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Photo by Dave Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Con - © 2023 David M. Benett - Image courtesy gettyimages.com
The Crown has elevated several excellent British actors to superstar status since its debut on Netflix in November 2016. As the series enters its final season, creator Peter Morgan's epic series about the history of the British royal family and Queen Elizabeth II's reign is on its third cast of actors, having previously tapped rising stars such as Claire Foy, Vanessa Kirby, Josh O'Connor, and Emma Corrin, turning them into household names. Even though season 6 premiered on November 16 and depicted the terrible murder of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) in gruesome emotional (rather than physical) detail, the award-winning series still has a couple more stars to present to the public.
The second installment of Season 6, which will be released on the platform on December 14 with six new episodes, will represent the (fictionalized) love story of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, with newcomers Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy taking on the roles, respectively. The series cast 20-year-old Bellamy, who was an unknown actor at the time, to play the future Princess of Wales during her university days in Scotland. Continue reading to learn more about the emerging star.
She and Kate Middleton were raised in the same county in England.
If Bellamy's eerie resemblance to Middleton wasn't enough, it turns out the two share memories from their childhoods. The 20-year-old actress was born in Leeds and raised in the market town of Wokingham in Berkshire County, England, about 22 miles from the future royal's Buckleberry village. Both women performed admirably in school. According to The Telegraph, Bellamy was the head girl at St Crispin's School, where she also sang in the school choir and studied acting. According to the publication, her education provided her with the "opportunity to learn about a wide range of plays, styles, and practitioners."
"I had a very happy childhood," she said to the publication. "I was born in Leeds, where I lived for five years before my parents relocated to Berkshire, where I attended school." I used to do a lot of acting when I was younger. I was always singing and putting on small concerts, so my mother thought I needed an outlet and enrolled me in Stagecoach Performing Arts School when I was three or four years old. I also played netball and other team sports as a kid, so it was a wonderful childhood."
'The Crown' marks her professional debut.
Bellamy will make her professional television debut in the final episodes of The Crown. According to IMDb, her only previous credit was a short film called The Prince of Saville Row, for which she went under the name Meg Smith. She spent a brief stint as a "red brick" at Legoland before winning her coveted royal role, in addition to amateur performances at school, where she did "lots of musical theater" and played Sandy in Grease. She submitted a self-taped audition after reading a casting call for the program on social media, and the rest is history.
"With every audition, I just watched and watched [Kate]," she explained to The Telegraph. It was crucial to read about her and listen to her both before and during the event. There is no tape of her speaking at the period in which I play her, so you have to imagine her younger."
In another amusing connection to the real-life Princess of Wales, Bellamy was 19 when she filmed The Crown, the same age Middleton was in 2001 when she and William were both studying art history at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. Bellamy will portray Middleton's life from 2001 to 2005 in season 6.
She, like the rest of us, swooned over William and Kate's royal wedding.
When asked how she felt about the royal family before joining The Crown, Bellamy said she didn't have any "strong feelings" for them, though she did get caught up in the hoopla around one large royal event.
"I recall significant events, such as Kate and Will's wedding." I was at home, and my mother was throwing a small party. We were more concerned with the cake, but I recall saying, 'Tell me when they kiss, tell me when they're on the balcony.' I sat in front of the TV, completely awestruck by her, as did we all. "Now I can look back and say, 'Ahhh...'"
