The Crown star Josh O’Connor believes he is still able to wander around London without being spotted by fans because he looks too scruffy to resemble his on-screen Prince Charles.
The actor, 29, plays the future Monarch in the latest series of the Netflix show and will also appear in the fourth set of instalments.
He told the Evening Standard: “It’s kind of weird, everyone kept asking and there was a lot of talk [with The Crown’s release] about ‘are you ready for your life to change’, there’s so much anxiety about when that’s going to happen, but so far it hasn’t happened and I’m still doing the same things - jogging and getting on the Tube.
“It’s pretty much the same, and maybe it’s because I don’t dress like Prince Charles in normal life. I know I’m wearing a suede suit right now but normally I’m just wearing jeans and a T-shirt.”
The new household name spoke as he was named best actor at the 22nd British Independent Film Awards for his role in critically-acclaimed film, Only You, about a young couple whose relationship begins to suffer as they struggle to try to conceive a child.
Speaking after collecting the award at Old Billingsgate, he compared the two characters - Only You’s Jake and The Crown’s Prince Charles - saying: “I think if there’s one thing that follows through with those characters there’s something about masculinity and what that means now, and that’s something that I’ve always sought out.”
O’Connor, who has also appeared in hit TV shows including The Durrells and Peaky Blinders, made his breakthrough in 2017 film God’s Own Country, which won the Best Film accolade at the Evening Standard Film Awards 2018, and a first best actor gong for the actor at the BIFAs.
He will remain in London to star opposite Wild Rose’s Jessie Buckley in an upcoming National Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet.
