‘The Crown’ Actress Feels Princess Diana Was ‘So Queer’

Emma Corrin, the actress appearing as Princess Diana in The Crown, recently illuminated on an interesting theory about the late beloved royal. During an interview with The Sunday Times, Corrin, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, said that they believe that Diana was queer “in so many ways.” Elizabeth Debicki will take over the role of Diana in Season 5 of The Crown, which premieres on Nov. 9 on Netflix. 

Corrin shared their sentiments on the princess after Lotte Jeffs, who interviewed the star for The Sunday Times, pointed out that two actors who have portrayed Diana recently are queer themselves (Corrin and Kristen Stewart, who played the royal in Spencer). When it comes to the late Princess of Wales, Corrin said that “in many ways Diana was so queer” because she was an “other” in the British royal family. They added that Diana also frequently embraced “outsiders” throughout her life, adding to her status as an “other.”

Corrin portrayed Diana in Season 4 of The Crown, which featured the beginning of the royal’s marriage to Charles, who was the Prince of Wales at the time of their wedding. The actor has frequently discussed what it was like to portray the iconic princess. During an interview with The Daily Beast, Corrin explained that they were told that their life would change exponentially because they were portraying such a high-profile figure in history. 

“I remember when I got offered the role, one of the directors, Ben Caron, talked to me and was like, ‘Your life is going to change a lot. You’ll probably feel overwhelmed at times and quite scared with the amount of press attention you’ll get, and it will feel exciting at the same time,’” Corrin told the outlet. They went on to say that they used this aspect of the role to really get into character. As they explained, the fact that they were thrust into the spotlight because of the role mirrored how Diana herself was hounded by the press throughout her life. “[Ben] said, ‘Anytime you’re pap’d or someone is following you and you get some weird attention that is scary to you, use it, because that is exactly what she would be going through,’” they added. “And that helped me, because while we were filming, my trajectory echoed hers in a way.”