“The Crown” star Helena Bonham Carter apparently went to extraordinary lengths to prepare for her role as Princess Margaret.
According to the Guardian, the actress revealed at the Cheltenham literature festival over the weekend that she hired a psychic to help her contact the late royal and seek her blessing.
“She said, apparently, she was glad it was me,” Carter said. “My main thing when you play someone who is real, you kind of want their blessing because you have a responsibility.”
Carter is taking over the role of Princess Margaret for the show’s upcoming third season. She’s stepping in for “Hobbs & Shaw” star Vanessa Kirby as the show moves forward in time. “Fleabag’s” Olivia Colman leads the new season as Queen Elizabeth.
Though the princess was apparently pleased to have Carter portraying her on screen, she did have a few notes.
“She said: ‘But you’re going to have to brush up and be more groomed and neater,’” Carter said. “Then she said: ‘Get the smoking right. I smoked in a very particular way. Remember that – this is a big note – the cigarette holder was as much a weapon for expression as it was for smoking.’”
“The Crown,” which has already been renewed through Season 4, portrays the long reign of Queen Elizabeth, with the entire cast turning over every two seasons as the queen and everyone in her orbit grows older.
Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth opposite Matt Smith’s Prince Philip on the first two seasons of the royal drama, with Kirby as Princess Margaret and Matthew Goode as Lord Snowdon. Seasons three and four will star Colman and Kirby alongside Tobias Menzies as the Duke of Edinburgh, Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, Erin Doherty as Princess Anne, Ben Daniels as Lord Snowdon, Jason Watkins as Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Charles Dance as Lord Mountbatten.