From shy Di to eighties fashion superstar: How The Crown’s Emma Corrin perfectly captures the princess in TV scenes so real it’s like yesterday
- The Crown returns to our screens next month with a roller coaster season four
- Actress Emma Corrin is as uncannily photogenic as the Diana she portrays
- From the head-tilting era of ‘Shy Di’ hiding under her fringe to the power dresses of the late Eighties and ‘Dynasty Di’, she captures the Princess’s style perfectly
Next month The Crown returns to our TV screens and, after a lacklustre season three, get set for a right royal roller coaster.
For the latest in the hit Netflix series plants us firmly in recent history with Mrs Thatcher in Downing Street and Princess Diana in the Palace.
And for many fans it is the moment they have been waiting for with the introduction of 24-year-old Emma Corrin, as uncannily photogenic as the Diana she portrays. From the head-tilting era of ‘Shy Di’ hiding under her fringe to the power dresses of the late Eighties and ‘Dynasty-Di’, she captures the Princess’s style perfectly.
Whether she expresses her emotions and her spirit remains to be seen. The series spans the Thatcher years from 1979 to 1990, and while the great events of the decade are all there — from the miners’ strike to the Falklands War — they are merely a backdrop to Charles and Diana’s story, from their head-over-heels romance to their bitter break-up…
DIANA THE INGENUE
Introducing nursery school assistant and royal girlfriend lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin), barely 19 when she starts dating the heir to the throne in 1980
Emma Currin perfectly captures the head-tilting era of ‘Shy Di’ hiding under her fringe. Pictured, Diana with Prince Charles in 1981
THRUST INTO THE PUBLIC EYE
The romance between ‘action man’ Charles and the aristocratic lady Di seizes the nation’s imagination. It meant a daily – friendly – gauntlet of photographers outside her Earls Court home
Just like real life: The real Diana chats to Mailman Howard Foster with photographers nearby
THE BLOSSOMING ROYAL ROMANCE
Charles (played here by Josh O’Connor) famously did not know what being ‘in love means’, but there is no mistaking the tender look in his fiancee’s eyes
RING FIT FOR A PRINCESS… AND ADMIRED BY CAMILLA
Not the most conventional of engagements, as Diana is asked to choose from a box of rings proffered by the white-gloved Crown jeweller as the Queen (again played by Olivia Colman) and Charles look on proudly
Diana, in her signature pie crust collar, admires her new engagement ring from Charles
And who’s that admiring the 12carat sapphire and surrounding diamonds? Future love rival Camilla Parker Bowles (Emerald Fennell)
Although that moment wasn’t captured on camera, Diana and Camilla were seen in public together in the early days of Charles and Diana’s relationship. Pictured, the women in 1980
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HISTORY
Blushing bride? No, but a very nervous one who took her vows in a dress with a 25ft train and in front of a global TV audience of 750 million
The stunning gown worn by Diana (pictured) has been recreated in painstaking detail
THE QUEEN OF EIGHTIES FASHION
From shy Princess to fashion icon, Diana’s every outfit was front-page news and a style sensation. Emma and Josh as Charles and Diana at the Royal Opera House in March 1981
The dress has a similar style to one worn by Diana to the Cannes Film Festival in 1987
The Crown’s wardrobe department has once again triumphed, recreating some of Diana’s most memorable looks. Pictured, Corrin as Diana and the princess at the Royal Opera House in 1982
MARRIAGE MELTDOWN
Behind the public image of the happy couple all was not well. Plagued by the eating disorder bulimia and her suspicions at the continuing presence of Camilla in her husband’s life, the fairytale marriage was unravelling with rows and rancour
STEADFAST IN ADVERSITY
For the Queen a decade that had begun with such promise was fast disintegrating with her unable to stem the tide of marital misery
The Queen takes part in the Trooping the Colour procession at Buckingham Palace in 1979