Since it first arrived on Netflix in November 2016, The Crown has catapulted several talented British actors into superstar status. Creator Peter Morgan's epic series about the history of the British royal family and Queen Elizabeth II's reign is currently on its third cast of actors as the series continues into its final season, having previously tapped rising stars including Claire Foy, Vanessa Kirby, Josh O'Connor, and Emma Corrin, turning them into household names. Even though season 6 officially begun on November 16—depicting the tragic death of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) in lurid emotional (rather than physical) detail—the award-winning series still has a couple more stars to introduce to the world.
The second part of season 6, which will drop on the platform with six new episodes on December 14, will depict the (fictionalized) love story of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, with newcomers Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy stepping into the roles respectively. To portray the future Princess of Wales during her university days in Scotland, the series tapped 20-year-old Bellamy, who was a completely unknown actor when she won the role. Read on to learn more about the rising star.
She and Kate Middleton grew up in the same county in England.
If Bellamy's uncanny likeness to Middleton weren't enough, it turns out that the two have similarities going all the way back to their childhoods. The 20-year-old actress was born in Leeds and grew up in the market town of Wokingham in Berkshire County, England, just 22 miles away from where the future royal was raised in the county's Buckleberry village. Both of the women also excelled at school. Per The Telegraph, Bellamy served as head girl at St Crispin’s School, where she was a member of the school choir and studied acting. The outlet adds that her studies gave her the "opportunity to learn about a wide range of plays, styles and practitioners."
"I had a very happy childhood," she told the outlet. "I was born in Leeds, where I lived for five years, then my parents moved down to Berkshire and I went to school there. I did so much acting growing up. I was always singing and putting on little shows, so my mum decided that I needed an outlet and sent me to the Stagecoach Performing Arts school when I was three or four. I also played netball and other team sports, so it was a really lovely childhood."
'The Crown' is her first professional role.
Bellamy will make her professional television debut in The Crown's final episodes. Her only prior credit was a short film called The Prince of Saville Row, for which she went by the name Meg Smith, per IMDb. In addition to amateur performances at school, where she did "lots of musical theater" and played Sandy in Grease, she also had a brief gig as a "red brick" at Legoland before landing her coveted royal role. After seeing a casting call put out for the show on social media, she submitted a self-taped audition, and the rest was history.
"With every audition, I just watched and watched [Kate]," she told The Telegraph. Reading about her and listening to her was so important both before and during. During the time period that I play her, there’s no recording of her speaking so you have to picture her younger."
In another fun connection to the real-life Princess of Wales, Bellamy was 19 when she was filming The Crown, the same age that Middleton was when she and William were both pursuing art history at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland in 2001. For season 6, Bellamy will depict Middleton's life from 2001 to 2005.
She swooned over William and Kate's royal wedding (like the rest of us).
When asked how she felt about the royal family before she joined The Crown, Bellamy admitted that she didn't have any "strong feelings" about them, though she did get swept up into the frenzy around one major royal event.
"I remember key events, like Kate and Will’s wedding. I was at home and my mum had a little party. Us kids were more interested in the cake but I remember saying, 'Tell me when they kiss, tell me when they’re on the balcony.' I sat watching the TV and was totally in awe of her, like we all were. Now I can now look back on it and think, 'Ahhh…'"
