Princess Beatrice’s baby name has been announced with a sweet post

Charlotte Riley played a strong and steely Duchess of Cambridge in Mike Bartlett's BBC2 adaptation of his play King Charles III of the same title.

The royal and political drama examined a future and part-fictional royal family after Prince Charles has acceded the throne.

The one-off film featured Kate Middleton persuading Prince William to stand up to King Charles in order to save the monarchy.

Charlotte defended her portrayal of Kate, telling Harper's Bazaar UK: "I saw her as being incredibly pragmatic, and she's approaching this slightly differently as people may see her perceive it.

"It's [the monarchy] like a business – we need to move in this way and make some bold choices [in order to save and protect it] but I don't think that makes it a negative slant on her character."

Vanessa Kirby starred as the Queen's fun-loving and gin-quaffing sister Princess Margaret for two seasons of The Crown.

The actress said she put up photos and portraits of Margaret all over her house – even in the loo, and on her bedroom wall – to help her get into character.

"The reason that I have that one on my wall in the bedroom is I was hoping that by osmosis, I would absorb some of her, and also because it really defined . . . how the sisters couldn't be less alike," Vanessa told Vanity Fair.

"I really wanted to look at that when I'd wake up, and maybe channel a bit of it."

Helena Bonham Carter will be taking over the role as Margaret for season three of the drama.

Matt Smith stars as a young, roguish Prince Philip in two seasons of Netflix's The Crown – and reveals a side of the prince that we've rarely seen before.

Describing the free-spirited royal back in the day, Matt told The Guardian: "I just think he's a bit of a cool cat.

"And that's what I love about him: he's done what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, with whom he wants. He hasn't asked permission. And his wife's the Queen."

Jenna Coleman has been playing Britain's second-longest reigning monarch in ITV's hit period drama Victoria since 2016.

Queen Victoria's life is chronicled from 1837, following the death of King William, and Her Majesty's accession to the throne at the age of 18.

Speaking about Victoria and the public's perception of her, Jenna told The Times: "People just don't know the younger person at all.

"The only photographic images we have of her are when she's older. It's hard to connect those with her younger self, full of life and romantic."

Hollywood star Naomi Watts took on the role of the late Princess Diana in Oliver Hirschbiegel's biopic, which centred on the last two years of the princess's life.

Following negative reviews for the film, Naomi later said she knew that it was a 'risk', and that it ended up taking 'a direction that was not the one I was hoping for'.

"I got seduced by the fantastic character,' the actress told Harper's Bazaar US says. "Diana did a lot of things that had positive and negative results.

"She was multifaceted. But ultimately there were problems [with the film] and it ended up taking a direction that was not the one I was hoping for.

"With risk there is every chance it's going to fail. If you have to go down with that sinking ship, so be it."

Claire Foy gave an award-winning performance as the Queen during the Monarch's coronation in 1953, through to the the Swinging Sixties for Netflix's The Crown.

The 33-year-old actress will now be relinquishing her role as Her Majesty to Olivia Colman, but said she couldn't pass on advice on how to play the monarch, as "no one owns it".

"There's no shortcut in playing the Queen," the star told Vanity Fair.

"It's for her [Olivia] to discover, and she'll probably find out lots of things that I never found out.

"She'll play the Queen at a very different time to me. It's a rolling thing, and it's ever-changing and ever-revolving. That's the secret in portraying the Queen – no one owns it.

"It's everyone's interpretation, and that's also the beauty of it."

Homeland's Damien Lewis took on the meaty (ahem) role of King Henry VIII in BBC1's award-winning Wolf Hall back in 2015.

The actor said the series – adapted from the novel by Hilary Mantel – was trying to give a more 'varied view' of the former King.

"Actually the truth is, though it might be an odd thing to mention, that Henry had a 32-inch waist — and he remained that way for quite a long time," Damian told Radio Times.

"He was the pre-eminent sportsman in his court. He was much taller than anyone else.

"His beautiful, pale complexion was often remarked upon by commentators. And so I think what I've found is that the grandiose, more paranoid, self-indulgent, self-pitying, cruel Henry emerged in the period after this series.

"What we're trying to concentrate on is just to give a more varied portrait of Henry, and that's really how this is written."

Girl on the Train star Emily Blunt played Queen Victoria on the big screen back in 2009's The Young Victoria, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination.

The star admitted she knew little about the Monarch when she took on the role, telling Collider: "I didn't know very much. I knew about the old lady with the thing on her head, looking really grumpy.

"I knew that she wore black and she had nine children. And, I knew that Albert had died young. That's all I knew. I remember my mum telling me about the fact that they had this incredibly loving, passionate relationship, when I was a kid.

"But then, when I started reading about her, I was so surprised to see that she was the antithesis to what I imagined her to be."

Colin Firth was pretty much born to play King George VI in 2011's biopic The King's Speech, for which he won an Oscar.

Speaking about his preparation for the regal part, he told the BBC: "It wasn't an easy one to research because the Royal Family don't let you get that close, so one is dependent on written material.

"The footage of George VI was useful - not so much as material to imitate, but because I saw something in the quality of the man.

"There's a humanity and an unassuming decency about him which I tried to focus on."

Helen Mirren won an Academy Award for her titular turn as the Queen in Peter Morgan's 2006 acclaimed film.

The story centres on the aftermath of Princess Diana's death, and the struggle between the Monarch and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair as they attempt to reach a compromise on how the royal family should respond to Diana's death – balancing the family's need for privacy, and the public's demand for an outward show of mourning.

The actress recently announced that she will be playing another famous royal as Catherine the Great in an upcoming HBO drama.

"I am very excited by the possibility of embodying a woman from history who grabbed and then wielded great power," Helen told Variety.

"She re-wrote the rules of governance by a woman, and succeeded to the extent of having the word "Great" attached to her name, Catherine the Great."