Emma Corrin, in Netflix’s The Crown as Princess Diana, on portraying her journey from shy teenager to global celebrity

Corrin is too young to have a living memory of Diana and had only a few acting credits before getting the role – now she knows her ‘better than anyone else’

As for who was to blame most for the princess’ very public failed marriage to Prince Charles, she refuses to take sides

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Emma Corrin as Princess Diana on her wedding day in Netflix’s The Crown. By the end of filming Corrin had got to know Diana from the inside out, the actress says. Photo: TNS

Published: 8:15pm, 23 Nov 2020Updated: 8:15pm, 23 Nov 2020

The reality of playing one of the most famous women of the 20th century set in for Emma Corrin one day on the streets of West London.

She was filming a scene for Season 4 of The Crown (currently streaming on Netflix) re-creating the early media frenzy around Princess Diana – née Lady Diana Spencer – the bashful 19-year-old nursery school assistant who became the subject of insatiable public curiosity thanks to her burgeoning romance with Prince Charles.

Corrin, in character in a feathered blonde wig, stepped out of Diana’s former building in Earl’s Court and was swarmed by extras clicking away on vintage cameras.

But just beyond the actors pretending to be photographers was a throng of real-life paparazzi, there to get a shot of the young, unknown actress stepping into a career-making role as “the people’s princess”, a woman who redefined contemporary celebrity.

Known as ‘the people’s princess’, Diana redefined the notion of contemporary celebrity. Photo: Getty Images

In that surreal moment, Corrin tried to seize on the advice that director Benjamin Caron had given her when she got the part.