The Crown Actress Olivia Williams Talks About Controversies Surrounding Camilla Parker Bowles

Netflix‘s The Crown has a history of shaking things up when it comes to the royal family. So much so that the producers were keen on halting the production of the most recent season following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. But that doesn’t mean they shy away from some of the scandals the British royal family has endured over the years. This includes both the tragedy surrounding Princess Diana as well as controversies about Camilla Parker Bowles.

Parker Bowles, who has just received the new title of Queen Consort following the passing of the Queen, is played by Emerald Fennell in the 3rd and 4th seasons of the series. But it’s Olivia Williams, who plays her in the 5th and 6th seasons, who really steals the show.

Olivia Williams shed light on what she really thinks of the famous woman she plays as well as if they actually know each other.

What Olivia Williams Really Thought Of Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles

When Olivia Williams first made an opinion of Camilla Parker Bowles she wasn’t the Queen Consort. Not only did she not have the prestigious title, but she wasn’t exactly seen in the most positive light. After all, she was “the other woman” in the (then ) Prince Charles and Princess Diana relationship.

In her interview with Vulture, Williams explained that she was “subjected to the propaganda” that circulated the relationship. Not only in terms of what Princess Diana was allegedly doing behind the scenes but also how Parker Bowles was being described by the press.

“All I saw were the only pictures available of Camilla, of her looking hatchet-faced and miserable,” Olivia Williams explained to Vulture in November 2022. “They used to set up pictures of her looking mean and sidelong, and then they’d put a picture of Diana looking innocent next to her.”

Williams then pointed out that most of these images were taken illegally by someone trespassing on Parker Bowles’s property.

“She looked either like she didn’t expect to have her picture taken or she just realized there was a man in a rhododendron bush trespassing on her property,” she continued.

Even with all of the tabloids painting Parker Bowles in a certain light, Olivia Williams claimed to have sympathy for her. Particularly when she divorced British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles following Prince Charles’ famous interview with Jonathan Dimbleby.

Playing Camilla Changed Olivia Williams’s Opinion Of Her

While Olivia Williams wasn’t entirely fooled by the negative press that initially surrounded Camilla Parker Bowles when she first came on the scene, her perception of the future Queen Consort altered when she played her on The Crown.

According to her interview with Vulture, Williams’ respect for Parker Bowles deepened when she prepared for some of the more scandalous scenes in The Crown. In particular, the factual scene involving a phone and a woman’s menstruation device… AKA “Tampongate”.

Williams expressed admiration for both Prince Charles (now King) and Parker Bowles as they never shrunk away from society when the records of their spicy conversation were leaked.

“We have never seen Camilla rise. There’s never been a Camilla, Her Story program or a Camilla tweet saying ‘bugger off to the lot of you,'” Olivia Williams said to Vulture. “She has kept an incredibly dignified silence and is now with the same press who were camped out in her front garden, illegally trespassing on her property, and taking pictures of her in the ’90s. Now she will turn to them at a press conference and give them a wink and be friendly and funny and cooperative.”

Williams went on to gush that this not only shows “restraint” on Parker Bowles’s part, but also an “incredible magnanimity and good nature”.

“I wouldn’t be able to be so restrained if people had made my life as miserable as that, to be so generous as she is now,” Williams added. “If that’s her role in Charles’s life, he’s a much happier person and more able to go about the important work he has done with a stable, loving, devoted, funny woman at his side.”

On top of this, Williams believes Camila Parker Bowles is an “advocate for women” based on the causes that she openly supports.

“She’s an advocate of good causes and uses what weird celebrity she has for the benefit of people and things she really cares about. I’m a bit of an annoying fan of hers, I’m afraid.”

Has Olivia Williams Met Camilla Parker Bowles?

Olivia Williams had indeed met Camilla Parker Bowles.

“The one time I came across her was when I was a judge one year on the Booker Prize. She’s the patron of the Booker Prize and also runs a book club for children,” Olivia Williams explained to Vulture.

Before she met anyone in the royal family, Olivia Williams claimed that she was a firm believer in “everyone is equal”. But that all went out the window when she actually came face to face with them. Particularly Parker Bowles, who she found absolutely charming.

“Recorded forever on-camera is me clearly curtsying, sycophantically laughing, and smiling at everything. She was very funny. She and I are both fans of Radio 4, which is a bit like NPR for us across the pond.”

During her interview with Vulture, Olivia Williams expressed an interest to have dinner and drinks with the Queen Consort. But while there, she would “ask fro her forgiveness”.

“If anything we have done in this show has caused her pain or grief or discomfort, I’d like to say I’m sorry because that certainly wasn’t my intention,” Williams claimed.