Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth season of the fictionalized drama about the British royals, The Crown. The show revealed Staunton as the queen for the first time via its socials in late June 2021. Staunton will succeed Claire Foy and Olivia Colman in the upcoming season.

While all three actresses round out a powerful trio, each star fabulous in their own right, they have dropped little nuggets of wisdom and/or appreciation for their fellow queens as they passed the crown along.

Foy's Advice to Colman

Foy played her part as the British royal matriarch for the first two seasons of The Crown before Colman was recast for the role in 2017. At the time, Foy opened up to Vanity Fair. 

Foy was really excited for Colman to take over, so much so that she actually rang Colman to convince her to take the role. She also left Colman with a piece of valuable advice—not to compare herself to other actresses who previously portrayed the Queen.

Foy was confident that Colman was more than ready to take up the role. She added, 

It’s a challenging role, but she knows what she’s doing. She’ll completely reinvent it and make it her own.

Colman's Advice to Staunton

As the series progressed, the show's creator Peter Morgan decided to recast several characters to portray the show's timeline accurately, and the queen was one of the names on the list. 

Much like her predecessor, Colman was thrilled about Staunton taking charge, and she had a few words of advice for the newest queen of England. 

Colman warned Staunton that the wig could be itchy before giving her a heads up to practice her regal walk. Colman outright admitted that Staunton already had a much better walk than she did but chose to hand out the piece of advice nevertheless. 

Staunton Thought Her Role Came With 'Extra Challenge'

After Staunton was confirmed to be the next in line to play queen, she sat down with presenter Emma Barnett on BBC radio's Woman's Hour to discuss the difficulties of playing The Crown's final Queen Elizabeth. 

During the segment, she disclosed,

I think my sort of extra challenge, as if I needed it, is that I’m now doing the Queen that we’re a little more familiar with.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Apparently, she was worried that people might find flaws in her work, given the fact that the version of the Queen she'd be playing is quite fresh in the public's memory. 

She even argued that the past iterations of her role were almost history, compared to what she was supposed to be doing. However, if the latest updates from the show's socials tell us anything, she has since made peace with the challenge. 

Foy won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of the monarch's ascent into power in the first season and secured a nomination for the second season.

Keeping up with her predecessor, Colman received back-to-back nominations for the same role in the time that she took the throne.