The Crown’s Viola Prettejohn had a 'pinch me' moment getting fitted by late Queen’s tailor

26 December 2023

‘The Crown’ star Viola Prettejohn had a "pinch me" moment when she was getting fitted out by the late Queen’s tailor.

Viola Prettejohn loved going to Savile Row to get fitted

The ‘Generation Z’ star - who plays the teenage version of the late Queen Elizabeth II in the sixth season of the Netflix royal drama - was thrilled to head to Saville Rowe’s iconic tailor Dege and Skinner and revealed the regal treatment really got her into her “character”.

The 20-year-old actress told Marie Claire magazine: "The military uniform was made exactly for me on Saville Row by one of the Queen’s tailors, Dege and Skinner. I got the call about the role and then, a day or two later, I was on Saville Row getting fitted, thinking ‘What is my life’. It makes it so much easier to get into character when you have a costume like that."

Viola detailed meeting the other women to take on monarch - who passed away aged 96 following seven decades on the throne last year - including current role holder Imelda Staunton, 67, and previous actresses Olivia Colman, 49, and Claire Foy, 39, who she chatted to “briefly”.

She said: "I met Imelda a couple of times in her make-up trailer when I was filming episode 10, and she was always just the most supportive and lovely person to be around. Then I met Claire and Olivia briefly. We were quite a closed-off unit though - as we were back in the war times."

The ex ‘The Witcher’ star admitted to being a causal participant in regal culture so she didn’t “feel too weighted by it all”.

Viola said: "I’ve watched the big events on TV like royal weddings and the Queen's funeral, but apart from that I didn’t know too much. I didn’t read too much [on the royals] as I didn’t want to feel too weighed down by it all.

"What we were trying to unpick was the unseen version of Elizabeth. Her one night of freedom that no one got to see. There’s a scene in the last episode where Claire’s character says ‘Elizabeth Windsor is gone’—that was the Elizabeth we were trying to capture."