Attendees of an International Women’s Day lunch at Clarence House were seeing double on Tuesday, when Camilla Parker Bowles came face to face with the star who portrayed her in the TV drama The Crown.
Filmmaker and actor Emerald Fennell was among the guests at the home of Camilla and Prince Charles, and was pictured deep in conversation with the Duchess of Cornwall during the event.
The Oscar winner later said it had been “absolutely delightful” to meet the woman she portrayed in the Netflix drama, explaining (via PA): “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 joked, adding: “She’s been in the spotlight for a long time and has always weathered it with a lot of grace and good humour.”
However, Emerald declined to share exactly what she and Camilla had spoken about when they met for the first time.
“I’m going to be very discreet, because if I’ve learnt anything it’s ‘loose lips sink ships’,” she claimed.
Emerald joined The Crown in its third season, sharing the screen with Josh O’Connor’s Prince Charles.
She enthused after landing the role: “I absolutely love Camilla, and am very grateful that my teenage years have well prepared me for playing a chain-smoking serial snogger with a pudding bowl hair cut.”
The Promising Young Woman director returned for The Crown’s fourth series – which focussed heavily on Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana – in 2020.
It’s not yet known who will portray Camilla in the final two seasons of The Crown, the first of which will debut on Netflix later this year.