Brian Cox heckles Succession's Jesse Armstrong for anti-royalist Emmy's speech

Watch: Brian Cox interrupt Succession's Jesse Armstrong's Emmy acceptance speech

Brian Cox stood up for the Royal Family after Succession creator made a dig at King Charles in his acceptance speech at the Emmy Awards.

The HBO show about a wealthy family at war won Outstanding Drama Series for a second year in a row at the US TV awards, and writer Jesse Armstrong used his time on stage to hint at his republican stance regarding the British monarchy.

Armstrong said: "Big week for Succession. New king in the UK this week for us. Evidently a little more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles."

Read more: Succession star Brian Cox: 'Logan Roy would hate me'

Cox, 76, interrupted: "Keep it royalist, keep it royalist!"

Armstrong, who also co-wrote political sitcom The Thick Of It, continued: "I'm not saying that we're more legitimate in our position than he is, we'll leave that to our people.

"We are incredibly grateful to have this, it's a wonderful honour. This group is extraordinary. It's a team effort."

Succession scooped three Emmys at the 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Writing for a Drama for Armstrong and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama for Matthew MacFadyen, who plays fawning son-in-law Tom Wambsgans in the show.

The series had 25 nominations at this year's Emmys, including one for Cox who plays Machiavellian media mogul and head of the family Logan Roy.

Cox, who published his memoir Putting the Rabbit in the Hat in 2021, has previously spoken of an intimate encounter he shared with Princess Margaret when he was just 23.

The Bourne Identity star recalled how he met Queen Elizabeth II's sister – who died aged 71 in 2002 – over 50 years ago when she came to see a play he was appearing in on the London stage.

He told The Guardian: “When I was a young actor I was touched up by Princess Margaret.”

“I was at the Royal Court. I was doing a play with Alan Bates and it was my 23rd birthday and I’d been given a red shirt from Lindsay Anderson. I’d just washed my hair so I was sort of glistening and I walked in and was introduced to her.

“She put her fingers on my shirt, and said, ‘This is a lovely shirt.’ And she started to run her fingers down the inside of my shirt. And I went, ‘Uh oh! What do you do when you’re being touched up by a royal?’”

The Scottish actor revealed he excused himself and the encounter “came to a natural end”.

Read more: Succession star reveals when series four will begin filming

But he said of the late Countess of Snowden: “She was an extraordinary creature.”