{"id":16423,"date":"2022-06-03T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T07:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1653784"},"modified":"2022-06-03T09:24:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T07:24:28","slug":"portraying-the-queen-on-screen-the-stars-who-have-played-her-majesty","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/portraying-the-queen-on-screen-the-stars-who-have-played-her-majesty\/","title":{"rendered":"Portraying the Queen on screen \u2013 the stars who have played Her Majesty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Katie Wright\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 03 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Four of Britain\u2019s finest actors \u2013 Prunella Scales, Dame Helen Mirren, Claire Foy and Olivia Colman \u2013 have risen to the challenge of portraying Queen Elizabeth II.<\/p>\n

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To mark the Platinum Jubilee weekend<\/a>, we take a look back at how they approached the role and what they have said about playing Her Majesty.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published in Radio Times<\/strong> magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Prunella Scales<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Prunella Scales as the Queen, with James Fox as Sir Anthony Blunt on the Radio Times cover<\/span><\/figcaption> Radio Times \/ John Timbers<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

In 1991, Prunella Scales became one of the first actors to portray Queen Elizabeth II on screen, when Alan Bennett adapted his National Theatre play A Question of Attribution for BBC One. Writing in Radio Times<\/strong>, the playwright said: \u201cEven nowadays when Her Majesty makes a regular appearance on Spitting Image<\/a> [ITV\u2019s satirical puppet show], it still seems quite bold to depict her in the flesh. I can\u2019t imagine anyone giving a more convincing portrayal than Prunella Scales.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviewed for RT<\/strong> by Andrew Duncan in 1995, Scales recalled: \u201cIt was such a joy playing her at the National. It was the first time a reigning monarch had been portrayed on stage, and when I came on \u2013 I had a very good wig and costume \u2013 there was a frisson, which was absolutely physical. It was, \u2018How cheeky.\u2019 I had a sweet letter from her private detective or someone, who said he had to stop himself from standing up. The most wonderful compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n

She admitted: \u201cI didn\u2019t enjoy doing it on television. It became perfectly obvious in close-up that this wasn\u2019t HMQ herself. It was P Scales in a wig, and that\u2019s not so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dame Helen Mirren<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Dame Helen Mirren in The Queen<\/span><\/figcaption> Path\u00e9<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Appointed a Dame in 2003, Helen Mirren has portrayed the monarch several times. Interviewed for RT in 2013 by Francine Stock, she revealed: \u201cI was really, really nervous doing The Queen [the 2006 film]. And then I suddenly thought, \u2018She\u2019s very generous about portraitists.\u2019 Unlike Elizabeth I, whom I\u2019d played just beforehand, who was very controlling about her image, the Queen is incredibly free and allows any artist to do what they want, and never criticises or tries to control it. I thought, \u2018I\u2019m like a painter doing a portrait. It\u2019s my understanding of the Queen,\u2019 so that liberated me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mirren went on to play the Queen in Peter Morgan\u2019s stage play The Audience. In 2015, she told Andrew Duncan: \u201cThey love the Queen on Broadway as much as they did in London. But it\u2019s the Queen they\u2019re applauding for an incredible 60-year achievement, not me.\u201d She admitted she was a \u201cqueenist\u201d if not a monarchist, and said of the Royal Family, \u201cI\u2019ve chilled a lot and respect them enormously.\u201d<\/p>\n