So who has played the royal family’s most important figures – and who stars in season six?

Queen Elizabeth

Claire Foy: the early days of her reign

Claire Foy auditioned for the role while she was six months pregnant, wearing a tiara, gloves and gown.

Foy won a Golden Globe for her work on the show, and actually thanked the real Queen Elizabeth in her acceptance speech, according to The Telegraph.

Olivia Colman: seasons three and four

Queen Elizabeth is a mother of four children on season three.

Colman won an Oscar in 2019 for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite. She’s been nominated for two more since.

Imelda Staunton: seasons five and six

Staunton was announced as the lead in 2020, when it was still thought that the show would only be five seasons, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Prince Philip

Matt Smith: Philip’s wedding with Elizabeth when she was still a princess

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip first met in 1934 at the wedding of Princess Marina and Prince George, according to the Royal Family’s official website. They got married on November 20, 1947.

How Princess Diana went from frumpy dresser to 90s fashion icon

The real Elizabeth and Philip were married for an incredible 73 years until Philip’s death in 2021.

Jonathan Pryce: the latest Prince Philip

Pryce was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2021.

Pryce was cast in August 2020, just a few months after he was nominated for an Oscar his performance in The Two Popes, according to Deadline.

Princess Anne

Erin Doherty: seasons three and four

Doherty plays an older Princess Anne, the only daughter and second child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Doherty recently starred in the film Firebrand as British poet Anne Askew.

Claudia Harrison: season five

Season five covered the demise of Princess Anne’s first marriage and her courtship with now-husband Timothy Laurence.

Then-Prince Charles

Josh O’Connor: the all-grown-up heir to the throne

King Charles is the eldest child of the royal couple. He was invested as Prince of Wales by the queen on July 1, 1969.

O’Connor won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance in The Crown.

Dominic West: the current Prince Charles

Meet Li Ran, Europe’s first Chinese princess who hails from Wuhua, Guangdong

Princess Diana

Emma Corrin: the “People’s Princess” in season four

Lady Diana Spencer – who became Princess Diana following her marriage to Prince Charles – was a huge presence in season four of The Crown.

The real Diana met Prince Charles in 1977, when he was dating her older sister, and they got married after a brief courtship in 1981.

Like their co-star Josh O’Connor, Corrin won a Golden Globe for their performance on The Crown. Corrin was also nominated for an Emmy.

Elizabeth Debicki: the princess through the end of her life

Princess Diana’s death in 1997 is in season six of The Crown.

In real life, Debicki has an Australian accent, as she hails from Melbourne.

Camilla Parker Bowles

Emerald Fennell: from season three

One of the most iconic – and uncomfortable – scenes in The Crown is between Fennell’s Camilla and Corrin’s Princess Diana when they passive-aggressively compete over Charles.

Olivia Williams: the final two seasons

According to Radio Times, the final conversation in all of The Crown will be one between Queen Elizabeth and Camila, Williams said.

Williams said that “in the very last moments of the last episode”, the queen “finally accepts Camilla and is warm and complimentary to her”.

Dodi Fayed, Diana’s partner at the time of her death: Khalid Abdalla in season five

Fayed died in the 1997 car crash that also took Diana’s life.

Diana and Dodi began their relationship earlier that year, and the two were soon discussing engagement, the Washington Post reported.

Princess Margaret, Elizabeth’s younger sister

Vanessa Kirby: seasons one and two

Princess Margaret was entangled in a forbidden romance throughout season one. The relationship was one of the biggest scandals in royal family history.

Helena Bonham Carter: season three

The Crown wasn’t Carter’s first foray into the royal family – she won an Oscar for The King’s Speech, in which she played Queen Elizabeth’s mother.

She was also nominated for back-to-back Emmys for The Crown.

Lesley Manville was cast as Princess Margaret for seasons five and six.

Peter Townsend, Margaret’s controversial lover

Ben Miles: first two seasons

When Margaret asked for her sister’s permission to marry Townsend, Queen Elizabeth refused, according to Town and Country.

Because he was previously divorced, the Church of England and Parliament were reportedly against the match, despite the public’s support.

‘I never wanted to be Mr. Harrods’: Meet Mohamed Al-Fayed’s son, Omar Fayed

Timothy Dalton: season five

Dalton appeared in just one episode of season five, but it was an impactful appearance as Princess Margaret took stock of her life and her many relationships over the years.

Dalton also played James Bond in License to Kill.

Margaret’s future husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones: Matthew Goode in season two

Margaret reportedly met her future husband, a magazine photographer, in 1958.

Three years after announcing that she wouldn’t marry Townsend, Margaret married Armstrong-Jones on May 6, 1960. Armstrong-Jones later became known as Lord Snowden.

The couple’s love story had some scandalous twists and turns. After the birth of their second child in 1964, Armstrong-Jones began sleeping with other women while away on photographic assignments, The Evening Standard reported.

Ben Daniels portrayed an older Armstrong-Jones in season three.

King Edward: Derek Jacobi, for one episode in season three

Jacobi is a famous and beloved stage actor who also starred in Disney’s Cinderella.

The episode “Dangling Man” focused on the former king’s attempts to reconcile with his family, and his last meeting with his niece, the queen, before his death in 1972.

Meet Olivia Dunne, the gymnastics star who’s bigger on TikTok than Beyoncé

Lord Louis Mountbatten, who served in the Royal Navy: Greg Wise

Louis Mountbatten was Prince Philip’s uncle and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

Prime Minster Winston Churchill: John Lithgow in season one

Churchill famously led Britain to victory in World War II. He was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, and again from 1951 to 1955.

Lithgow, who is also well-known for his appearances in films like Terms of Endearment and Bombshell, wore a fat suit to portray the storied politician.

Churchill’s wife, Clementine, was portrayed by Harriet Walter. Clementine was a greatly influential during her husband’s political career.

According to the History Channel, Churchill credited his wife as “the primary driver behind his astonishingly successful life”.

Walter was also named a dame by the actual queen.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: Gillian Anderson in season four

Thatcher became the first female prime minister when she was elected in 1979. She held the position until 1990.

11 must-read celebrity memoirs, from Matthew Perry to Barbra Streisand

Anderson won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a SAG Award and a Critics’ Choice Award for her performance as Thatcher.

Prime Minister John Major: Jonny Lee Miller in season five

Major was the prime minister during the queen’s “annus horribilis” and served as the political leader of the UK from 1990 to 1997.

Miller might best be known to audiences for playing Sherlock Holmes in the show Elementary or as Angelina Jolie’s first husband.