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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Rebecca Cook

Ben Shephard treats fans to unrecognisable uni throwback snap with The Crown star

Ben Shephard treated Good Morning Britain viewers to a vintage snap of him and The Crown star Claudia Harrison at university.

Claudia appeared in the ITV studio on Thursday morning following the release of the Netflix hit on the streaming platform this week.

Sitting alongside co-host Susanna Reid, Ben and Claudia reminisced about attending the University of Birmingham, where they studied dance and drama respectively.

The Crown star Claudia, who plays Princess Anne in the fifth season of the Netflix royal drama, noted that Ben had initially been studying sports science alongside dance, before he dropped it. He joked: “Yes, it was too serious. Just did the dancing.”

Claudia Harrison plays Princess Anne in the latest season of the Netflix royal drama (ITV)

Claudia replied: “We were just talking about our first dance class ever and people in it had been in the Royal Ballet and our dance lecturer made us dance. I said to Ben, ‘Do you remember I did a star jump?’”

Ben replied: “These girls were amazing as well, just split leaping across the floor effortlessly. I think I might have done a forward roll.”

Susanna then joked: “Luckily things have got better for Claudia,” as they segued into a conversation on The Crown.

Ben told viewers he had been sent a picture of himself and Claudia (ITV)

At the end of the conversation Ben told viewers he had been sent a picture of himself and Claudia while at university, donning their glad rags ahead of a ball they attended.

As the picture of a group huddled on the street flashed up on the screen, with Ben sporting a thick mop of ‘floppy’ hair. He said: “There’s Claudia and I just outside our house.”

He also pointed out his wife Annie, who he met at university, in the snap and noted Claudia also met her husband while studying in Birmingham.

Claudia, 46, looked sensational as she attended the premiere for the Netflix streaming hit this week.

Claudia has taken on the role of Princess Anne which was previously played by Erin Doherty in 2019's third and last year's fourth series on The Crown.

Ben and Claudia reminisced about attending the University of Birmingham (ITV)

The fifth season of the Netflix show follows Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal family through the 1990s.

The Crown, created and written by Peter Morgan, has been a hit for Netflix since it was first released in 2016 with the main characters being regularly recast to follow the age of the royals in their respective timelines.

The previous two seasons of The Crown covered the three decades before the 1990s and now the entire team has been recast for this series' 13-year time frame of 1990 to 2003.

Focusing heavily on the fallout between Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki and King Charles (then Prince of Wales) as portrayed by Dominic West, the new series will showcase a number of low points for the royals.

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