Claire Foy

As an Englishwoman, you pick up a lot through osmosis. I've been watching the Queen all my life. But, yes, I did watch news footage and was able to pick a couple of little tics. For instance, she plays with her hands a lot and has a certain way of holding them on her lap when she's in public.

Being really likeable all the time is just not real life, so it's your duty to make a well-rounded character.

I've worked in supermarkets, put tags in baseball caps and provided security during Wimbledon, but I never thought acting would be something I'd be any good at, or make a living from.

Any scene I've ever played where I've thought people who watch it had experienced something like that - for example, people who've had to deal with losing a parent - I want to do it as respectfully as possible for those people.

As an actor, there's nothing worse than the sound of 'seven years'. I'm sure to some people it sounds amazing, but to us, it's, like, seven years of playing the same person.

There is no first-hand account of what the Queen was saying or thinking, so my job as an actor is to interpret her circumstances.

You're more inclined to be cynical about your own country, and you romanticize it from the outside. And why not? It's much more interesting than thinking, 'Oh, everyone's struggling and normal.'

I thought she was just the Queen and he was Prince Philip, and that was just who they were, without thinking about them as a mother or a father or daughter.

Philip's story is the most interesting in the royal family - his background is the opposite of what you'd think. Everyone has this idea that Philip is this bumbling, deliberately posh sort of man who says the wrong thing.

I'm lucky I have a fast metabolism... my whole family does... everyone's got a lot of nervous energy so we burn it off.

The coronation is a symbol of power, but it's not a symbol for us the people. It's a symbol for that person, who is a human, to become a higher being and become one with God. The church, the scepter, and the crown have been around forever. And the line of kings of England goes back thousands of years.

I've seen 'Pride and Prejudice' about 4,000 times. I'm not joking: I know every single line.