The TV star gets a taste of the royal life in her new show Queen of Oz (Picture: BBC/Getty)
Catherine Tate has addressed the unnerving timing of her TV show about a disgraced British royal, insisting that it’s coincidental that it coincided with the real-life goings-on of the Crown.
Later this month, the Doctor Who star returns to the BBC with her latest series, the tale of the scandalous, fictional Princess Georgiana in Queen of Oz.
In the comedy, the royal family decides enough is enough with Georgie’s latest alcohol-fuelled antics, carting her off to Australia to become the monarch of the nation in the hope that the country won’t leave the Commonwealth.
Metro.co.uk recently attended a Q&A held with the lead star, where she was asked if she studied anyone in particular for the role, and whether she felt the release of Queen of Oz was ‘timely’ in the current climate.
Catherine, 53, insisted that she didn’t study ‘any member of the royal family’ for the character, stressing that it’s ‘an entirely fictitious creation’.
‘It’s a piece of entertainment as well. I’m sure there’s masses of things that for royal protocol wouldn’t happen, but you have to take artistic licence and go, what works for this character? What works for this world that we’ve created?’ she explained.
The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla took place on May 6 (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
‘I didn’t study anyone,’ before adding that she sympathises with the level of scrutiny that members of the royal family face on a daily basis.
‘But I agree 100% that it must be awful to be constantly looked at and constantly scrutinised, 100%.’
The Office star was also questioned on if she felt that the show was ‘timely’ given the royal drama of recent years.
It was recently claimed that Prince Andrew was ‘refusing’ to leave his 30-room mansion to make space for the Prince of Wales in a new row with the King.
At the coronation, the Duke of York was left out of the Buckingham Palace balcony moment, having been met with boos when his car travelled up The Mall. He was previously stripped of his royal titles by Elizabeth II.
It was recently claimed Prince Andrew was in a fresh row with the King over room the monarch wanted to provide to Prince William (Picture: Getty)
The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla took place more than three years after Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stepped down as senior working members of the royal family.
After temporarily relocating to Canada, they have since made a home for themselves and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, in California, US.
While Prince Harry attended the coronation, Meghan did not, after the publication of the former’s autobiography Spare and the pair’s televised interviews about life within the royal family.
When asked if she felt that Queen of Oz’s release was ‘timely’ now, Catherine responded: ‘We were supposed to do this originally before Covid, and then of course things got put back, and then events took over that I obviously had no control over and of course it’s landing now.
‘I hope it’s just a springboard into a different kind of show to come on the BBC. I think it’s nice. I think it’s great that the BBC will hold the reins of being in charge of something as incredible as the coronation, but will also go, I guess this is a palate cleanser and it’s comedy.
‘Of course, it very possibly will look considered or something, but it absolutely isn’t.’
Queen of Oz starts on Friday June 16 at 9.30pm on BBC One on BBC iPlayer.
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Her role as a disgraced royal is ‘an entirely fictitious creation’.
