Why Dominic West Initially Turned Down Netflix’s The Crown

During season five, West will tackle some of Prince Charles’ biggest scandals, including his divorce with Princess Diana (a role taken over by Elizabeth Debicki) and “Camillagate,” the 1993 controversy where leaked audio revealed Charles telling Queen Consort Camilla that he wanted to “live inside” Camilla’s trousers, but with his luck, he’d be reincarnated as her tampon. 

“I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time],” West recalled to EW. “Looking back on it, and having to play it, what you’re conscious of is that the blame was not with these two people, two lovers, who were having a private conversation. What’s really [clear now] is how invasive and disgusting was the press’s attention to it, that they printed it out verbatim and you could call a number and listen to the actual tape.”

Season five of The Crown premieres Nov. 9 on Netflix.