Dominic West as Prince Charles does nothing for me — thank God

Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki unveiled as Charles and Diana in The Crown
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Netflix has released its first-look images of Prince Charles and Prince Diana for the upcoming season of The Crown, and I must say I’m extremely grateful. After a year of Josh O’Connor provoking a mild identity crisis by forcing me to fancy a member of the royal family, I’m so relieved that Dominic West as the prince is doing nothing for me. I can finally rest.

I don’t know if it’s because I can now only associate West with that chaotic staged photo with his wife after he was caught kissing his BBC co-star Lily James. Maybe his new defence will be that the affair was all just method acting in preparation for playing Charles.

Look, I adore The Crown. I devour every season. But their obsession with forcing me to fancy middle-aged members of the firm that I’m supposed to disapprove of has been a struggle.

Is it just that all actors are hot (highly likely), or does The Crown have a penchant for casting rugged men for not-so-rugged roles?

Josh O’Connor was the definition of a stretch, and even though he’s not doing it for me personally, I can see that even West is testing the limits of suspended disbelief a little.

And it’s not just men. Let’s not even talk about Gillian Anderson —having a sizzlingly hot Margaret Thatcher was a dark time for us all.

We’re not even out of the woods yet. Netflix have yet to release a first glimpse of Trainspotting star Jonny Lee Miller as John Major (really?), but my fingers are already twitching over the “personal life” section of his Wikipedia.

However, whoever’s job it is to cast Princess Diana deserves a raise. I didn’t think anything could top newcomer Emma Corrin’s stellar performance as the Princess of Wales last season, but seeing Elizabeth Debicki lying listlessly on the sofa in a pink satin blouse made me audibly gasp.

Season five will likely see the family through the Queen’s so-called “annus horribilis” in 1992, during which three of her four children separated from their partners, Charles and Camilla’s affair became public, and a devastating fire wreaked havoc in her Windsor Castle home - renovations then leading to questions about her finances.

It’s unclear if the new season will include Diana’s 1997 death, but Debicki certainly has large shoes to fill if this is to be the Princess’s last season.

Since the real-life royals seem to be in permanent crisis-mode at the moment, season five might be a nice palate-cleanser, a nice bit of escapism from annus horribilis 2.0. Remember when the biggest royal scandals were toe-sucking and divorce? A simpler time.

What do you think of the new cast of The Crown? Let us know in the comments below.

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