Throughout the ’90s, the monarchy wasn’t sure of the next steps for Prince Charles and whether he had what it took to be king someday. That may have explained his nervous movements — adjusting his cuff links, straightening his jacket, etc. — motions that Dominic West had to adopt when he joined Season 5 of “The Crown.”
But as West enters a West Hollywood restaurant to discuss his role as Charles, who was crowned king in September, there is nothing nervous about him. It’s nearly the opposite, as confidence — not to be mistaken for arrogance — radiates off of him just after 10 a.m. as he takes a seat across the table.
He’s midway through filming Season 6, only in the States for another 12 hours, and has just finished filming “few very heavy scenes” following Princess Diana’s death. Still, he’s relaxed and friendly — mostly, excited and proud of his work on the beloved series.
“I’ve always been a royal watcher and I’ve always been in love with Princess Diana since I was 10 when they got engaged. God, I was in love with her as a boy,” he says. “But during the ’90s, I’d missed most of this stuff. I was dimly aware of it, but so I hadn’t really come to any conclusions about the events we’ve shown in Season 5. So I was sort of coming in fresh to it.”
Season 5 of the Netflix drama follows the family from 1991 to 1997, ending before the death of Diana. While West was very aware of the royal family, that didn’t result in an immediate yes when he got the offer to play the Prince of Wales.
“I said, ‘I think you’ve definitely got the wrong person,’” he recalls of his first reaction with creator Peter Morgan. “Rather cleverly, he said, ‘only you will know if you can play him or not,’ which, of course, isn’t true because I’ve sort of assumed I couldn’t play him! I thought I wasn’t right for the part, so it took a while. Helena Bonham Carter [who previously portrayed Princess Margaret] called me, and she said, ‘Just do it!’ So, I did.”
The role was too good to turn down, but the task was still daunting. “It’s such a successful show and Josh [O’Connor] had made such a success of it, it was a fairly big gamble to get involved,” says West.
Plus, he understood there were many critics of the show.
“I met a few people who told me, in no uncertain terms, ‘you shouldn’t do it.’ I wrestled with it for quite a while because I do really admire King Charles and the work he’s done, and I didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize that work,” he says. But after talking to Morgan, he understood the vision. “We both sort of came to conclusion that we like the guy, I suppose. I think it’s a pretty positive portrayal.”
once he said yes, West jokes that the first thing he did was watch O’Connor’s interviews and “got all his tips” about the way Charles is always moving.
“I realized, when wearing his clothes, in order to stay looking immaculate, where your sleeve is exactly in the right place, you do have to keep doing that [adjusting] when you get out of cars. And that’s why he does it — apart from it being a sort of nervous habit. I think he does it a lot less now since he became king,” says West. “I read a thing that said his nervous tics have calmed. He was always fiddling, doing something to do with his hands.”
The actor can’t help but show the movements when explaining this and even slips into Charles’ voice, speaking without really opening his mouth, in turn, causing us both to laugh aloud.
“He keeps his jaws tightly shut,” West says through clenched teeth, so quiet I can barely hear him. “I suppose he’s got to be very careful about what he says. He’s someone who’s very wary about what comes out of his mouth. I think that’s where it started, the tight jaw and then the pointing and then a bit of a stoop.”
Since the ’90s were “the worst parts of his life,” West notes that he stands very low while in character.
“He’s got the weight of the world on him. He’s looking up quite a lot. I imagine that is sort of an appeal to God or something, but I also felt he was looking up at this crown above his head. It was hanging like a sword of Damocles above him.”
Much of that changed after Charles became king following the queen’s death this year — something West watched news coverage of nonstop.
“It was immediate. I think that is the sort of the power of the crown in the U.K., which I don’t think anybody realized because we haven’t had a new monarch for 70 years and it’s interesting,” he says. “The show is not about individuals, it’s about the crown, and when that transition happened, you saw how that passes from one in respect to who they are, and it was fascinating. The queen never showed any emotion for 70 years and Charles did in the first hour. I mean, did you see the bloody pen?”
We both laugh at the memory of the September moment when Charles got frustrated by a leaky pen during a signing ceremony at Hillsborough Castle. West even re-enacts it and agrees when I note that in a way, it humanized him.
“I love the guy. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and he’s like his father, with very quick anger that sort of flares up and then disappears,” he says.
The fact that Charles is now king doesn’t exactly affect West’s portrayal, especially since Season 6 focuses much on the way Charles was with his family following Diana’s death. Although Season 5 had some intense scenes, West is happy that his own son, Senan, chose not to return as Prince William for the final season; Rufus Kampa and Ed McVey will step in.
“He’d never acted before and it was really sweet watching him,” he says of working alongside his son. “It was very useful in terms of a physical familiarity that is hard to have with child actors. When it came to this season, it was a much bigger commitment and I said, ‘I’m not sure you should do it.’ He didn’t want to miss loads of school, he didn’t want to miss his soccer, which is his main passion. So, we decided that he wouldn’t do Season 6. Part of the reason was because it’s much heavier, emotional stuff. I think it’d be pretty weird with all the stuff around his mother, which there was a little bit of it in season 5 — and when it happened it was a bit weird.”
Speaking of weird, West admits it’s hard to explain how it’s been filming in the U.K. following the passing of the queen. “It was an extraordinary time, and it was a sad time as well. I know Imelda [Staunton] was very upset. She had a wonderful life and a long life and there was nothing sad about it. But it was a real privilege and treat to be around to see it and to be in the middle of this role.”
West has starred in multiple series throughout his career, including “The Wire” and “The Affair.” One of the appeals of signing on to “The Crown” was knowing it would only go for two seasons.
“Television can go on and on and on. I’ve done two long-running series and I’m not crazy about that anymore. It gets a bit weird when you play a part for very long. It starts getting crazy,” he says, noting that when it comes to choosing parts, it’s all about the character. “I think there’s an element of, ‘Does this excite you? Is this a character you can live with two years? Is it something that that gets you excited?’ This definitely was. I enjoyed reading all the books and researching all about this guy. I think that’s that’s probably the main thing, [asking yourself,] ‘Are you going to get bored?’ That happens very quickly more and more, the older I get.”
