The Crown’s Meg Bellamy Reveals the Makeup and Hair Tricks She Learned to Play Kate Middleton

Glamour: Given that this is your first big role, I can’t imagine the pressure you might have felt, and yet you carry episode 607, titled “Alma Matter.” What was that like?

Meg Bellamy: Yeah. I think the idea of it was more nerve-racking than the reality. You obviously have pressure not just from playing a real person, but also The Crown is such an incredible show. I felt very strongly that I didn’t want to let anybody down. But then when you’re on set, it’s so intimate and welcoming and friendly. It is such a well-oiled machine, so I could just do my work and take pride in it. It is really a team effort, which I think makes it much less daunting.

Speaking of a team effort, you mentioned being a huge fan of The Crown before you joined the show. What was it like when you met the cast for the first time?

I didn’t really have time to think about that because the first time I met everybody was at the read-through, which was halfway through my audition process. I wasn’t cast yet, but they got the final eight Kates and then picked me to read for Kate at this read-through. I met everyone—all the cast, producers, directors, heads of departments. It was very surreal and it all came at once, which was just very exciting.

Have you been following Kate and the rest of the royal family over the years?

I grew up very aware of the royal family. I just didn’t necessarily have any strong feelings towards them. But I’ve always been fond of Kate. Just from researching her, I grew even more fond. You feel closeness to someone when you study them all day, every day. I really admire her as a leader and I think she’s awesome. I love what Peter Morgan’s done with her character in the script.

As you were doing research, is there anything you wish you could have asked Kate?

Probably her decision to change from Edinburgh University to St. Andrews, because initially, she wasn’t going there. I think there’s a lot of speculation that that’s all because of Prince William. And I don’t think it’s as simple as that, so I would want to know what elements led her to the change.

We’ve heard these stories that her mother, Carole, was puppeteering her meeting William at university, but I feel like there’s more to that story that we just don’t know.

Yeah. Of course, Kate has her own autonomy and things like that, so I would want to know that, I think, because it’s still a gray area. The Crown has no behind-the-scenes [scoop] at all. I know as much as anybody else.

In your first episode, we see Kate and her mom come face-to-face with Princess Diana and Prince William on the street, so did you talk to Peter about that? Was that something that he totally fictionalized?

I’m not too sure. There were rumors that they had met before. I think it was hockey at her school when they were both 14, 15, and that she was aware of him. I mean, of course you would’ve been aware of him growing up. But in terms of meeting on the streets of London, I think that was probably an element of creative license there. I didn’t read that that actually happened.