Scottish actor who played the monarch in recent film Spencer on what she learned about the Queen from the experience
Stella Gonet played the Queen on the big screen in Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, a drama set over Christmas in Sandringham in 1991, starring Kristen Stewart as Diana. Gonet reveals how she channelled the monarch for the role – and what other people’s reactions taught her about the real woman.
As soon as I’d come out of makeup with the wig on, people changed totally towards me. It was extraordinary. “Can I get you anything? Can I do anything for you? Are you all right?” Normally people are very tactile with me but they’d suddenly move out of my way. There was just immediate respect. It was as if I was on a little horse that meant they couldn’t get too close.
The German chap who owned the Rolls-Royce we were using was a passionate royalist and so thrilled. He couldn’t believe it when he met me. He just thought I was the Queen. I thought: “This is just insane. I can’t turn round in broad Scots and say: ‘Don’t be silly! I’m just pretending.’ People seemed to really love and respect her.
