Elizabeth Hurley on Her 'Royals' Queen: Princess Diana Was on Our Minds
When John Bull wrote “God Save the Queen” in 1619, we’re pretty sure Elizabeth Hurley wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. Too bad for him.
On E!’s new drama, The Royals, Hurley stars as the bold Queen Helena, who’s as conniving and blunt as she is ridiculously beautiful. She’s a lioness who’s fiercely protective of her out-of-control cubs, Prince Liam (William Moseley) and Princess Eleanor (Alexandra Park). “I really think that this was the part she was born to play,” creator Mark Schwahn tells Yahoo TV at the show’s March 9 premiere in NYC, noting that “think Elizabeth Hurley” was how he described the character when he pitched the show to the network.
“I’m very flattered to think that I could be ‘born to play’ the Queen of England, Hurley says. "It was a dreamy role to get offered.”
Even though she has met members of the actual royal family, “I had no trepidation” playing a royal, says Hurley. “In about five seconds of watching our version, you know it’s not real, you know it’s fictitious. And that’s where the fun lay for us. It’s not so much fun to be playing somebody who really exists — it’s much more fun to fantasize and come up with someone fabulous.”
In Hurley’s mind, that “someone fabulous” started with imagining if a certain “People’s Princess” had lived to see today. “We thought, ‘How would a Queen of England in her late 40s look today? There was nothing to draw on,” she says, before adding, “Perhaps, if Princess Diana had become Queen of England, she would have worn similar dresses [to Helena’s]. That was in our mind about how she would look.” Helena also has a killer physique, and the sexy lingerie to show it off. “We go behind closed doors, so you have to see something,” the 49-year-old Hurley (who looks amazing) says with a laugh. “You see a great deal more of my children in their lingerie than you do me, I’m happy to say.”
Schwahn frequently refers to the fictional Queen as a villain, but one Hurley has “not for a second shied away from. She was the one that said to me, ‘Maybe I should wear some fur [on the show],’” he recalls. “I said, ‘I don’t know.’ And she said, ‘I think the queen would have little bits of cruelty.’”
To Hurley’s young co-stars, Park and Merritt Patterson (who plays the Prince’s new love interest), Hurley doesn’t have any such “little bits.” “She’s so lovely, welcoming,” Patterson tells us, while Park gushes, “She’s given me so much advice. Little things like I don’t really know how to stand in photos and things like that. She’ll come and place my legs for me so that they’re in the right position. She’s constantly looking out for me everyday.”
The Royals premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. on E!.
Photo Credits: E!
