The expanding cast of people closely associated with certain members of the British Royal Family in The Crown (2016). Beware of spoilers.
open/close all folders
Friends & Acquaintances of the Royal Family
Friends of Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother
Lord Carnarvon
The Right Honourable Henry "Porchey" Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon
Played By: Joseph Kloska (Seasons 1-2), John Hollingworth (Season 3), Timothy Bentinck (Season 6), and Joe Edgar (young, Season 6)
A childhood friend of Queen Elizabeth who is also her racing manager. Known as "Porchey" after his longtime courtesy title of Lord Porchester, the two have a close friendship, something which creates tension between Elizabeth and Philip.- All Love Is Unrequited: The series implies, albeit gently, that he harbours feelings for the Queen, who believes they are Just Friends — something that invokes the green-eyed monster in Philip after the two of them spend time together.
- Back for the Dead: After being absent in Seasons 4 and 5, his character reappears towards the end of Season 6. Shortly after his narrative reintroduction, the Queen then learns that Porchey died after suffering from a heart attack on September 11th 2001.
- Birds of a Feather: He and the Queen share a passionate interest in horse breeding, racing, and husbandry.
- Blue Blood: Heir to the earldom of Carnarvon; he inherited the title on his father's death in 1987. His family is a junior line of the House of Herbert, Earls of Pembroke, who trace their ancestry to 15th-century Welsh knights who served as retainers of Henry V. More immediately, his grandfather is the Lord Carnarvon who bankrolled the expedition to open King Tutankhamun's tomb. The Carnarvon Herberts own Highclere Castle in Hampshire, which is world famous as a filming location for English country houses (most famously, it plays the titular stately home in Downton Abbey).
- The Confidant: His closeness with Elizabeth allows her to open up to him on several occasions. In Season 3 "Coup" she confesses to him that she wished she had lived her life as a horse breeder and caretaker rather than as Queen.
- Devoted to You: Margaret points out how devoted Porchey is to Elizabeth, using the trope name.Elizabeth: He brought me horse news. The only news I ever want to hear.
- Just Friends: Elizabeth angrily insists to Philip that she and Porchey simply share a strong friendship, which is supported by everything we see; while she cares for Porchey deeply, she also wanders off from him even back in 1945.
- Nice Guy: Sweet, jolly and laid back — after Philip's drunken behaviour increases, the Queen seeks comfort in his presence. Season 6 encompasses nearly the entirety of their friendship in "Ritz", from 1945 to Porchey's death on September 11, 2001.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Always known simply as "Porchey" to all friends and acquaintances. Confusingly, as the Queen points out, his father is also similarly monikered.
- Really Gets Around: Philip mentions that his father is a known womaniser, and that (theoretically) therefore every aristocratic family in England has a touch of Porchey in it.
The Vyners
Commander Clare Vyner & Lady Doris Vyner (née Gordon-Lennox)
Played By: David Yelland & Caroline Goodall
Friends of the Queen Mother, who invite her to stay with them in the aftermath of her husband's death.- Arcadian Interlude: Her trip to Scotland is viewed as such by the Queen Mother. The Vyners welcoming house is incredibly isolated — as the Queen remarks, it's "at the ends of the Earth" — and is situated in Dunnet on the far north east coast. To the Queen Mother, her native Scotland is absolute sanctuary from the chaos of London.
- Blue Blood: Lady Doris is the daughter of the 8th Duke of Richmond and therefore bears the title ‘Lady’ by birth.
- Gender-Blender Name: 'Clare' is very rarely encountered as a male name in the United Kingdom. However, it used to be a man's name and considering the age of the man...
- I Am Very British: The Vyners have very little, if any, trace of a Scottish accent, and provide a perfect example of the near omnipresent use of RP amongst the British aristocracy, from Lands End to John o’Groats (the latter of which is fairly close to their home) — it is an accent of social class, as opposed to region.
- Sacred Hospitality: They offer the Queen Mother a much-needed bolthole in her native Scotland.
Friends of Princess Margaret
Billy Wallace
Mr William Euan Wallace
Played By: Nick Hendrix
A friend of Princess Margaret and part of her active social circle. He proposes marriage to her, but the engagement does not last.- Blatant Lies: After Billy Wallace is challenged to a duel by Colin Tennant, he calmly tells Margaret that he met the challenge as a man does; actual flashbacks to the event show him as a sniveling and sobbing coward who had to be dragged against his will to the duel.
- Dirty Coward: After hearing his drunken boasts that he's been sleeping around, despite being engaged to Margaret, a group of her male friends forces him into taking part in a duel with pistols. Despite his manly boasting, he's depicted kicking and screaming his way to the duel site. Furthermore, when Margaret gets sick of his smug boasting and moves towards him to deliver "The Reason You Suck" Speech, he quickly flinches back from her in fear.
- On the Rebound: Margaret only really agrees to his proposal because she's still smarting from being forced to break it off with Peter.
- Really Gets Around: Once his engagement to Margaret is announced, he finds himself on the end of increased female attention — and takes full advantage.
- Ten Paces and Turn: In defence of her honour, he is forced by a zealous group of Margaret's male friends into taking part in an ancient Duel to the Death.
- Unreliable Narrator: When Margaret discovers him lying drunk in bed with a pistol wound to the leg after his disastrous duel, he boasts that he manfully accepted the challenge — however, his blusterful narration is overlaid with imagery of him screaming and crying like a baby, begging for his life.
The Tennants
The Honourable Colin Tennant & Lady Anne Tennant (née Coke)
Played By: Pip Carter (Colin, Season 1) and Richard Teverson (Colin, Seasons 3&4) & Nancy Carroll (Anne, Seasons 3&4) and Imogen Stubbs (Anne, Season 6)
Friends of Princess Margaret's whom they invite over to their estate and their residence on Mustique.- 24-Hour Party People: The Tennants live a fabulous party lifestyle, whether that be lounging about the pool at the Scottish estate, or on the sun-soaked beaches of Colin's private island, Mustique, which is still often touted as the most exclusive holiday destination in the world.
- '70s Hair: Colin’s hair is long and shaggy in the “lion-cut” style.
- Arcadian Interlude: Their beautiful Scottish and Caribbean homes provide this for the frazzled Princess Margaret, and after nine episodes of fairly heavy-going drama in Season 3, the upbeat scenes set in these locations provide this for the audience too.
- Blue Blood: Colin is a member of the Scottish aristocracy, and Lady Anne is even grander, having grown up as an earl's daughter at Holkham Hall, just a few miles from the royal estate of Sandringham, where she and Princess Margaret played together as children on the local beaches.
- The Confidant: Lady Anne and Princess Margaret are close friends, despite her official, deferential role, and she’s the one who tells Margaret about Tony cheating on her with a younger woman.
- Hero of Another Story: The irrepressible Lady Anne chronicled her life as Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting in her eponymous autobiography, which expands on many of the events depicted by the series.
- The Hedonist: Colin is without doubt the perfect example of the louche, aristocratic party animal. Born to an immensely rich Victorian industrial family, he used his wealth to live an eccentric lifestyle of self-indulgence from the 1940s to his death in 2010. He bought the private island of Mustique in the West Indies and made it one of the world's most exclusive destinations for the famous - royalty, film and pop stars, international businessmen and the jet-set flocked there. His parties were legend, and he was an original member of the “Princess Margaret set”, with her visits to the island always newsworthy.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: On a number of occasions, the patient Lady Anne is seen dealing with Princess Margaret's unexpected, contrary, and occasionally caustic whims, and whilst she sometimes appears slightly flustered, she handles it all with calm, grace and poise.
- Lady-In-Waiting: Lady Anne served this role for Princess Margaret right up until the Princess’ death in 2002.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Colin sports a very natty 70s-style, flared suit in a beige and cream tartan.
- Ten Paces and Turn: In defence of Princess Margaret’s honour, Colin and his cronies force Margaret’s cheating boyfriend, Billy Wallace, into taking part in an ancient Duel to the Death with pistols. Colin scores a hit and wins the duel but Billy is merely wounded — thankfully not mortally.
- Undying Loyalty:
- Lady Anne is shown to be tremendously supportive of Margaret (as per real life), and despite her deferent tone (Margaret insisted upon her friends addressing her as "Ma'am", no exceptions), she's clearly one of the Princess' trusted friends.
- Colin is so enraged that Billy Wallace would even conceive of cheating on his beloved Princess Margaret that he challenges Billy to a duel with pistols, wounding but not killing him.
Roddy Llewellyn
Mr Roderic Victor Llewellyn
Played By: Harry Treadaway
A research assistant at the Royal College of Arts, he began a relationship with Princess Margaret in the early 1970s.- Adaptation Distillation: In Real Life, his relationship with Margaret lasted eight years.
- Age-Gap Romance: Beginning in 1973, Llewellyn, then aged 25, began an affair with Princess Margaret, then 43. The much publicised eight-year relationship was a factor in the dissolution of the Princess's marriage to the Earl of Snowdon.
- Forbidden Romance: The rest of the Royal Family and Lord Snowdon (hypocritically, given his own conduct) are horrified at what they judge to be an unsuitable match. Elizabeth is at least sympathetic.
- Lust Object: For Princess Margaret, who treats him as something of a plaything.
- Mr. Fanservice: Margaret forces him into a pair of tight swimming trunks, and he spends much of his screen-time cavorting around the pool at the Tennant’s estate, or on Mustique.
- Naïve Newcomer: When he's pulled into royal circles by an amorous Princess Margaret, he goes from exuberant delight to bewilderment in equal measure.
- Nice Guy: Roddy's a sweet, good-natured guy, and doesn't deserve the patronising objectification foisted on him by Princess Margaret.
- Replacement Goldfish: Some opine that Roddy is a younger copy of Lord Snowdon, as he's a slim red-head from Wales.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Returning from Mustique to unexpectedly find Lord Snowdon in the marital home, and the ensuing terrible, poisonous row between him and Princess Margaret, is enough to send Roddy running for the hills.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Or bottom in his case, after Princess Margaret chooses a pair of Union Flag speedos for him for their afternoon by the Tennant’s pool.
Dazzle Jennings
Father Derek "Dazzle" Jennings
Played By: Tom Burke
A friend of Princess Margaret's who helps her uncover the secrets behind her institutionalised Bowes-Lyon cousins. - Amateur Sleuth: Princess Margaret, acting on information from her therapist, discovers that despite the 1963 edition of Burke's Peerage listing Nerissa and Katherine as having died in 1940 and 1961, the sisters were actually alive, and had been placed in Earlswood Hospital for the mentally disabled. Dazzle is soon roped in to be her envoy, and the pair travel to the hospital together. Whilst she stays outside in the car (so as not to draw unnecessary attention) Dazzle actually meets the Bowes-Lyon sisters and three other cousins, relaying information about them back to Margaret.
- Hot for Preacher: Princess Margaret loves his playful charms, and starts purring about the 'intimacy' between them whilst pressing up against him, bosom heaving, on the sofa — little does she know.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Ubiquitously known as "Dazzle" for his ability to charm any crowd, whether it be at grand country house dinners, theatre festivals, auction houses, or modest student gatherings.
- Pet Homosexual: Margaret was a known Fag Hag, and clearly loves her and Dazzle's campy, boozy nights dancing together at Kensington Palace, although she cools off dramatically when he reveals his priestly vows, and even more so after he is drawn into the family's Dark Secret of the institutionalised Bowes-Lyon cousins. Indeed, she bans him from her circle forever.
- Sexy Priest: Despite being a man of the cloth, Dazzle is charming, playful and quite dashing, with boyish good-looks that captivate Princess Margaret — she even admits to the Queen that she might be falling in love.
- Social Climber: As the Queen notes, Dazzle is a complete snob, and fully ingratiates himself with the highest echelons of the aristocracy and celebrity of the day.
- Transparent Closet: Margaret is palmed off by Dazzle, and seems surprised when Elizabeth explains that it's probably because he's gay, or a "Friend of Dorothy", as she rather cautiously puts it, sotto voce. The idea that a man with the nickname "Dazzle" might not be entirely heterosexual makes it seem like the princess Failed a Spot Check, though she does admit that it explains why he wanted to go to the opera all the time note . The Queen also points out that just because Dazzle adores Margaret doesn't make it true love; she is, after all, a royal princess, a fashion icon — and he's a huge snob.
- Vow of Celibacy: Uses this excuse to palm off Princess Margaret when her amorous behaviour becomes too much, although it's likely also due to his incompatible sexuality.
Friends of the Duke of Windsor
The Metcalfes
Major Edward Dudley "Fruity" Metcalfe & Lady Alexandra "Baba" Metcalfe (née Curzon)
Played By: Gareth Marks & Rebecca Saire
The Duke of Windsor's sometime best friend and his wife, who help to rally support for his return to the United Kingdom and service to the Crown. - Affectionate Nickname: He went by the rather vivid nickname "Fruity", which eludes explanation to the point where his entry on The Other Wiki had nothing to say on the subject. She was "Baba", which came from her father's Indian servants, who called her "Baba Sahib" ("the Viceroy's baby", her father being Lord Curzon who was the Viceroy of India at the time of her birth).
- Big Fancy House: Defied; whilst the Metcalfe’s substantial country house is grand by any normal person’s standards, David refers to it, in letters to Wallis, as a “rather drab, dull little house”.
- Blue Blood: Baba was the third daughter of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, and his American heiress wife, Mary Leiter.
- Dream Team: Those gathered by Fruity to bolster the Duke's case for his return to royal service are some of the most influential members of British upper-class society, including politician Sir Walter Monckton, society photographer and artist Cecil Beaton, Lord "Bobbety" Salisbury, Lord Beaverbrook (owner of the Daily Express), Selwyn Lloyd (Foreign Secretary from 1955 until 1960) and author Vita Sackville-West. In the end, their efforts are All for Nothing, as the Marburg Files and David’s Nazi connections rear their ugly head and the Queen, utterly appalled at the revelations about her uncle's past, firmly blocks any chance of his return to royal service.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Both. See below.
- Preppy Name: The couple were ubiquitously known by their nicknames, and were hardly alone in that regard amongst the British upper echelons of The Jazz Age, who exhibited a penchant for faintly ridiculous pet-names — Her Grace Kathleen "Kakoo" Manners, Sir John "Buffles" Milbanke and Henry "Chips" Channon, for example, were their contemporaries.
- Undying Loyalty: Zigzagged. Fruity was one of David's former equerries and few remaining friends, and served as best man at his wedding to Wallis in 1937, despite the Duke’s disgraced reputation following his abdication. However, he had understandably had enough when Fair-Weather Friend David abandoned him to the invading Germans in France in 1940, see quote below. To compound matters, David later cabled him from the Bahamas to remind him to rescue his beloved Cairn terriers, never once considering Fruity's own safety. Somehow (and in Real Life), it was resolved and in-show he remains devoted and helps behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for the Duke to return to the United Kingdom, employed in a cushy ambassadorial role. Fruity (1940): He's run like two rabbits; after 20 years I'm through. How utterly I despise him . . . He deserted his job in 1936; well, he's deserted his country now, at a time when every office boy and cripple is trying to do what he can. It is the end.
Vita Sackville-West
The Honourable Lady Victoria Mary "Vita" Nicolson (née Sackville-West)
Played By: Janet Henfrey
One of the best-known novelists and poets of The Jazz Age, she is amongst the loyalists assembled by Fruity Metcalfe to support the Duke of Windsor's return to royal service.- Appeal to Inherent Nature: Of the gathered loyalists, it's Vita whose idea strikes a cord with David, appealing greatly to his louche, flighty nature and love of glamour when she suggests that he take up an "unofficial roving ambassadorial role" on behalf of the Crown. "Oh I like that", he gleefully responds.
- Blue Blood: She was the daughter of the 3rd Baron Sackville and grew up at the family's lavish ancestral home of Knole in Sevenoaksnote . She was distraught that as a woman, she couldn't inherit it.
- Creator Thumbprint: Whilst her novels and diaries often dealt with subjects such as her shame and ambivalence about her sexuality, her poems often dealt with and showcased her love of the earth and of nature around her.
- Gentlewoman and a Scholar: She was famously a member of the so-called 'Bloomsbury Set', a group of inter-bellum intellectuals, authors, artists and philosophers, associated with both Cambridge University and King's College, who lived and worked near and around Bloomsbury in west London. As well as exhibiting a passion for aestheticism and the pursuit of shared knowledge, the Set's pioneering works also explored sexuality and feminism, revealing a contemporarily modern attitude to both. In describing them, American poet Dorothy Parker once quipped:
- Hero of Another Story: Vita's life — the aristocratic upbringing, the lavender marriage, the lesbian relationships with famous authors, along with her own writing career — could be the subject of its own series, and in fact it already exists: Portrait of a Marriage.
- Marriage of Convenience: A lavender marriage on both sides. Vita and her husband, politician and diplomat Harold Nicolson, formed a genuinely loving partnership, yet their letters and biographies reveal that both of them had numerous same-sex relationships during their life together with mutual understanding on both sides. On Vita’s part this included some very serious relationships – most famously those with fellow authors Violet Trefusis and Virginia Woolf.
- The Muse: She was the chief model for the character Orlando, who gradually changes gender over time, in the eponymous novel written by her sometime lover Virginia Woolf.
Friends of Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon)
The Frys
Mr Jeremy Fry & Mrs Camilla Fry (née Grinling)
Played By: Ed Cooper Clarke & Yolanda Kettle
A young couple who enjoy a romantic relationship with Tony Armstrong-Jones since before he is elevated to Earl of Snowdon.- '60s Hair: Camilla sports the classic 60s backcombed bouffant, held in place with an alice-band.
- The Beautiful Elite: Jeremy is the heir to the Fry's Chocolate fortune, and both he and Camilla are glamorous, attractive (her especially) and move in the elite counter-culture circles of swinging 60s London.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: Wealthy and glamorous, Jeremy and Camilla are depicted as exhibiting a staggeringly relaxed and experimental attitude towards relationships and perhaps represent the apogee of the free-love, egalitarian 60s.
- Depraved Bisexual: Tony’s sexual relationship with Jeremy (his wife too) is incredibly avant garde, even for the radical 60s, but to traditionalists like Tommy Lascelles and Michael Adeane, it’s viewed as nothing short of diabolic, especially with Tony’s impending marriage to Princess Margaret in mind.
- Ms. Fanservice / Mr. Fanservice: Both of them are young, fit and attractive (the famously judgemental Princess Margaret gives Jeremy a '7' out of ten and Camilla an '8') and regularly appear naked on-screen.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: At his own engagement party to Princess Margaret, Camilla approaches Tony, sotto voce, letting him know that she is pregnant. In Real Life, a 2004 DNA test revealed that Tony was the biological father of Polly Fry who was born in 1960 – three weeks into Margaret and Tony’s honeymoon.
- A Threesome Is Hot: The most vividly depicted relationship on the show, and the one that would cause scandal even today, is the one Tony shares with married couple Jeremy and Camilla. As well as being close friends, the three enjoy a sexual relationship that is depicted as a key signifier of Tony's louche, utterly unrestricted morality.
- Three-Way Sex: Both Tony and Jeremy are depicted as bisexual, and the former frequently enjoys casual ménage à trois with the couple, which leads to Camilla becoming pregnant.
Lucy Lindsay-Hogg
Ms Lucy Lindsay-Hogg
- '70s Hair: Sports a wide, angular fringe and long, straight hair parted centrally.
- Age-Gap Romance: Lucy is a clear twenty years younger than Snowdon.
- Betty and Veronica: She is the apparently kindhearted mistress to Snowdon, the "Betty" to Princess Margaret's aggressive, hotheaded, alcoholic "Veronica".
- Embarrassing Nickname: Princess Margaret (as per real-life, if rumours are to be believed) refers to her simply as "the thing".
- Foil: Her character is depicted as the antithesis of Margaret — young and playful, a woman with a gentle demeanor who doesn't demand too much of Snowdon.
- The Mistress: Snowdon's, and it's been going on for years, despite Lucy knowing full well he's married to the Queen's sister. She talks hopefully of scenarios that might free him to marry her — and when one finally does occur; she's happy... he isn't.Snowdon: She's my wife. The mother of my children.
- Sexy Sweater Girl: We frequently see her wearing a tight-fitting, cropped sweater.
Friends of Prince Charles
Camilla Parker Bowles
Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles (née Shand)
Click here to see her in Season 5
Prince Charles' first and true love. Their relationship proves to have very drastic effects in the future.
- 0% Approval Rating: Both in-universe and in real life. Camilla was vilified by the media and the public for her affair with Charles, though her image has gradually improved with time.
- '70s Hair: Has a shoulder length “pageboy” hairdo with a long, shaggy fringe.
- '80s Hair: Her signature hairdo gets more bouffant and shaggier with the new decade.
- Affectionate Nickname: Charles's nickname for her is "Gladys".
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Nothing suggests that Andrew Parker Bowles was or would ever be capable of a faithful relationship, but Camilla remained very much in love with him and decided to marry him, anyway.
- Awful Wedded Life: With Andrew, who in Season 4 (according to Prince Charles), is "bedding half of Gloucestershire" while she is still seeing Charles on the sly. In Series 5, after her affair with Charles becomes explosively public, following both Diana’s tell-all book and their intimate phone conversations being taped and transcribed in the press, the Parker Bowles marriage is clearly over and in 1995, they divorce.
- Becoming the Mask: She started dating other men, especially Prince Charles, purely to make Andrew Parker Bowles jealous, but actually found herself falling in love with the prince for real.
- Birds of a Feather: Both she and Prince Charles exhibit a passion for horses, particularly the regal sport of polo, and share the same sense of irreverent humour.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. Her lunch with Diana inadvertently results in her nonchalantly disclosing details she knows about the Prince that Diana has yet to learn. Camilla also — although it's because she genuinely loves Charles Warts and All — casually snarks to his fiancee about the dreary company he keeps or his need for "father figures".
- Blue Blood: She's the granddaughter of the 3rd Baron Ashcombe, and the Shands are an ancient aristocratic family.
- Book Dumb: Camilla is kind, easygoing, and interpersonally savvy, but Charles is clearly not with her for intellectual conversation.note It's excusable not to know who Saul Bellow is, but she's not presented as particularly curious about anything. She's also completely in accordance with upper-class standards of the time dictating total disinterest in higher education for women.note Downplayed by Season 5, where Camilla is presented as fully engaged with Charles intellectually.
- The Confidant: Charles is shown spending hours on the phone with her, even when he says all they do is talk.
- The Ditherer: Her inability to let go of her former boyfriend Andrew Parker Bowles, even as she nears an engagement with Charles, gives the Queen Mother and Earl Mountbatten the perfect excuse to break them up.
- Dude Magnet: When she finds out Parker Bowles is seeing other women, she decides to take a leaf out of his book, and starts dating other men — the Prince of Wales included — and as a pretty, pleasant, and outgoing person, she’s successful in her mission.
- First Girl Wins: After years of being a social pariah and always "the other woman", her arc concludes in the grand finale with her not only Happily Married to Charles, her love for over 30 years, but she receives the Queen's blessing and is acknowledged as Charles' "strength and stay", just as Philip is to the Queen herself.
- First Love: Famously Prince Charles' first and only true love; Series 3 depicts the start of their relationship. Conversely, while Charles is also quite famously the love of her life, she had been in love before him.
- Foregone Conclusion: By Season 5, the first released under Charles III's reign, contemporary viewers do know her as Queen Consort.
- Generation Xerox: Camilla proclaims that she is living out the same destiny of her great-grandmother Alice Keppel, who was the mistress of Charles' great-great-grandfather Edward VII. Charles tries to positively spin it by assuring her that Mrs. Keppel was with him to the endnote .
- Genre Savvy: Charles tries to convince her that the two of them can have their "fairytale happy ending" if he can just divorce Diana. Camilla tells him that to be the protagonist of a fairy tale, you must be wronged, and in this story Diana would be the hero for having her princely husband and royal life stolen from her by another woman.
- Good Bad Girl: Camilla was considered unsuitable as a royal consort because she had had relationships with other men and in real life she and Parker Bowles had essentially cohabited, and she could not present the virginal image required at the time. She's openly flirtatious at times, and wears things like miniskirts and somewhat vampy cocktail dresses (such as the LBD noted below). She's also sympathetic, calm, well-mannered and basically a Nice Girl, aside from her love life.
- Historical Beauty Upgrade: Downplayed. Fennell is more conventionally attractive than Camilla in Season 4, but the focus is all on her shaggy hair and constant smoking. Olivia Williams, who takes over in Season 5, is more conventionally similar-looking to her subject.*
- I Am Not Pretty: Expresses this after she sees Diana get glowing reviews from across the Pond for her beauty (along with her warmth and ability to make other people feel good) and tells Charles that she is nowhere as pretty or radiant as Diana and knows she will always be painted as the villainess who broke up the Princess's marriage.note Camilla: Someone who looks like me has no place in a fairy tale.
- Insistent Appellation: Despite having known Charles intimately for years, even in private she always addresses him very formally (but correctly) as ‘Sir’.
- It Will Never Catch On: In Series 5 episode “Couple 31”, Camilla solicits the services of a PR agent, and during their first discussion, she’s emphatic that she finds the concept of herself being Queen one day to be "treasonous" and unimaginable due to her pariah status — she can’t even say the “Q” word. When Series 5 dropped in early November 2022, in Real Life Camilla had been Queen Consort for just over two months to mostly positive public approval.
- Leg Focus: Wears a miniskirt to a private dinner with Prince Charles and later when walking around in the park with him, showcasing shapely legs.
- Little Black Dress: In her introductory scene, she’s sporting an attention-grabbing black cocktail dress, much to Andrew Parker Bowles’ chagrin.
- Love Ruins the Realm: The public revelation of intimate details of her affair with the Prince of Wales seriously torpedoes his image, reputation, and reformist plans, not to mention the already sinking royal marriage of Charles and Diana. Downplayed in that the Crown is naturally impacted by it all, but the ruin mostly befalls the heir.note
- Love Triangle: Camilla is famously caught between her longtime boyfriend Andrew Parker Bowles and her new love Prince Charles, and continues to sleep with them both. "Three in the relationship" is also a bit of Foreshadowing.
- The Mistress: To Prince Charles. She's amongst the most (in)famous examples in the world, though technically she didn't officially become his mistress until after he married Diana, and she transitioned back to this from The Confidant. Actually inverted at the start of Season 4, when she's married and he isn't.
- Must Have Nicotine: As per Real Life, Camilla is a heavy smoker and has a cigarette in most of her scenes. Emerald Fennell is even on record as saying she re-started smoking in order to play the part.
- Plain Jane: An infamous example through exaggeration, due to constant comparison with the inimitable Diana. The combination of an unhappy marriage, an outdoor life, and constant smoking left an attractive young Camilla eventually looking ruddy, weathered and open to public condemnation.
- Preppy Name: Camilla Rosemary Shand, combining two stereotypically upper-class given names with a surname that doesn't just sound inherently Sloaney, but also has ancient aristocratic connections.
- Sexy Sweater Girl: Charles first sees her in a close-fitting polo shirt (albeit with a large jacket over) that accentuates her bustline.
- Slut-Shaming: Pretty much one of the reasons Lord Mountbatten and the Queen Mother saw fit to separate her and Charles, especially as Lord Mountbatten saw her as "a bit of fun" and a chance for Charles to sow his wild oats before he settles down with a proper virgin.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Diana's Girly Girl. Camilla is a country girl through and through, with a deep passion for country sports and a 'wellies and Barbour jacket' wardrobe to match. Diana, although born and raised on her family's vast country estate, is physically more delicate and prefers the more classically feminine pursuits of dancing and ballet, complemented with a prettier, high-fashion wardrobe.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She can clean up nicely for more formal events and for cocktail hour, but as a horsey, outdoorsy girl, she’s most comfortable in country sportswear.
- True Blue Femininity: In an earlier scene in "Terra Nullius", she is seen wearing a blue silk hostess gown that is plunging at the neckline.
- Women Are Wiser:
- Season Four shows her to have a much more realistic perspective than Charles on the reaction of the public if they were to leave their respective spouses for each other (which will prove to be almost completely accurate). While she's willing to leave her husband if Charles leaves Diana because she loves him that much, that doesn't stop her from discouraging him from going through with it.
- In Season Six, she keeps Charles at a physical distance in the wake of Diana's death, accurately predicting that being seen in public with her so soon after the loss of his much beloved ex-wife will just aggravate the average citizen and make things worse for all of them. Instead, she provides Charles comfort and apt advice through phone conversations and encourages him to focus on his sons, who, with their mother gone, need him more than ever.
Andrew Parker Bowles
Major Andrew Parker Bowles
Click here to see him in Season 5
Played By: Andrew Buchan (Season 3&4), Daniel Flynn (Season 5)
The on again, off again boyfriend and later husband of Camilla Shand.- Awful Wedded Life: As of Season 4, he is still sleeping around while his wife sees Charles on the sly. In Season 5, he takes a telephone call from Charles during a family Christmas and tersely (though necessarily politely) puts him through to his wife for a private chat. The Parker Bowles divorce in 1995, following explosive press coverage of Camilla's infidelity.
- Friendly Rival: He is apparently friends with Charles and knows when he comes over to see Camilla; whether he knows of the true nature of their relationship is something else. Season 5 makes it quite clear he knows what's going on when he takes a call from Charles and passes the phone to his wife. A combination of Charles' rank, societal pressure and his own infidelity enforces the facade.
- Handsome Lech: He’s depicted as something of a womanising cad, who’s charming but treats his lovers as disposable.
- Lust Object: For Princess Anne, who loves a man in uniform, of the military and polo-playing variety.
- Moral Myopia: He has constant flings, yet is indignant when Camilla has one of her own.
- Really Gets Around: He protests at least one fling to Camilla and we see him having one with Anne, when he mentions that it's always Camilla he comes back to. For her part, Anne says she knows exactly who and what he is and isn't planning on getting hurt.
- This Is Unforgivable! He tolerates Camilla's "special friendship" with the Prince of Wales for a good while in silence, but when the whole thing is made ominously known to the nation, they promptly separate.
Friends of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana's Flatmates
Misses Carolyn Pride, Anne Bolton & Virginia Pitman
Played By: Allegra Marland (Carolyn), Flora Higgins (Anne), Letty Thomas (Virginia)
Lady Diana's fun-loving friends with whom she shares her Earl's Court flat. She described it as the “happiest time of her life”.- '70s Hair: Two classic ‘page-boy’ hairdos and a short, tight perm.
- Affectionate Nickname: All three always refer to Diana as ‘Di’ — a diminutive the press soon picked up on, and even after her marriage she was often referred to as ‘Lady Di’.
- Blond, Brunette, Redhead: With Diana as the blonde, of course.
- Blue Blood: All are from upper-class backgrounds, though not quite as grand as the Spencers.
- Foil: To the Royal Family, in regards to Diana. They are warm, excitable, in touch with popular culture, have normal lives of working/partying, take the time to support Diana, and never let any possible envy sour their friendship with her. This warm atmosphere is then directly contrasted by Diana’s awkward introduction at the Palace, where rank suddenly means everything and her in-laws are at best distant, or at worst, hostile and ignorant of her unhappiness, with her own husband soon becoming envious and full of contempt for Diana's natural dazzle.
- Green-Eyed Monster: They playfully joke about how Diana is so lucky to be able to give up work and to live in a grand palace as a princess, but don't let their collective envy sour their goodwill and excitement.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: During her time in London, Diana became emblematic of an archetype known as the 'Sloane Ranger', a fashionable, upper-class Londoner who lived in the area surrounding Sloane Square. The square sits on the boundaries of Knightsbridge, Belgravia, and Chelsea, and in the early 1980s became known as the stomping ground of this particular type of young person — all easy chic, champagne, polo games and feathered hair, as it was once succinctly put.
- Nice Girl: All three are utterly supportive of Diana, and are delighted for her good fortune in bagging a prince.
- Non-Idle Rich: They're all thoroughly upper-class and quintessential Sloane Rangers, but the days of all upper-class girls resigning themselves to being ladies of leisure had long past, following the egalitarian movements of the 60s and 70s. As well as attending university, they were no strangers to work — Carolyn was studying music at the Royal College of Music, Anne was working with Diana's sister Sarah but ended up running a cattle ranch in Australia where Prince Harry worked on his gap-year and Virginia was studying at le Cordon Bleu, before working for Asprey's and then going into interior design.
- Squee: They absolutely shriek the place down when Diana tells them that Charles has proposed. Later on, when they head out for a night at Annabel's, they shriek with delight again as their taxi speeds past Buckingham Palace, Diana's new home.
- True Companions: From school friends to flatmates to becoming the godmother of her son Prince Harry in Carolyn’s case, they stuck by Diana all her life.
James Colthurst
Dr. James Colthurst
Played By: Oliver Chris
A close friend of Diana's since she was 17, James serves as a go-between for the Princess and royal writer, Andrew Morton. - Affluent Ascetic: He's of a solidly upper-class background, but travels around the busy streets of London by bicycle, as opposed to car or taxi, as might be imagined.
- Hospital Hottie: He's a handsome, smiley doctor at London's St Thomas' Hospital. His first encounter with the Princess was medically-related, and occurred years previously when he was a young medical student and assisted the 17 year-old Lady Diana Spencer with a skiing-related twisted ankle on the slopes at Val Claret.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: It's implied (and she's convinced) that the shadowy figures plotting to silence Diana and her involvement in Morton's book send her a Villainous Demotivator in the form of a transit van knocking James off his bicycle, which could easily have killed him.
- Like Brother and Sister: He and Diana share a supportive, entirely platonic relationship and have known each other for years, with the trust between them unshakeable. He states to Andrew Morton that Diana "is like a sister to me".
- MacGuffin Escort Mission: His primary role in-series is to act as a go-between for Diana and Andrew Morton, her biographer. In this role, he ferries (in the basket of his bicycle) the tapes Diana records in answer to Morton's pre-prepared questions. The resulting book, Diana: Her True Story proves explosive reading.
- Save the Princess: A far more modern example than is traditional, but it's James' (platonic) love for Diana that spurs him into encouraging the downcast Princess to have her own say on everything from harrowing personal incidents and perceived mistreatment at the hands of her in-laws via Morton's tell-all book.
Hasnat Khan
Mr Hasnat Khan, FRCS
Played By: Humayun Saeed
A heart surgeon Diana encounters whilst accompanying her friend Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo to hospital as Oonagh's husband is Khan's patient.- All Love Is Unrequited: Diana is smitten and has her typically intense feelings for him, but it's not made clear if the more laconic Dr Khan reciprocates to the same degree, only that he eventually breaks up with her and Diana believes she "scared him away".
- I Can't Believe A Girl Like You Would Notice Me: He bluntly lists all his flaws to Diana (he's a Workaholic with No Social Skills who's slightly overweight...) and says he can't understand why the World's Most Beautiful Woman has an interest in him.
- Love Cannot Overcome: Diana begins to fall for him, and it's clear he finds her beautiful and beguiling, but he can't shake the imposter-syndrome he feels being her lover and inhabiting her world. In the end, Diana's Panorama interview, and the fallout from it, frightens him off for good.
- Lust Object: Despite his relatively ordinary appearance, Diana is almost immediately smitten (perhaps due to her Foreign Culture Fetish for all things Islamic), considering him "dishy" and rattling off a list of his qualities, including his kind eyes and "lovely hands" while her friend Oonagh listens, nonplussed. After the pair go on their first few dates, he becomes a more conventional Love Interest.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Diana's Panorama interview is broadcast, he takes a restrained but dim view of the content and pulls away from her, apparently feeling she's gone too far.
- Temporary Love Interest: His relationship with Diana lasted for two years in Real Life, but due to Adaptation Distillation, it lasts a mere episode.
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mr Mohamed Al-Fayed
Played By: Salim Daw & Amir El-Masry (young Mohamed)
A self-made Egyptian-born businessman who begins to move among the upper echelons of society in the United Kingdom. He becomes personal friends with Diana, following her divorce from Charles.- Affably Evil: He does sincerely like Diana, wants her friendship and company and would never wish her any harm, but ultimately, his association with her and pushing his son to woo her and link her with the Fayeds is a mere tool of his machinations to become closer to the Royal Family. After her death and Dodi's, the "affably" is gone with regards to the Royal Family.
- Alas, Poor Villain: All his unscrupulous scheming of Season 6A ends in devastating tragedy as his son Dodi and Diana die in Paris, concluding a series of events he set in motion. It's harrowingly woeful.
- Ambition Is Evil: His social-climbing aspirations towards the royal circles certainly drive him to commit selfish, manipulative, unsavory and amoral deeds, treating his son Dodi and friend Diana as mere pawns for his own benefit and advancement.
- Big Bad: The first part of Season 6 paints him in a villainesque bad light. He may not be purportedly malicious, yet in addition to manipulating Dodi into romancing Diana and forcing a very hasty development of the relationship for his own selfish reasons in order to attain kinship with the royalty, he arranges for a paparazzo to unconver the bountifully remunerated story, triggering the ensuing media hunt that proceeds to hound and plague the couple, ultimately leading to their demise as their car crashes when they try to outrun them in Paris.
- Commonality Connection: He quickly establishes a friendly rapport with Diana, who cites they are both being shunned by the Royal Family.
- Conspiracy Theorist: A firm believer in (and promoter of) one of the world's most infamous and undying conspiracy theories; that the August 1997 car accident in Paris which killed his son Dodi and the Princess of Wales was orchestrated by the Royal Family. When his conspiracy theories catch enough traction with the media to prompt an official, exhaustive investigation (called "Operation Paget") in the penultimate episode of Season 6, the entire family react to the idea that they killed Diana with reactions ranging from disbelief to open horror.
- Conspicuous Consumption: After making his fortune, he buys London’s Harrod’s department store for a cool £600 million, purely to gain closer access to the Queen. His own homes are gaudily decorated and smack of Nouveau Riche excess.
- Cultural Posturing: Al-Fayed does a full 180 after having spent literally years attempting to ingratiate himself amongst the upper echelons of British society and the Royal Family itself when Operation Paget conclusively establishes that Dodi and Diana's deaths were simply a tragic accident (notedly on his watch) and not the fault of some shadowy British establishment. He rounds on the royal institution and nation he was previously so obsessed with in a caustic speech to the press, noting that 5,000 years ago, Egyptians were building pyramids while the British were still wearing animal skins.
- A Day in the Limelight: He’s the primary subject of the episode “Mou Mou”, which details his Rags to Riches story.
- Fake Aristocrat: Inferred. In the early 70s, he added the 'Al-' prefix to his surname, with many subsequently positing that he was trying to imply aristocratic origins (like the "de" in French or "von" in German surnames does). In Arabic, the prefix doesn't have the same social connotations, though it didn't stop him being branded from then on the "Phoney Pharaoh" by the press.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: Having grown up in Egypt under British rule, he sees British high society as the best of the best, and is obsessed with projecting the image of being a Quintessential British Gentleman. To achieve his aim, he employs Sydney Johnson, former valet to the Duke of Windsor, who schools him in everything from what to read to what to wear to help him fit in.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: He suceeds in making the name "Fayed" be remembered forever as linked to the British Royal Family, but for terrible circumstances and reasons.
- Has a Type: In line with his Foreign Culture Fetish for all things upper-class and British, he also has a penchant for tall, blonde, well-bred Anglo/Scandinavian women — as seen with choice of wife, Heini Wathén, a Finnish Socialite, and his mission to bring the beautiful, Blue Blooded Princess of Wales closer to his fold.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The eventually fatal scheme where Al-Fayed is responsible for the media frenzy around Diana and Dodi is unique to the show. Photographer Mario Brenna said the plotline about Al-Fayed hiring him was "absurd
and completely invented" and that no one leaked information about the yacht's whereabouts to him, he just was in the right place at the right time. - Hypocrite:
- He chews out Monique Ritz (in Arabic, translated by his son Dodi) when her thinly-veiled prejudice over him, an Egyptian, buying her hotel becomes apparent (or possibly her legitimate concerns about some of his shadier dealings), but goes on to exhibit far more direct prejudice himself towards the Bahamian waiter Sydney Johnson, demanding that he be ejected from his gala opening after he buys the hotel purely because he's black. His hypocrisy is further compounded when, having found out Sydney is the Duke of Windsor's former valet, he invites him to be his personal valet, purely because he has the inside scoop on exactly how to behave in British high society.
- He's insistent that model Kelly Fisher is not good enough for Dodi or his own ambitions, but when his wife Heini points out "I was a model", he indulgently says "You were a socialite".
- Insistent Appellation: No matter how many times Sydney Johnson gently corrects it to "former king" or "the Duke of Windsor", Al-Fayed is insistent Sydney worked for "the King". What's at first just Al-Fayed's ego later seems to shift to true appreciation and respect for Sydney. He has it put on Sydney's grave, without even identifying the king.
- It's All About Me: In the wake of his son's death, whilst he is clearly grief-stricken, his social-climbing mind is clearly working fast, as he notes that his son's death will unite him with the Royal Family and the Spencer family as "brothers in grief".
- Karmic Shunning: The Royal Family never ceases to treat him like an unworthy arriviste, and given the unscrupulous, parvenu behavior in which Al-Fayed conducts himself, the shunning is not exactly uncalled for.
- Manipulative Bastard:
- He employs Sydney Johnson, a black Bahamian to whom he had previously exhibited overt racial prejudice, solely because of the in-depth knowledge of British high society he can glean from Johnson in his capacity as the Duke of Windsor’s former valet.
- He buys the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s former home in Paris, Villa Windsor, and restores it to its former splendour in order to secure a royal visit.
- He unabashedly and relentlessly pushes Dodi to romance Diana by exploiting his son’s need for overdue approval and recognition of worthiness.
- He secretly books a paparazzo to spy and take pictures of his own son and the Princess of Wales in private out on his yacht, hoping to make their fledgling relationship increasingly more public and benefitting his own agenda of being royal-adjacent.
- The Matchmaker: He is utterly obsessive in his goal to land the Princess of Wales as his daughter-in-law, even dangling the carrot of making Dodi his joint business partner if he achieves such a goal.
- May–December Romance: His beautiful Finnish wife, Heini Wathén, is at least 30 years younger than him, and while she's clearly a Trophy Wife, the couple are presented as affectionate and very Happily Married.
- Nouveau Riche: He buys his way into high society, compensating with money what he lacks in class.
- Parents as People: As much as he could be abusive and domineering to Dodi, it is shown that deep down he does love his son when Dodi's death leaves him a complete wreck. It is implied that his Self-Serving Memory of Dodi and Diana's relationship is at least partially driven by subconscious guilt, as pushing Dodi to pursue Diana in the first place was indirectly responsible for the scenario that led to their deaths.
- Pet the Dog: After originally loathing the black Sydney Johnson, he becomes extremely close to him, kisses him from joy, physically cares for him while Sydney's dying, and mourns and buries him like a family member.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He exhibits abhorrent racial prejudice, demanding that his son remove a black waiter from his opening gala at The Ritz lest he "lower the tone". He soon changes his mind when he finds out said waiter is Sydney Johnson, previously valet to the Duke of Windsor. He also takes issue with the fact that the movie he and Dodi are producing, Chariots of Fire, has a Jewish protagonist.
- Rags to Riches: Episode "Mou Mou" presents Al-Fayed's early life in Alexandria, and his home is humble and cramped — a far cry from him purchasing The Ritz hotel in Paris from the family owners years later, after he's made his fortune.
- Self-Made Man: Born the son of a primary school teacher in Alexandria, Al-Fayed made his fortune in shipping, and famously ended up owning both the Harrod's department store and Fulham FC, worth £470 million.
- Self-Serving Memory: In the wake of Diana and Dodi's deaths, he's so blinded with grief and guilt that he declares their relationship a love for the ages and that the two were engaged to be married. The previous episode shows that Diana rejected Dodi's proposal as it was way too early in their relationship for them to make it any more serious. In return, Dodi intended to tell his father that, while he loves him, to stop controlling so much of his life.
- Shipper with an Agenda: He breaks up his son's engagement, mere weeks before he and his fiancee were supposed to walk down the aisle, just to set him up with Diana and improve his social standing. Mohamed then constantly interferes with the relationship to force the two of them to the altar as soon as possible, which only stresses them out further.
- Social Climber: Having made his vast fortune, he becomes obsessed with moving in royal circles and buys the venerable Harrod's department store purely so he can bag a place next to the Queen at the Windsor polo.
- Sore Loser: All of his claims — Diana and Dodi were engaged, Diana was pregnant, British Intelligence and the Royal Family were behind the accident — are proven false, supported by multiple evidence and witnesses that the accident was simply that; an accident. "Operation Paget" even seems to lean towards that if anyone were responsible it would be Fayed, as it was his car, his intoxicated driver Henri Paul, his bodyguards, and his and Dodi's plan to stop in Paris in the first place, that led to the accident. After massive public backlash from the incident, an incensed Fayed gives a bitter and scathing speech against the Royal family, before leaving England.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His hiring of a photographer to take and publish candid photographs of Dodi and Diana embracing on a yacht triggers the paparazzi frenzy that ultimately results in the fatal car crash that kills them both.
Dodi Fayed
Mr Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em "Dodi" Fayed
Played By: Khalid Abdalla
An Egyptian film producer and the romantic partner of Diana, Princess of Wales, following the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles. Their relationship ends under the most tragic of circumstances.- Ambiguous Situation: His exact feelings for Diana during their relationship are unclear. He gets on with her well and seems to be quite taken with her, but the primary driving force for pursuing the relationship is his quest to win his father's approval. Whether or not he is truly in love with her by the time of their deaths is deliberately left vague.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Subverted. It's presented as though Dodi is finally about to stand up for himself on a phone call to his father, but just before it looks as though he's about to let him have it, he clicks his phone off and continues a Phoney Call, talking away even after hanging up for the benefit of Diana — something that she figures out. They discuss that Dodi will bring himself to do it for real, but his life is cut short before he can.
- Doomed by Canon: Series 5-6 cover the reign of Queen Elizabeth through The '90s, so his death, along with Diana's via a car accident in Paris in August 1997, is a given part of the narrative.
- Ironic Name: His Only Known By His Nickname is derived from a word for "loved", which he is to both his father and to an extent Diana – but to his great detriment and the eventual cost of his life.
- Ladykiller in Love: He originally breaks off his engagement with his original fiancee Kelly Fisher to romance Diana at the urging of his father. However, Series 6 implies that he developed real feelings for Diana, and depicts him as frustrated by how everyone else is trying to rush their relationship.
- Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: In a Gender-Inverted example, Diana is partly attracted to him since she Has a Type for Arab/Muslim guys. Dodi points out the explicit racism from the British press over this is not particularly enjoyable.
- Millionaire Playboy: A classic example, and especially evident in "Decommissioned", in which he invites his lingerie model girlfriend to take a trip on private jet, swills champagne, does lines of coke, and then is on the receiving end of a dressing-down later on by his frustrated father for squandering all his cash and not having focus.
- Missing Mom: We see his mother when she's pursued by Al-Fayed and when Dodi is born, but due to traditional patriarchal customs where a father in the Arab world would always retain custody, she disappears after his parents' divorce, leaving Dodi with only Mohamed's stifling and overbearing influence in his life.
- Rejected Marriage Proposal: He tries to propose to Diana during their last night together in Paris, only for her to refuse, both because it's too soon for both of them and because he was proposing mainly to please his father.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Had he just allowed Diana to fly home commercially, or not insisted they make the stop in Paris, so that he could propose, then the two would not have been chased by paparazzi and wouldn't have died in the tunnel, alongside their driver.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: His father, Mohamed, is a domineering, chronically judgmental person obsessed with presenting himself as a Quintessential British Gentleman, and Dodi is desperate for his approval.Mohamed: This (romancing Diana) is your chance to finally make me proud of you.
Friends of Prince William of Wales
Kate Middleton
Miss Catherine "Kate" Middleton
Played By: Ella Bright (age 15) and Meg Bellamy
A fellow undergraduate at the University of St Andrews in Fife, Kate immediately catches Prince William's eye.- Child of Two Worlds: Kate's mother is a Self-Made Woman from humble mining stock, though her father's side is far grander, with aristocratic links. Together, the couple made a fortune independently from their party supplies business. Growing up wealthy allowed Kate access to the aristocracy via schooling, though she retains her (upper) middle-class grounding and hard work ethic — something William appreciates when he comes to know her better, especially when comparing her to the type of haughty, hedonistic society girls (like Lola) he'd be expected to take up with.
- English Rose: A celebrated real-life example, Kate sports porcelain skin, hazel eyes, and famously luscious, tumbling locks of warm brown hair. In personality, she's polite, gentle and sweet, which belies an undercurrent of focused determination, always conducting herself with measured control.
- Go-Getter Girl: William notes that Kate excels at anything she turns her hand to, and in personality, she's a sweet, though very driven young woman at the centre of the university's social scene.
- Good Is Not Soft: She's shown to be friendly and kind-hearted, but when William snaps at a young fan in the uni library, she doesn't shy away from how unattractive she finds his rudeness, especially when he tries to excuse himself by explaining how hard it is to be him, and constantly ogled.Kate: Try being a girl!
William: A fit girl!
(Kate backs away appalled) - Head-Turning Beauty: Her mother acknowledges Kate's natural beauty and male appeal, which carries over into her time at university, where many of the young men on campus comment on how hot she is, giving her the moniker "Beautiful Kate". William and three other male friends actually lean back and forth checking her out, even when she isn't wearing anything so remarkable.
- Last Episode, New Character: She's amongst the best-known, most beloved royals in the world, but due to the series' protracted timeline, beginning right back in the 1940s, she only makes her debut in the final part of the series' final season ever.
- Love at First Sight: The series implies that she's had feelings for William ever since their first offhand meeting back when they were teenagers, and that her mother orchestrated her subsequent educational and social steps to align with his in order to pair her up with him when she realized this.
- Male Gaze: Most of the promotion surrounding the introduction of her character focuses on the iconic moment where she struts down the catwalk at a St Andrews charity fashion show in a transparent Charlotte Todd strapless dress.
- "Not So Different" Remark: She and Lola, William's then-girlfriend with whom she shares an awkward confrontation, suddenly form a Enemy Mine when they tell William (who complains they don't understand what it means to be ogled at and objectified) that as women their worth is often distilled down purely to their looks and sexuality.
- One True Love: The series presents that her meeting and falling in love with William was guided by fate. Even the Queen herself acknowledges that if William is meant to be with Kate, then God Himself will see to it.Elizabeth: (to William) Don't lose faith. I'm a firm believer that what is meant for you, won't pass you by. (looking upwards towards Heaven) He makes sure of that.
- Pool Scene: Aside from all the time William spends staring at her, she also takes a lane next to him at the uni pool (and manages to beat him, foreshadowing their famous Real Life competitiveness), and the camera makes sure we notice that attractive, fashion-conscious Kate even has the nicest suit in the pool — a bright red one-piece.
- Romantic False Lead: Kate has a relationship with fellow uni student Rupert “Finchey” Finch, which she notes is “serious”; however, while he appears to be the perfect boyfriend on paper and even in reality, something isn’t quite there, which her mother Carole remarks on. Eventually, she breaks up with him and becomes involved with William.
- School Idol: When his mates point her out to William for the first time, it's remarked that she's regarded as one of the most sought-after girls at St Andrews. Later, when William speaks of her with Elizabeth, he states that Kate is completely out of his league. Again, this is coming from William, the future King.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Kate is sweet and gentle in tone, but she's also quick-witted and absolutely not a pushover, as seen when she easily holds her own when engaging in a touch of tense Passive-Aggressive Kombat with William’s intimidating current girlfriend, Lola, and then admonishes William himself over his slightly clumsy comments on female objectification.
- The Simple Gesture Wins: William seriously toys with the idea of leaving uni, feeling that St Andrews is small and claustrophobic, the course is dull, and, far worse, that he’s screwed everything up where Kate is concerned, as she’s taken up with Finchey. His uni mates and a whole gaggle of family members, including the Queen herself, all try to buck him up and persuade him to stick it out, but ultimately it’s only Kate’s simple text message, clear in her intentions, that persuades him to stay.Please don’t leave uni. Kate x
- Stripperific: During the fashion show that precedes the start of her and William's relationship, she sports a strapless dressnote with turquoise trim cut from material so flimsy and sheer that it displays her bra and knickers. William, when he sees her, can't tear his eyes away.
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: At the St Andrews fashion show, Kate struts down the runway to Moloko's club classic "The Time is Now", looking radiantly empowered in a daringly see-through dress as she locks eyes with William before turning on her heel, high-fiving a fellow model, and exiting the runway, having made quite the impression on the young prince — so much so that he finally plucks up the courage to ask her out.
- Twice Shy: Both she and William are so naturally hesitant and mutually overawed that it takes months before they overcome enough insecurity to express that they are interested in each other and kiss.
Fergus Boyd
Mr Fergus Boyd
Played By: Jack Cunningham-Nuttall
One of Prince William’s best friends from Eton College and a fellow undergraduate at St Andrews University.- Childhood Friends: Fergus is a fellow Old Etonian and one of William’s closest friends, if not his outright best mate. They take a house-share together in their second year at uni, along with Kate Middleton and another young woman. In real-life, Fergus later became William’s son George’s godfather.
- Plucky Comic Relief: He’s a sweet, slightly goofy young lad, and is both loyal and supportive, as well as providing William with some much-needed levity via his upbeat personality.
- Romantic Wingman: He’s very supportive of William’s pursuit of Kate, and secures him and William prominent seats at the St Andrews charity fashion show, which he’s heard is both “racy” and “risqué”, but more importantly will feature Kate herself taking to the catwalk.
Lola Airedale-Cavendish-Kincaid
The Honourable Lola Airedale-Cavendish-Kincaid
Played By: Honor Swinton Byrne
Prince William's first uni girlfriend at St Andrews.- Blue Blood: As noted by Kate’s colleague at the restaurant she’s working at, Lola’s family is “so posh they named it thrice”.
- Canon Foreigner: Whilst the character of Lola was created for the series, she is likely very loosely based on an ex-girlfriend of William's, Carly Massy-Birch.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Lola is a confident, fiery character, rounding on a gang of paparazzi and barking “Piss off you bunch of perverts!” when they take pictures of her and William, and later engages in some tense Passive-Aggressive Kombat with Kate when she notices William chatting her up in the uni library.
- Preppy Name: Sports the kind of elaborately unwieldy triple-barrelled family name typical to the British upper-class.
- Temporary Love Interest: She and William share a few steamy scenes as his first uni girlfriend, but she’s too fiery for William, and with Kate on the scene, she’s soon binned off.
Friends of Prince Henry of Wales
Guy Pelly
Mr Guy Pelly
Played By: Oscar Lesage
Prince Harry's closest friend and an incorrigible prankster known as the "Court Jester".- Blue Blood: Pelly isn't titled, but is of solidly upper-class 'London aristocrat' stock.
- Court Jester: Pelly is first introduced stacking old beer cans on the stone wall surrounding Highgrove whilst Princes William, Harry, and a friend, take turns to blast the cans (and him) with an air rifle, with Pelly at one point mooning his mates and getting blasted in the arse. He later attends a fancy dress party in full Queen Elizabeth drag, and not for nothing was he dubbed "Court Jester" in royal circles and by the press at the time. And like medieval court jesters, who held a type of comedic immunity from repercussion, Pelly is as bold as brass.
- Refuge in Audacity: At a wild fancy dress party attended by William, Harry, and Kate, Pelly actually dresses as and sends up the Queen herself — which is pretty near the knuckle in itself, let alone the fact that she's his best friends' beloved grandmother.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: He performs a scene-stealing role dragged-up as Queen Elizabeth, flouncing around in full Elizabeth regalia, impersonating her high-pitched plummy voice, and at one point jumping up on stage to rock out to Queen's "I Want To Break Free" in a hilariously daring stunt — which he apparently did in real-life.
