He still has a photo of him being introduced to the monarch at an event nine years ago.
I look like theMr.
Beansketch where he bows and knocks her out.
Bertie Carvel as Tony Blair and Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth in ‘The Crown’Netflix
Everyone had to wear a badge with their name.
It says Bertie Carvel, actor.
And its got a royal crest on it, and its the best thing, he beamed.
(L-R) Bertie Carvel, Gillian Anderson and Jonny Lee Miller at ‘The Crown’ finale celebration in LondonIan West/PA Images via Getty Images
He wasnt the late majestys only guest that long-ago day.
The Audience, which explored QE2s relationship with her prime ministers, was the springboard for what would becomeTheCrown.
Cleggs now president of global affairs for Meta.
He chose not to meet his subjects ahead of playing them, though he subsequently met Clegg and Murdoch.
And I havent met Mr. Trump.
The London-based actor was in two minds about whether to reach out to Blairs team.
And theres the rub.The Crownis a fictional drama and not, as some insist, a documentary.
Im not necessarily equating Morgan as a modern-day equivalent to William Shakespeare, although why not?
Carvel nods in agreement.
And its just a story, but we all have a story abut our national identity.
A peek into Carvels ancestry helps understand what draws the thespian to portray real-life political figures in fictional circumstances.
Great-grandfather John Carvel was a star newsman, political correspondent and editor of the now-defunct London eveningStarand other newspapers.
Im interested in those stories because of that background, definitely true.
I suppose Ive been alert to that from a young age, he says.
So I suppose I have a certain confidence in those.
Im like a painter of portraits.
And hell look at the character from a painters point of view.
Its impossible for me to be more Tony Blair than Tony Blair is.
Carvel joked that Blair would be going, No, Im the real one.
And hes probably right.
But the aspiration is to say … Im not really trying to tell you something about Tony Blair.
One key to helping him understand Blair was to study stuff about his rhythm and his cadence.
I feel though hes somebody, unlike me, who thinks very, very quickly.
Heres somebody whos thinking quickly and fully and then choosing their words quite carefully, an extremely gifted communicator.
It was a change from playing villains, Carvel says.
Theres a notable moment in an episode ofThe Crownwhen hes confronted by protestors carrying placards screaming Bliar.
Carvel paraphrased a conversation he had with Morgan when they first met.
It only hurts when…
Blair took office as Prime Minister in May 1997.
His tribute to what he termed the Peoples Princess captured the temperature of the nation.
Oh, I did say The Peoples Princess, Carvel says.
I did it and we shot it, he explains.
His best scenes are with Stauntons QE2.
Some are immensely moving even though, at times, theres friction between them.
Both Staunton and Carvel share a desire to get on with it with little time for larking about.
Didnt they corpse now and again, I asked.
Im afraid not, no.
I mean, I think were both quite serious workers, and Imeldas incredibly focused, incredibly well-prepared.
Delightful, but very focused, as am I, he says.
He laughs and says, its not like Im some kind of monk or something.
I try and be pleasant.
A couple of times hes tried staying in character on set and talking in my characters voice.
And I sense that Imelda was cut from the same cloth.
We would have very pleasant chats, but it was very much about the work.
Actually, we just cant know.
Thats her great magic trick.
One might make all kinds of assumptions, but one just doesnt know what she felt politically.
She was amazingly kind of absent, as the monarch should be, from politics.
I certainly felt felt that.
I felt very powerfully a deep, deep respect.
Theres something of that sensibility, a powerful emotional force, in the scenes Staunton and Carvel share.
He recently completed a run at the Old Vic playing Henry Higgins in ShawsPygmalion.
Perhaps hell play a wise king modeled on the wise queen he played opposite inThe Crown.
