Dominic West shares the compelling reason he couldn't resist accepting the role of Prince Charles in The Crown.

Dominic West has offered some perspective on his straightforward choice to depict Prince Charles in The Crown.

The 56-year-old actor featured in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Netflix series, a dramatization chronicling the British royal family from the 1950s to the early 2000s.

In the role of the then-prince, West depicted Charles as he responded to the tragic demise of his former wife, Princess Diana (portrayed by Elizabeth Debicki), the ensuing aftermath, and his subsequent marriage to Camilla (portrayed by Olivia Williams).

“There was an enormous pressure on The Crown because it was such a successful show before I went in, and Josh did such a great job,” he began, referring to Josh O’Connor’s portrayal of a younger Prince Charles in seasons three and four.

“But at the end of the day, you’ve got to do parts that appeal to you; not that many come along,” West continued.

“When you’ve got a juicy part like that, you can’t turn it down. I loved playing him, he was brilliant.”

The actor, renowned for his roles in The Wire and The Affair, disclosed some of his reliable techniques for immersing himself in the character of Charles. This included using animated gestures, such as pointing, while delivering lines.

“I saw many documentaries on him, one he did with Jonathan Dimbleby,” West explained.

“He’s on a plane, and he’s talking about, ‘I don’t do this for my own good, you know – I do this for jolly old Britain.’

“And it was so funny, ‘jolly old Britain’, every time I was trying to get into him on set, I’d just go ‘jolly old Britain’. And I was in.”

Previously, West had expressed that he’d accepted the unlikeliness of receiving a knighthood in the future, due to his involvement in the programme.

“I suppose having to forgo the British Empire Medal that I might have got for services to acting,” he said on BBC Radio. “It was alright for [Prince Philip actor Jonathan Pryce], who had already been knighted.”

West explained that he’d met Charles before being cast as the royal, saying: “I have. I’ve done a bit of stuff for the Prince’s Trust so I’ve stood in line and shook his hand a couple of times, so not particularly intimate.”

However, West said that after taking on the role, “those invitations dried up”.

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