Hollywood star Elle Fanning has praised the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex for doing “royal femininity” in their own way.
The American actress, known for roles in Maleficent and Super 8, has also revealed she is a big fan of the Duke of Sussex, because he is “the fun one”.
Speaking about the royal family, as she plays Princess Aurora in the upcoming Maleficent sequel, Elle told Tatler magazine: “Kate and Meghan are doing royal femininity very differently.
“I can’t imagine being in the public eye like that. Every single move you make is critiqued.”
Elle also said that she and her older sister Dakota “weren’t supposed” to be actors, because they come from a family of athletes.
Of growing up wanting to be an actress, the 21-year-old said: “Well, I saw my sister doing it and I was a huge ham growing up.”
Dakota, 25, rose to fame at the age of seven in the 2001 film I Am Sam, for which she became the youngest ever person to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Elle appeared in the film alongside her sister, playing a younger version of her character.
She said: “We would constantly put on these scenes around the house. It wasn’t for anyone, only for ourselves. We would do lines, characters, it was very funny. It just felt right at home for us…
“We weren’t supposed to do this at all. My mom played tennis, my dad played baseball, my mom’s dad was a quarterback in the NFL.
“We were supposed to play tennis or something.”
Elle next appears opposite Angelina Jolie in Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, the follow-up to Disney’s 2014 film Maleficent, a darker take on the classic Sleeping Beauty tale.
On what her character represents and the message she wants to tell women, Elle said: “Aurora represents the youth of the generation who is accepting to all, no matter what, and she does it in her own soft way.
“I think it’s a nice message to tell women, it’s okay to be comfortable in your femininity. Kindness is not weakness – it’s quite the opposite.”
Elle Fanning’s full feature appears in the November issue of Tatler, available from Thursday October 3.
