25 Photos Of The Crown Season 5 Cast Vs. Their IRL Counterparts

In The Crown Season 5, a new cast of stars portrays the Royal Family and those close to them in the ’90s. Imelda Staunton plays Queen Elizabeth II this time around.

The Queen, who passed away on Sept. 8, was England’s longest-reigning monarch. In The Crown Season 5, she celebrates 40 years on the throne and faces some of her greatest challenges yet in her annus horribilis.

Jonathan Pryce takes the reins as Prince Philip for the final two seasons.

Philip — who Elizabeth II called her “strength and stay” through their 73-year marriage — passed away in 2021, months before his 100th birthday.

Dominic West portrays Prince Charles, who is in the midst of separating from Princess Diana in the ’90s during Season 5.

The former Prince of Wales, who is now King Charles III, was the oldest person to ascend the throne in England at 73 years old.

Elizabeth Debicki steps in as Princess Diana, who is focusing on her own engagements and public appearances as the Princess of Wales amid her separation — along with helping Andrew Morton with his explosive book.

Diana and Charles ultimately divorced in 1996. The following year, she died in a car accident in Paris after being chased by paparazzi. She was 36 years old.

Olivia Williams portrays Camilla Parker Bowles, whom Prince Charles had an affair with during his marriage to Princess Diana (and during Camilla’s respective marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles).

She and her husband divorced in 1995 following her relationship with Charles being made public in 1992. Charles and Camilla tied the knot in 2005, and after the Queen’s passing, she became Queen Consort.

Lesley Manville steps in as Princess Margaret. “The baton is being passed on from two formidable actresses and I really don't want to let the side down,” she tweeted, praising her predecessors Vanessa Kirby and Helena Bonham Carter.

Margaret, who was a heavy smoker throughout her life and suffered health issues in the ’80s and ’90s, passed away in 2002 at the age of 71.

Khalid Abdalla and Salim Dau portray Dodi and Mohamed Al-Fayed, respectively, in the latest season.

Dodi and Diana became romantically involved in July 1997, spending the summer together in the South of France. He also died in 1997 in the same car crash that killed Princess Diana. He was 42 years old.

Mohamed, who is 93, refurbished the Paris home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in the ’80s and was also the owner of Harrod’s from 1985 until 2010. His net worth is $1.9 billion, as per Forbes.

Natascha McElhone appears in Season 5 as Penny Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who was one of Prince Philip’s closest companions.

Philip taught Knatchbull, pictured here with her husband Norton in 1980, carriage riding in 1994, and they bonded over their passion for equestrian events.

Humayun Saeed appears as Hasnat Khan, who had a brief relationship with Princess Diana in 1996 while he worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. She met the doctor when visiting a friend whose husband received surgery.

Their relationship ended in July 1997, and Khan, 63, said that if she hadn’t died the following month, they “would have remained very good friends, whatever she did and whomever she was with,” per Vanity Fair.

Jonny Lee Miller joins Season 5 as British Prime Minister John Major, whose term lasted from 1990 to 1997. Major was the first PM to be younger than the Queen during her reign.

Major, 79, is not a fan of the Netflix series, calling it “a barrel-load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum – and entirely false – dramatic impact,” according to his spokesman.

Prasanna Puwanarajah portrays Martin Bashir, who conducted the infamous Princess Diana interview on BBC's Panorama program in 1995. Fun fact: Puwanarajah also played Bashir in the 2013 film Diana.

Although the interview was praised at the time, it was eventually determined that Bashir, 59, went against BBC editorial conduct to secure the interview. He resigned from the BBC in 2021 for health reasons.

The Crown Seasons 1-5 are available to stream on Netflix.