'The Royals' Tom Austen Talks Seducing The Queen

On Sunday night's episode of E!'s hit series The Royals , shit got real. Shit got real, and really sexy. Royal bodyguard Jasper (Tom Austen) found himself in a compromising position and decided to seduce Queen Helena (the mother of Princess Eleanor, the girl he likes) to get himself out of hot water. Helena, who is threatened by her daughter's good looks and youth, took the bait (presumably to hold it over her daughter's head for the rest of time). "Shooting that scene was actually really funny," Austen says. "Elizabeth and I only had a couple of scenes together prior to that, and I think — actually I know — the guys in the crew knew I was kind of nervous about it."

Portrayed by the legendary — and drop dead gorgeous — Elizabeth Hurley, on-camera nerves are understandable. "[The crew] kept asking me to do things like move closer so they could check the light on camera. Then closer, and closer, and closer, and you can imagine the rest. So I just went red and I think me and Elizabeth just kept apologizing to each other and laughing."

Similar to his character's relationship with Princess Eleanor, the scene plays out like a cat and mouse game between the sexes. "It was interesting because reading that scene on paper it was unclear as to who was in the driving seat," Austen says of his sex scene with Hurley. "But as we started to rehearse and shoot the scene it became very clear who was behind the wheel — and it wasn't me! So that kind of took the pressure off, and I just let Jasper be seduced by the queen. Definitely Jasper. Not Tom. Definitely Jasper..." he jokes.

But the scene was essential to Jasper's evolving storyline, and Austen understood his character's motivation for seducing — or being seduced, rather — by the queen. "Without wanting sounding too wanky about it, Jasper as a character is a survivor. He acts in the moment and does what he needs to do to live another day," Austen says. "I mean, Im sure he has a pretty good time doing it because if that's his job... I can think of worse ones."

Watch The Royals Sunday nights on E!

Images: Getty