Just as Elizabeth Debicki had her iconic Princess Diana outfit moments in part one of season six of Netflix’s The Crown, Meg Bellamy also had an iconic Kate Middleton outfit moment as she played the college-aged Kate in part two. In particular, the sheer number she wears for the lingerie fashion show scene is one to remember; in real life, the moment was reportedly a turning point in Kate’s relationship with then-friend Prince William, who she went on to date not long thereafter. (His reaction to seeing Kate in a sheer black Charlotte Todd skirt—which she turned into a dress to hit the runway for a charity fashion show? “Wow, Kate’s hot!”)
“It was so exciting to wear an iconic outfit that I was aware of,” Bellamy told E! News. “And preparing for the dress was really interesting, with the fittings, so many intricacies and different layers of mesh and ribbons.”
But, Bellamy said, “I was nervous a bit before because it’s a scene that I felt had a lot of gravitas in terms of historical significance. But the day of, the director [Erik Richter Strand] made us so comfortable and it was just loads of fun. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
And here’s a fact for you: the charity fashion show took place in 2002, when William and Kate were students at the University of St. Andrews; Bellamy wasn’t even born yet. She admitted she was only “kind of aware of the royals and key events, like the royal wedding,” but said she enjoyed researching Kate’s early life and her “more normal and natural childhood.”
“It’s quite nice to remove the layer of the complexities that come with being a royal and just play her as a girl that’s going to university and falling in love,” Bellamy said.
Immediately upon learning she had landed the Kate Middleton part, Bellamy said she felt a “huge sense of responsibility,” telling The Sunday Times “I hope that I’ve done her justice.”
“I don’t know if she would watch it,” she added, “but I would love her to think fondly of it.”
Kate and Bellamy grew up “10 minutes from each other” in Berkshire, Bellamy said. “I think she seems so nice and that what people love about her is the normality she brings to the royals,” she said. “Whatever I read about her, from people who know her and from what’s out there, it’s always that what you see is what you get with her. It’s not a front that she puts up—she is genuinely easygoing and happy to talk to people, and that’s really admirable.”
Bellamy said that she suffered from imposter syndrome in the role, but to help dive deeper into the part, “I could bring home an outfit of Kate that really felt like her, so I just kind of walked around the house and felt her,” she said. “And it is staggering how that changes how you walk, how you carry yourself because, you know, when you’re wearing low rise jeans and a vest top, you really do hold yourself differently as to when I wear high rise jeans and baggy clothes. So that was really important and an integral part of the process.”
Part two of The Crown season six debuts December 14.
