In episode 8 of season 6 of The Crown, it is a young Elizabeth aged only 19 who appears on our screens. And the one who lends her features is quite remarkable.
The Crown said goodbye after a lackluster season 6. But the historical series from Netflix was able to recover with a good part 2, and a few moments of grace, like the last episode which sees the return of the two previous interpreters of Queen Elizabeth.
Episode 8 also had its small effect, since it recounts the death of Margaret, the sister of the former monarch. The series skillfully played between the past and the present, taking us to 1945, during the Allied victory against Nazi Germany.
There we meet a young Elizabeth, then aged 19. She is not yet married to Philip and will not accede to the throne until 6 years later.
To play the Princess, the team of The Crown chose English actress Viola Prettejohn. And at first glance, we notice the striking resemblance between the latter and Claire Foy, the one who played the Queen in the first two seasons: with her big blue eyes and her baby face, the actress made an impression, as evidenced by these some tweets:
“The casting of Viola Prettejohn as young Elizabeth in The Crown is so good. She’s a young Claire Foy. The casting directors did an incredible job.”
“It’s crazy how similar they are!”
“The casting of young Margaret and Elizabeth – Viola Prettejohn and Beau Gadson – is such a perfect choice for Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby… It’s crazy. Well done. I thought Foy and Kirby had been digitally rejuvenated. Like Ford in the recent Indiana Jones movie.”
“Can we talk about the huge resemblance between Viola Prettejohn and Claire Foy? I thought they were the same actress”
“The choice of Viola Prettejohn in the role of young Elizabeth in season 6 of #TheCrown seemed impossible to me. In her first scene I thought it was Claire Foy herself.”
“Anyone else instantly fall in love with #violaprettejohn?? Even faster than you fell in love with #ClaireFoy? Because I did!”
Viola Prettejohn is not her first experience. We notably saw her in Joss Whedon’s fantasy series The Nevers in 2021. In Counterpart, she played the young version of Olivia Williams… whom she met again on the set of The Crown where she plays Camila!
The actress has also collaborated with Netflix in the past, playing for a scene in season 2 of The Witcher the false Ciri who returns to her kingdom.