BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Olivia Williams set to portray Camilla Parker Bowles in fifth season of The Crown

Olivia Williams will portray Camilla Parker Bowles — opposite Dominic West as the Prince of Wales — for the fifth season of The Crown, which will cover the most volatile period of the couple’s relationship: before and after Princess Diana’s death.

The actress has some insight into her subject, having met Camilla after her marriage to Charles, by which time she had become the Duchess of Cornwall. 

Williams and West take over the roles from Emerald Fennell (who won an Oscar this week for her film Promising Young Woman) and Josh O’Connor, who played Camilla and Charles for the past two seasons of the award-winning Netflix series. 

Williams shot what’s known as a ‘chemistry test’ with West, to see if they were compatible on screen together, before she was offered the role — one that’s right at the heart of the drama.

She’ll join the rest of the ‘Royal Family’, including Imelda Staunton as the Queen; Jonathan Pryce as the Duke of Edinburgh; Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, and Elizabeth Debicki as Diana.

The National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company forged Williams’s career, but she has also starred in a string of Hollywood films, including The Sixth Sense, X-Men: The Last Stand, An Education and Oscar-winner The Father. 

She can currently be seen on Sky in The Nevers.