Entertainment

Elizabeth Debicki emulated Princess Diana ‘for a long while’ after The Crown

The actress portrayed the late princess in series five and six of the hit royal drama.

Elizabeth Debicki attending the Bafta TV Awards 2024
Elizabeth Debicki attending the Bafta TV Awards 2024 (Ian West/PA)

The Crown’s Elizabeth Debicki has said she emulated Diana, Princess of Wales “for a long while” after filming the final series.

The actress, 33, portrayed the late princess in series five and six of the hit Netflix show and won a Golden Globe for her role.

Speaking to US publication People she said: “My voice changed quite a bit and I kind of had to consciously bring it back to my own voice, where my voice wants to sit and also my own accent.

Elizabeth Debicki arrives for the Crown finale celebration at the Royal Festival Hall
Elizabeth Debicki arrives for the Crown finale celebration at the Royal Festival Hall (Ian West/PA)

“I had to work so hard at getting the voice that I sort of ingrained it so deeply in myself that I had to unwind the wheel.”

Debicki also said she was “doing quite a lot of physical stuff as well” and would catch herself “doing a lot of head tilting”.

She said: “Someone said to me, ‘I think you’re doing it when you’re trying to convince people something’.

“If someone was like, ‘You can’t go that way’. I (found) myself sort of saying, ‘Are you sure?’ And then I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m slipping into this’.”

“That has left me now, but I had to do it consciously,” she added.

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in The Crown alongside the actors portraying Prince Harry and Prince William
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in The Crown alongside the actors portraying Prince Harry and Prince William

According to the publication, the actress said that she found herself emulating the princess “for a long while” after wrapping the series’ sixth season.

The royal drama was recently nominated for 18 Emmy awards including outstanding drama series, with Dame Imelda Staunton and Dominic West picking up nods for their roles, as well as Debicki.

Reflecting on this she told People: “I was so thrilled that so many of us have been nominated.

“That just feels like the cherry on the cake really of such a nice thing.”

She continued: “The show’s been running for a long time and my cast and I have been kind of on this ride for nearly three years in a way, in terms of prep and then shooting and press, and so it’s just a lovely end to a long and beautiful — but sometimes really challenging — chapter as actors.”

Debicki has also starred in Sir Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (2020), Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 (2023) and horror film MaXXXine (2024).