Emmy Winner Josh O’Connor Is ‘Deeply’ Protective of Prince Charles — ‘I Think He’s a Bit of a Hero’
The Crown tries to show the inner lives of British royalty. Josh O’Connor opened up about being “deeply” protective of Prince Charles on the set before winning his Emmy.
Josh O’Connor won the Emmy for playing Prince Charles on ‘The Crown’
O’Connor played Prince Charles in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown. The Academy nominated him for an Emmy for his last season in the show.
He won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. The other actors in the category were Billy Porter for Pose, Regé-Jean Page for Bridgerton, Jonathan Majors for Lovecraft Country, Sterling K. Brown for This Is Us, and Matthew Rhys for Perry Mason.
The actor thanked Peter Morgan and Emma Corrin. O’Connor had a special message for his co-star by calling her a “force of nature.” He also said, ”I love you very much.”
He wasn’t the only winner of the night. Olivia Colman won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Gillian Anderson won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Tobias Menzies won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Claire Foy won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. The Crown took 11 Emmys this year.
Josh O’Connor is “deeply” protective of Prince Charles
The actor played Prince Charles for two seasons. Time Out asked him in 2019 if he feels protective of the real person he portrayed.
“Deeply,” he answered. “I felt really defensive watching this documentary about him in the post-Diana days when he was portrayed as a buffoon. He’s unbelievably intelligent, and he was banging on about climate change in the ’70s. I think he’s a bit of a hero.”
The actor also talked about having some sympathy for the royal in an interview with The Guardian. “And whatever you think of the royal family,” he said. “It’s hard not to feel sympathy for someone in that situation. Because it’s insane.”
O’Connor has revealed that the monarchy doesn’t align with his real political views. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to give Prince Charles a voice on the show.
“It was hard at times,” the actor said. “There were days on set when I would say, ‘Can we do a scene where Charles does express himself to the Queen?’ He’s always told: shut up, shut up, shut up. I felt I had to advocate for him, a bit, and give him a voice. And always [when I made that case] the answer came back, ‘No. This is the point, he doesn’t have a voice, not yet.’”
It looks like O’Connor is leaving his role on a high note. The Crown fans will have to watch next season to see how Prince Charles changes with Dominic West taking over the role.
