Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall met her on-screen counterpart in London on Tuesday.
The duchess, who is set to become queen consort when her husband Prince Charles takes the throne someday, held a reception for female leaders at her royal residence, Clarence House, in honor of International Women’s Day. Among the dignitaries invited, which included the wife of the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.K., was Oscar winner Emerald Fennell, who plays a young version of Camilla in Netflix series “The Crown.”
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Fennell, who won an Oscar for her film “Promising Young Woman” last year, even spent a few minutes talking to the real-life royal, according to The Telegraph although she wouldn’t tell the newspaper what was discussed, replying: “You know what, I’m going to be very discreet – because if I’ve learnt anything. it’s ‘loose lips sink ships.’”
Fennell did venture to say of the real Camilla: “She is such an impressive person. It was fittingly nice to meet her today on International Women’s Day because she does so much for so many particularly female-centred charities. I was nervous I might be thrown in the Tower, but so far so good. She’s been in the spotlight for a long time and has always weathered it with a lot of grace and good humour.”
Meanwhile Camilla addressed Fennell directly during a speech at the event on Tuesday, saying: “It is reassuring to know that, if I should fall off my perch at any moment, my fictional alter ego is here to take over. So, Emerald, be prepared!”
In “The Crown,” Fennell portrays a chain-smoking Camilla who is happily cavorting behind Princess Diana’s back with her husband, Prince Charles.
In real-life, Camilla and Charles did famously have an affair before eventually getting married in 2005. Last month Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s mother, confirmed that when her son accedes to the throne Camilla would become queen consort.
Camilla is not the first real life royal to acknowledge “The Crown.” Last year Prince Harry told James Corden: “I’m way more comfortable with ‘The Crown’ than I am seeing the stories written about my family, my wife, or myself. That is obviously fiction, take it how you will, but this is being reported on as fact because you are supposedly news. I have a real issue with that.”
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