By Wonderwall.com Editors
2:02am PST, Nov 26, 2022
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Many stars have played royals on screen — but no royal is quite as beloved, or globally mythologized, as Princess Diana. From her beginnings as an aristocrat and quiet schoolteacher to her miserable years as the world's most famous royal to the post-divorce life cut tragically short by a Paris car crash, she is a subject of endless fascination and affection. How tough is it to play "the People's Princess"? As season 5 of "The Crown" debuted on Netflix on Nov. 9, 2022, join Wonderwall.com as we take a look at the actresses who've portrayed the Princess of Wales over the years… Let's start with this new photo that made us do a double-take… Elizabeth Debicki and Khalid Abdalla recreated Princess Diana's tragic final day with boyfriend Dodi Fayed — with the streets of Barcelona, Spain, filling in for Paris — as they filmed season 6 of "The Crown" on Oct. 22, 2022.
Keep reading to see more spot-on Elizabeth-as-Di looks, plus more stars who've embodied Princess Diana on film and TV…
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Elizabeth Debicki was the spitting image of Princess Diana while filming season 5 of "The Crown" in London in January 2022. The Australian actress — who drew raves for her work in "The Great Gatsby" and "The Night Manager" — plays Di on the final two seasons of the acclaimed Netflix drama series. She'll pick up where Emma Corrin left off when season 5 debuts on Nov. 9, 2022.
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Elizabeth Debicki is expected to cover lots of territory on season 5 and 6 of "The Crown," including Princess Diana's separation from Prince Charles, her famous "there were three of us in this marriage" interview with Martin Bashir and her tragic death in a 1997 car wreck. "Princess Diana's spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many," Elizabeth said in a statement when her casting was announced in 2021. "It is my true privilege and honor to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one."
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Kristen Stewart earned a 2022 best actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Princess Diana in the 2021 film "Spence." She nailed the royal's look in the biopic directed by Pablo Larraín, which takes place over three days in December 1991 as Diana spends Christmas weekend at Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham estate and realizes she must end her marriage to Prince Charles. Kristen, who was 7 when Diana died, described the film to late night host Jimmy Kimmel in November 2021 as a "really poetic internal imagining of what that might have felt like." Keep reading for another look at K-Stew as Di…
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In a photo from the 2021 film "Spencer," Kristen Stewart looks eerily similar to Princess Diana, who wore a blue hat with netting during a visit to Wales in 1982.
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Emma Corrin scored an Emmy nomination and won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for their portrayal of Princess Diana on the fourth season of "The Crown." The relatively unknown U.K. native, who in 2021 came out as queer and revealed a preference for they/them pronouns, was picked to play young Lady Diana Spencer during the early days of her relationship with Prince Charles, the couple's engagement, their wedding day and their first overseas tour. "Emma's doing a brilliant job," Josh O'Connor, who played Charles, told Harper's Bazaar in 2019, adding that his co-star's resemblance to the late princess was so spot-on, it was "kind of spooky." Keep reading to see Emma recreate one of the most iconic royal moments ever…
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Emma Corrin had big shoes — and one of the most famous dresses in history — to fill when "The Crown" depicted Princess Diana and Prince Charles's 1981 royal wedding, which was watched live by 750 million people around the globe.
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Naomi Watts embodied Princess Diana in the 2013 film "Diana." Based on Kate Snell's book "Diana: Her Last Love," the project focused on the last months of the ill-fated royal's life. But despite painstaking preparation — including working with a dialogue coach, poring over old interviews and physically transforming with the help of wigs and prosthetics — the movie was widely panned and bombed at the box office. Keep reading to see Naomi's take on one of Princess Diana's most iconic humanitarian moments…
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Princess Diana wore a protective vest as she walked next to a minefield in Angola during her visit to the African nation to see the work of the HALO Trust and the British Red Cross in 1997. Naomi Watts (right) reenacted the moment in the 2013 film "Diana."
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Jeanna de Waal began previews of the musical "Diana" in New York City when a global pandemic shut down Broadway. The show, set in 1981, begins with the young Diana preparing to marry Prince Charles and then focuses on the aftermath of the marriage, including his highly publicized affair with Camilla Parker Bowles (now his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall). To prepare, the London-bred actress read Andrew Morton's 1992 biography "Diana: Her True Story" and spent hours studying videos to nail the princess's voice and mannerisms. "Diana" resumed on Broadway, running from November to December 2021, and is available to watch on Netflix.
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A few months before Princess Diana and Prince Charles's divorce was finalized in August 1996, Julie Cox starred in the made-for-TV movie "Princess in Love," which covered the royal's scandalous relationship with her riding instructor, former British Army Captain James Hewitt. The screenplay was based on Anna Pasternak's 1994 biography, which told the story of Diana's affair with the red-haired former military man (which was confirmed in Andrew Morton's biography and which Diana then admitted to in her famous 1995 "Panorama" interview).
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Serena Scott Thomas starred as the People's Princess in the 1993 NBC movie "Diana: Her True Story" with David Threlfall, who played Prince Charles. It was adapted from Andrew Morton's biography of the same name, which was based on tapes Diana secretly recorded when she was unhappy in her marriage. Fun fact: Serena also played Duchess Kate's mother, Carole Middleton, in the 2011 TV movie "William & Kate."
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Bonnie Soper portrayed Princess Diana in three Lifetime movies about the late royal's youngest son. 2018's "Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance" (pictured) focused on the beginning of Prince Harry's romance with Meghan Markle. Bonnie also played Princess Di in the sequels, "Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal," which depicted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's first year of marriage, and "Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace."
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Catherine Oxenberg played Princess Diana in "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana," a TV movie released in 1982 — one year after Diana's epic royal wedding. It wasn't the only time she would play the Princess of Wales — keep reading to see Catherine's next turn as Diana…
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Catherine Oxenberg portrayed Princess Diana again in the 1992 ABC drama "Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After," which focused on the collapse of the royal marriage. The former "Dynasty" star — pictured here with Roger Rees, who played Prince Charles — knows a thing or two about royalty: She's the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and is Prince Charles's second cousin once removed!
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Fourteen months after Princess Diana and Prince Charles's nuptials, the 1982 TV movie "Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story" dramatized the wedding of the century. It starred British actress Caroline Bliss (pictured with David Robb as Charles) as the ill-fated princess.
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A year after Princess Diana died, Amy Seccombe portrayed her in the TV movie "Diana: A Tribute to the People's Princess." The project focused on the last year of Diana's life, including her short romance with Harrods heir Dodi Fayed (played by George Jackos), which ended when both were killed in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.
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Irish Australian actress Genevieve O'Reilly starred as Princess Diana in the 2007 documentary-style drama "Diana: Last Days of a Princess," which examined the final moments of the royal's life. "She is very much a part of our consciousness," Genevieve has said of portraying Diana, "[and] one of the biggest icons of our lives."
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While "William & Catherine: A Royal Romance" was about the relationship between Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, Princess Diana made a brief appearance. She was played by Scottish actress Lesley Harcourt in the 2011 Hallmark movie.
