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Princess Anne's love life to be explored in new series of the Crown

The new series of The Crown is to explore the love life of a young Princess Anne - WireImage
The new series of The Crown is to explore the love life of a young Princess Anne - WireImage

The new series of The Crown is to explore the love life of a young Princess Anne, with an up-and-coming actress cast in the role.

Erin Doherty, who graduated from drama school in 2015, has landed the coveted part. She has appeared in a television series only once before, in an episode of Call the Midwife.

Series three of the Netflix drama begins filming next month and will span the late 1960s and early 1970s. The latter was the decade in which Princess Anne dated Andrew Parker Bowles, who later married the Duchess of Cornwall, before marrying Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey.

The season is also expected to feature the 1974 kidnap attempt in which the royal car was ambushed on the Mall one night in 1974. When the kidnapper demanded that Princess Anne come with him for a £2 million ransom, she told him it was not “bloody likely, and I haven’t got £2 million”.

Netflix has confirmed that Doherty will play the role, after sources revealed she had been offered it. The drama’s casting director, Nina Gold, said recently that she was looking for a young actress unknown to the general public.

Erin Doherty will play Princess Anne in the show - Credit: Danny Lawson/PA
Erin Doherty will play Princess Anne in the show Credit: Danny Lawson/PA

“We’re unlikely to cast a major movie star. It’s quite interesting and fun to try and find new or new-ish talent,” she said. “We’ve cast a pretty wide net for these new young characters.”

Gold called Princess Anne “a pretty interesting young woman” with plenty of storylines to see her through the season.

Doherty studied at Guildford School of Acting before taking an acting degree at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In 2015, she was named Student Performer of the Year by the Stephen Sondheim Society, and since graduating has concentrated on theatre work.

She has appeared in one episode of Call the Midwife and has been cast in the BBC’s forthcoming adaptation of Les Miserables, scripted by Andrew Davies.

The actors to play the young Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are yet to be announced - Credit: Brian Lawless/PA
The actors to play the young Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are yet to be announced Credit: Brian Lawless/PA

Her CV lists heightened RP [received pronunciation] among her skills, which was vital for Gold, who said: “In the ‘60s and ‘70s, the class distinctions were more extreme than they are now.

“If you were to hear them speak now, it would sound way too much. But we need actors who can speak that way and embrace it, so it sounds authentic coming from them. It’s a pretty difficult balance.”

The familiar cast of The Crown has been replaced for the third series. Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies will play the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, with Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret and Ben Daniels as Lord Snowdon.

The actors to play the young Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall (then Camilla Shand) are yet to be announced.