- Netflix’s original series “The Crown” is based on the real-life royal drama behind Queen Elizabeth II’s reign as the British monarch.
- The award-winning actors have been replaced for the third season, to reflect the aging of the characters.
- Here’s how the new and former cast members compare to the real people they play on the show.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Netflix’s beloved and expensive original series “The Crown” rehashes all the royal drama behind Queen Elizabeth II’s reign as the British monarch.
The first two seasons, set in the late ’40s and through the early ’60s, were highly praised for the performances – but the actors on the show aren’t just talented. They also look a lot like the real people that their roles are based on.
The new season, which was made available to stream on Sunday, takes place in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The original cast members have been replaced to reflect the aging of the characters.
Here’s how both batches of formidable actors compare to the real people they play on the show.
Caroline Praderio contributed to an earlier version of this post.
Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II in the early days of her reign.
Claire Foy auditioned for the role while she was six months pregnant, wearing a tiara, gloves, and gown.
Here's what the Queen really looked like at her coronation in 1953. She was 25 years old.
Queen Elizabeth II had a ground-breaking coronation, as it was the first ever to be televised. According to the Royal Family's official website, the historical event was watched by 27 million people in the UK alone.
Matt Smith played the queen's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Matt Smith was the source of a media firestorm and online outrage when it was revealed that he was paid more than Foy. He responded by speaking out in support of equal pay.
Read more: 11 of the most alarming examples of Hollywood's gender pay gap
This is what Prince Philip looked like after the official announcement of his engagement to Elizabeth in 1947.
November 20, 2017 marked the 70th wedding anniversary of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II, now the longest-reigning monarch alive.
Olivia Colman has taken over the lead role.
Netflix unveiled its first look at the older Queen back in July.
"I'm so thrilled to be part of 'The Crown,'" Colman wrote in a statement. "I think Claire Foy is an absolute genius. She's an incredibly hard act to follow."
Elizabeth was a mother of four and a global icon by the mid '60s.
Elizabeth gave birth to her fourth and youngest child, Prince Edward, in 1964. Her role on the world stage continued to grow throughout the '60s.
She established her "walkabout" tradition, something like an informal meet-and-greet, during a trip to New Zealand in 1970.
According to "Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family: A Glorious Illustrated History," it has allowed her to establish a closer connection to thousands of subjects and "signaled a radical break with centuries of tradition."
Tobias Menzies plays an older Prince Philip.
"I'm thrilled to be joining the new cast of 'The Crown' and to be working with Olivia Colman again," Menzies wrote in a statement. "I look forward to becoming her 'leige man of life and limb.'"
Philip continued to stand by Elizabeth's side, executing royal duties throughout the '70s.
Philip was awarded the Order of the Merit by the Queen in 1968, a highly exclusive honor that recognizes "great achievement in the fields of the arts, learning, literature and science."
These young actors portrayed Elizabeth and Philip's two oldest children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
Prince Charles would go on to become the father of Prince William and Prince Harry.
Here's a picture of the adorable royal siblings in 1952.
Prince Charles is next in line for the throne. Now 70 years old, he will be the oldest person in British history to be crowned.
Princess Anne, the Queen's only daughter, comes after her three brothers and their kids in the line of succession.
Erin Doherty plays the young adult Princess Anne on season three.
"To be a part of 'The Crown' feels both special and surreal," Doherty wrote in a statement. "There is such a special dynamic within Princess Anne that I am incredibly grateful to be able to explore. She is a woman of great strength and heart - I feel privileged to fight her corner."
Princess Anne turned 21 years old in 1971.
She entered public life at age 18 and has been an active member of the royal family ever since.
Josh O'Connor portrays an all-grown-up Prince Charles, the heir to Queen Elizabeth's throne.
"Seasons three and four will follow some of the most turbulent events in the Princes of Wales's life and our national story and I'm excited to be bringing to life the man in the midst of it all," he said in a statement.
Charles was invested as Prince of Wales by the Queen on July 1, 1969.
"We start off with Charles at Cambridge University, that's where we bring him into the series," O'Connor told RadioTimes.com.
Prince Charles enrolled at Cambridge University in 1967. He studied archaeology, anthropology, and history before receiving his degree in 1970.
"This is where we scale a significant part of his life which I feel so honored and excited to tell the story," O'Connor continued. "And tell a very different side of the story that we may not have seen or have known about."
Vanessa Kirby portrayed Princess Margaret, the queen's younger sister.
On the first two seasons of "The Crown," Margaret is portrayed as a vivacious, intelligent, yet somewhat rebellious young adult.
Here's a young Margaret in 1951, four months ahead of her 21st birthday.
She was Queen Elizabeth II's only sibling.
Ben Miles played Peter Townsend, who had a controversial romance with Princess Margaret.
According to reports, a 22-year-old Margaret fell in love with Peter soon after the death of her father in 1952, eight years after they first met.
Here's Townsend in 1955, the same year he and Margaret reunited as a couple.
As recounted on season one of "The Crown," Princess Margaret fell in love with one of the men working in the Queen's stables, Peter Townsend.
Because she was under 25, she had to ask for Queen Elizabeth's permission to marry him. But because he was previously divorced, Queen Elizabeth refused. The Church of England and Parliament were allegedly against the match.
She later tried again to marry him in 1955, after she turned 25 and would no longer need the Queen's permission. But Parliament said they'd revoke her royal privileges if she married a divorcee.
Read more: 11 of the most controversial royal couples of all time
Matthew Goode joined the cast as Margaret's husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, on season two.
Margaret reportedly met her future husband, a magazine photographer, at a dinner party in 1958. He photographed a famous portrait of her in 1959. Their relationship was kept very private in the beginning.
Armstrong-Jones is better known as Lord Snowden.
Three years after announcing that she would not marry Townsend, Margaret married Armstrong-Jones.
They tied the knot at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 1960 in the first royal wedding to be broadcast on TV.
Helena Bonham Carter took over the role as Princess Margaret on season three.
Netflix released the first image of Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret back in July.
Princess Margaret still remains one of the most stylish royals in history, and the image captures the new decade: Bonham Carter is wearing a winged eyeliner, a make-up trend that became popular throughout the '60s, which is very different from how Kirby was styled on the first two seasons as the same character.
Here's Margaret, far left, at the investiture of Prince Charles.
She and her husband had welcomed two children by this time: David and Sarah, who were briefly introduced at the end of "The Crown's" second season.
Margaret was often followed by photographer Ray Bellisario, who's often called the "original paparazzo."
Ben Daniels portrays an older Armstrong-Jones.
After the birth of their daughter in 1964, Armstrong-Jones reportedly began sleeping with other women while away on photographic assignments, according to The Evening Standard.
Here's Armstrong-Jones with his wife in 1970.
After years of reported infidelity on both sides, the couple separated in 1976. Two years later, Margaret became the first royal to divorce since Henry VIII, who reigned way back in the 1500s.
Victoria Hamilton played Queen Elizabeth, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II.
Elizabeth was the wife of King George VI. She gave birth to her eldest daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth II, in 1926. She welcomed her second daughter, Margaret, in 1930.
Here's the real Elizabeth, who was known fondly as the Queen Mother, in 1953.
She wore black for a full year following her husband's death on February 6, 1952.
Marion Bailey plays the Queen Mother on season three.
"Wonderful to be joining 'The Crown,'" she said in a statement. "It's a brilliant show and we have a tough act to follow but what a gift to be playing the fascinating and greatly loved Queen Mother."
This is what the Queen Mother looked like in 1969.
The Queen Mother died in 2002. She lived to be an impressive 101 years old.
Eileen Atkins played Queen Mary, Elizabeth II's grandmother.
Queen Mary was already a princess when she married her second cousin once removed, the future King George V.
The real-life Queen Mary died in 1953.
She was 85 years old when she died in her sleep.
Jared Harris played King George VI, Elizabeth II's father.
King George VI reluctantly claimed the throne in 1937, after his older brother gave it up in order to marry an American socialite.
Here's George VI in his official coronation portrait from 1937.
Elizabeth II became queen directly following his death in 1952.
Alex Jennings played King Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in 1936.
Directly after his father died in 1936, Edward VIII took the throne. Less than a year later, he renounced it in a scandalous, unprecedented move.
Here's the real Edward after the abdication, in 1940.
Edward had thrown the royal family into disarray by proposing to an American divorcee.
As head of the Church of England, which did not allow divorced people to remarry at the time, he was unable to remain king and continue with his nuptials.
"I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King [...] without the help and support of the woman I love," he said in a radio address to the nation in December 1936.
Read more: The 12 biggest scandals of the British royal family
Lia Williams played American socialite Wallis Simpson, who became Edward VIII's wife.
Simpson was divorced twice before she fell in love with the royal.
Williams looks remarkably like the real Wallis Simpson, pictured here in 1935.
Edward and Simpson married in 1937 and stayed together until Edward's death in 1972. (And she wasn't the only commoner who married into royalty.)
Greg Wise portrayed Prince Philip's uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Mountbatten was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, so he was both Prince Philip's uncle as well as a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
This is Mountbatten in 1943.
Prince William named his third son Louis, likely in tribute to the late Lord Louis Mountbatten.
John Lithgow played British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Lithgow had to wear a fat suit to portray the storied politician.
Here's Churchill sometime in 1945.
Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945.
Harriet Walter portrayed Churchill's wife, Clementine.
Clementine was greatly influential during her husband's political career.
According to the History channel, "Winston himself credited her as the primary driver behind his astonishingly successful life."
This is the real Clementine in 1942.
She died in 1977.
Jeremy Northam played Anthony Eden, a British politician who became Prime Minister.
Eden succeeded Churchill in 1955.
Northam nailed the real Eden's distinctive mustache.
"Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden is best known for his controversial handling of the Suez crisis in 1956," states the British government's official website.
He left office in 1957 and died 20 years later.
Jason Watkins was cast for season three as Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
According to CNN, Wilson was the first prime minister from a lower-middle-class background during Queen Elizabeth II's reign and they got along well.
Here's Wilson making a speech in 1967.
Wilson was Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970.
Gillian Anderson is joining the cast on season four as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Anderson was announced in September for season four, but not everyone knows how to feel about it.
Here's Thatcher in 1970, after she was appointed as the minister for education and science.
Thatcher became known as the Iron Lady for her uncompromising ways and strong will.
Netflix also confirmed that Emma Corrin has been cast as the late Princess Diana.
"I have been glued to the show and to think I'm now joining this incredible talented acting family is surreal," Corrin wrote in a statement. "Princess Diana was an icon and her effect on the world remains profound and inspiring."
She will likely be introduced to the series on season four.
Here's Diana, the future Princess of Wales, in 1980.
Lady Diana Spencer became Princess Diana following her marriage to Prince Charles.
The couple met in 1977 when Diana was 16 years old. Charles was dating her older sister, Sarah, at the time.