The Crown star Dame Imelda Staunton reflects on learning of the late Queen’s death

Dame Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown. Photo / Netflix

Dame Imelda Staunton was “inconsolable” when she heard Queen Elizabeth had died while she was playing the monarch on The Crown.

The 68-year-old actress portrayed Her Late Majesty in the final two seasons of Netflix’s royal drama - gaining nominations for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work - and said she and her castmates were warned on set just before the monarch’s passing at the age of 96 in September 2022 was announced there could be “bad news” on the way.

She told the Daily Telegraph about breaking down when it was confirmed the Queen was dead: “We’d filmed in the morning, then at lunchtime the first AD [assistant director] came up to me and said, ‘We just have to warn you, we might hear some bad news later’.

“He said, ‘Do you want to carry on or go home?’

“I said, ‘No, I’ll carry on’.

Dame Imelda Staunton and Sir Jonathan Pryce as Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. Photo / Netflix

“And then we went home at 6pm, and the news came, and I was completely inconsolable.

“The ground really was shaking. So that was new territory for me.”

Filming was suspended on The Crown for the 10 days of national mourning for the late monarch, and resumed the day after the Queen’s funeral.

It started with Staunton shooting a scene of the Queen unveiling a plaque, and she said it was “difficult” for her castmates to see her dressed as the dead monarch.

She added: “We had a number of supporting actors that day, and they were looking at the Queen, and I think that was more difficult for them than it was for me.”

“I do remember it was very quiet on the set.”

Staunton added playing the Queen was “a great place to be” as it put all her skills to the test.

She added as research for the part, she buried herself in “watching footage, working on her voice, movement, things like that - absorbing her somehow”.

Filming was suspended on the set of The Crown for the 10 days of national mourning for Queen Elizabeth II's death. Photo / AP

The acting veteran told the Telegraph: “Being the Queen was a great place to be… being wholly another person is a very interesting journey.”

“As an actor, that’s what we do, and you want to bring everything you can to it, but some parts don’t demand that.”

Staunton received a coveted damehood in King Charles’ Birthday Honours List earlier this month after a career of more than 40 years which has seen her reach national treasure status thanks to roles in projects from Harry Potter to Vera Drake, in which she played the famed backstreet abortionist.