Prince Charles of Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Said It’s ‘Totally Impossible’ to Replicate the Real Royal

As devoted fans of The Crown will know, Netflix finally found its 20-something Prince Charles in Peaky Blinders's Josh O'Connor last summer. The 29-year-old takes over the role from Billy Jenkins as young Prince Charles, and Julian Baring as school-age Chuck, for the royal drama's third season, set to premiere this fall.

In a recent cover interview with ES Magazine, O'Connor revealed that trying to act like the Prince of Wales was extremely difficult.

"I think the first thing I learned is that it’s totally impossible to replicate the real man," O'Connor said. "I don’t know who he is, none of us do." (You mean, besides the fact that he loves wine and balloons and drives an eco-friendly Aston Martin?)

Despite the guardedness of Queen Elizabeth's firstborn, O'Connor said he "really loves" Prince Charles. He even said he nailed the "tortoise-like" walk "down to a T" before they began filming. (We can't wait to see how that translates on-screen.)

One thing that helped him get into character, though, was his uncanny likeness to the future king. "I did think immediately, ‘Who’s gonna play Charles? I don’t know anyone my age who’s got these,'" he said as he gestured to his ears. "They’re not huge, but they stick out." 

O'Connor also revealed that he got super starstruck about acting alongside Best Actress Oscar–winner Olivia Colman, who will portray the middle-aged Queen Elizabeth in the third season. 

It was "epic" to work with Colman, he said, and remembers looking over to her during one scene and thinking, “Holy shit! This is it. This is the peak for me.”

"You have to stop yourself midway through a scene and be like, 'I’m acting with Olivia Colman!'" O'Connor said. "But then she’s also got this amazing thing where they call 'cut,' and she’s like, 'Shall we have a cup of tea?'" (Honestly, we would've been just as giddy about the royal fangirl herself.)

Since season three encompasses the time period of 1964 to 1976, and Prince Charles was born in 1948, we'll definitely get a good look at teenage and 20-something Chuck. While we may only get a cameo from Emma Corrin, who is gearing up to play the late Princess Diana, we'll definitely see a lot more of the people's princess in the series's already confirmed season four.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pennyworth's Corrin opened up about preparing to play the Princess of Wales before season four's production begins in August, and said she's already begun the rigorous research required for taking on the role of the people's princess. As part of her research, she's been communicating with people who knew Princess Diana well (Prince William? Prince Harry? Is that you?!), and that it takes two hours for the short blonde wig to be added to her head.

One royal we will see with O'Connor's Prince Charles, though, is Camilla Parker Bowles, who will be played by 33-year-old Emerald Fennell. Charles and Camilla reportedly met in 1971 and dated until 1973, and then on-again-off-again thereafter, before Charles married Diana in 1981.

So, yes, season three is about to be the juiciest Crown yet.