Olivia Colman had to ‘learn to walk’ like the Queen and use ‘unusual vowel sounds’ for The Crown role

Olivia Colman said that The Crown’s experts have been “teaching [her] how to walk” like a royal – after one director told her she “walks like a farmer.”

The actress, who is set to take over from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II in the third series of the Netflix drama, spoke of her royal transformation in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar, admitting that she was “terrible” at mastering royal poise.

“I don’t really enjoy research,” she told the magazine. “But for this, I have to accept it. I can’t just sit like me, I have to sit like her, and look like pictures of her. They have been teaching me how to walk – I’m really terrible at that, I have no physical awareness.

“I walk a bit like a farmer, one of the directors said.”

The actress, 45, also revealed that she had to adopt “unusual vowel sounds” in order to accurately imitate the Queen’s distinctive accent.

“I thought that general ‘posh’ would do it, but apparently not,” she said. “Really unusual vowel sounds. If you’re saying ‘yes’, you say ‘ears.’ It’s fun to do, isn’t it? Very hard to stop.”

The Crown’s third series will have an entirely new cast, with Helena Bonham Carter replacing Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret and Tobias Menzies taking over from Matt Smith to play Prince Philip.

It will cover the period from 1964 to 1977, charting the royal family’s attempts to adapt to “a new, more liberated, but also more turbulent world,” Netflix has revealed.

Last year, the show’s creators admitted that Smith had been paid more than Foy, despite her taking the leading role.

Asked whether she will be paid equally with her on-screen husband Menzies, Colman replied: “I b***** well hope so! It’s not called Philip, it’s called The Crown!”

The November issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from Thursday October 3. The Crown is set for release on Netflix on 17 November.