crown, she began to realise the enormity of what she'd taken on. As she sat watching, reading and listening to anything she could that would prepare her for the role, "the weight of responsibility, the terror" dawned on her.

"But through preparation I got through it to the point that I felt I could step on to the set," she tells WHO. But those feelings of responsibility have only intensified for Debicki going in to Season 6, which covers the months leading up to Diana's shocking and tragic death at the age of 36 in a car crash in August 1997 - and the aftermath that follows.

"It's not easy because of the undeniable devastation that comes with this season and the layers of real memories for people," she explains. "It's super complex but I know I did my best. I don't imagine I will ever have to be asked to do anything that comes close to this again, but I know we have made this season with grace."

The Netflix blockbuster series has been surrounded by controversy throughout its run, but never more so than as it heads into its final season. There has been much conjecture about how the series will handle Diana's death, her funeral, the response of the royal family, and the impact it had on Prince William and Prince Harry, aged just 15 and 12 respectively at the time.