When Netflix first announced they were spending over £100 million on a show about the British royals, people thought they’d lost their minds. It felt like a massive gamble. But then Claire Foy walked onto the screen as a young, slightly terrified Elizabeth Windsor, and suddenly, the investment made perfect sense. Honestly, it’s hard to remember a time before Claire Foy in The Crown became the gold standard for period drama acting.
She wasn't just playing a Queen; she was playing a woman who had a massive, unwanted job thrust upon her. It’s that human element—the "zombie-like" state of a grieving daughter suddenly becoming a "higher being" through coronation—that Foy captured so perfectly. Even now, years after she passed the torch (and the pearls) to Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton, fans still argue that Foy’s seasons are the show's peak.
The "Sphinx" Factor: How Foy Nailed the Queen
Acting is usually about expression. You want to show the audience what you’re feeling. But playing Elizabeth II is different because the real woman spent seventy years trying not to show what she was feeling. Foy described her approach as developing an "armor." In those first two seasons, we watch that armor being forged in real-time.
She wasn’t just doing an impression. In fact, she admitted that as an Englishwoman, she’d been watching the Queen her whole life through a sort of national "osmosis." But she did specific homework. She noticed the way the Queen played with her hands or held them in her lap during public appearances—those tiny, restless tics that betrayed the stoic exterior.
The Voice of a Different Era
One of the biggest hurdles was the voice. It wasn't just about sounding "posh." Foy noted that the way people spoke in the 1950s was fundamentally different from how we speak now. It was clipped. Precise. A bit distant. She used that vocal rigidity to anchor the character. By the time we get to Season 2, you can hear the difference—she’s more settled, more authoritative, but also more isolated.
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It’s fascinating to hear her talk about it now, especially since she recently told Harper’s Bazaar UK that she viewed it as "just another role." She’d been acting for a decade before the show. She knew the mechanics. But for the rest of us? It was a revelation.
The Scandal Nobody Expected: The Pay Gap
You’d think the person playing the actual Queen—the title character—would be the highest-paid person on set. Wrong. In 2018, it came out that Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, was making significantly more than Foy. The producers tried to justify it by saying Smith had more "international fame" because of Doctor Who.
The backlash was instant and vitriolic.
People were livid. How do you have a show called The Crown where the Queen gets paid less than her consort? Left Bank Pictures eventually had to apologize publicly to both actors. They famously declared, "Going forward, no one gets paid more than the Queen."
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Foy ended up receiving roughly $275,000 in retroactive pay to settle the gap. It was a messy, awkward moment for Netflix, but it became a landmark case in the wider conversation about gender pay equality in Hollywood. It’s kinda wild that the actress playing one of the most powerful women in history had to fight for the same basic fairness as anyone else.
Why We Keep Coming Back to Season 1 and 2
There is a specific magic in the early seasons that the later ones struggled to replicate. Part of that is the writing, sure, but a lot of it is the chemistry between Foy and Smith. Their Elizabeth and Philip felt like a real, messy, struggling couple.
- The Vulnerability: We saw her as a wife and a mother first, a monarch second.
- The "Earthquake": Foy anchored her performance in the trauma of King George VI’s death. That grief was the engine for everything else.
- The Tensions: Whether it was facing down Winston Churchill (John Lithgow) or dealing with Princess Margaret’s scandals, Foy’s Elizabeth always felt like she was one "shut up!" away from a breakdown, yet she never cracked.
That Surprise Return (And the 2026 Perspective)
Even after she left, the show couldn't quite let her go. We saw her pop up in flashbacks in Season 4, which earned her a Guest Actress Emmy for basically two minutes of screen time. Then she returned for the series finale in Season 6.
Seeing the three "Queens"—Foy, Colman, and Staunton—standing together in the chapel was a massive full-circle moment. Some fans on Reddit complained that Foy looked "disconnected" in those final cameos, or that she was "bored" of the role. Honestly? She probably was just ready to move on. She’s done Women Talking, All of Us Strangers, and A Very British Scandal since then. She’s an actor who hates staying in one place.
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But for the audience, seeing her back in that 1950s silhouette was like seeing an old friend. It reminded everyone why we started watching in the first place.
The Awards Legacy
Foy didn't just win hearts; she cleared the shelves.
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2018).
- Golden Globe: Best Actress – Television Series Drama.
- SAG Awards: Two-time winner for Outstanding Performance.
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Guest Actress (2021).
How to Revisit the "Foy Era" Properly
If you’re planning a rewatch or diving in for the first time, don't just binge-watch for the plot. Look at the transitions.
Watch the first two episodes of Season 1 again. Focus on her eyes. Before she’s Queen, she’s "freer with her emotions," as Foy put it. Then, watch the "Marionettes" episode in Season 2. The transformation into the "Sphinx" is complete.
Next Steps for the Superfan:
- Listen to the accent shift: Notice how she gets progressively "tighter" with her speech as the pressure mounts.
- Watch the hands: In the big diplomatic scenes, look at how she fidgets under the table—it’s the only place her anxiety is allowed to live.
- Check out her other "Queens": If you loved her as Elizabeth, you have to watch her as Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall. It's a completely different kind of power, but just as brilliant.
Ultimately, Claire Foy didn't just play a role; she defined an era of television. She took a distant, iconic figure and made us feel the weight of the gold on her head. That's why, no matter who else wears the crown, she's the one we'll be talking about in another ten years.