The Crown series 5: Princess Anne actress is REVEALED as Claudia Harrison, 45

The actress playing Princess Anne in The Crown’s fifth season has been revealed as The IT Crowd and Humans star Claudia Harrison. 

The RADA-trained performer was spotted in character on-set at Scotland’s Covesea Lighthouse on Tuesday, where she was shooting opposite Imelda Staunton, who is taking on the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix show. 

Claudia, 45, boasts a number of TV gigs on her CV as well as a high-profile co-star following her turn in 2005 thriller Archangel, where she starred opposite Daniel Craig in the show about a mystery concerning dictator Josef Stalin.

As well as Imelda, Claudia was also shooting alongside Theo Fraser Steele, who is thought to be playing Anne’s second husband Timothy Laurence.

Who’s who? The actress playing Princess Anne in The Crown’s fifth season has been revealed as The IT Crowd and Humans star Claudia Harrison

After she was seen on set of Tuesday, tongues began wagging over the identity of who was playing the royal and also over her remarkable likeness to Princess Anne. 

One Twitter account entitled Royal Watcher, shared a message reading: ‘Ok I think the actress playing Princess Anne is called Claudia Harrison? #TheCrown’, alongside a trio of images of Claudia in different roles as well as an image from on-set. 

Other actresses suggested by fans included Notting Hill’s Gina McKee, 57, The Shape Of Water’s Sally Hawkins, 45, Sabotage’s Olivia Williams, 53, Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin, 44, and Keeping Faith’s Eve Myles, 43. 

The role of Princess Anne was previously played by Erin Doherty in 2019’s third and last year’s fourth series on The Crown.  

It’s her? One Twitter account entitled Royal Watcher, shared a message reading: ‘Ok I think the actress playing Princess Anne is called Claudia Harrison? #TheCrown’, alongside a trio of Claudia in different roles as well as an image from on-set

Look familiar? The RADA-trained performer was spotted in character on-set at Scotland’s Covesea Lighthouse on Tuesday, where she was shooting opposite Imelda Staunton, who is taking on the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix show

Here they are: Claudia is playing an older incarnation of Princess Anne (pictured, right, in 2016), with the cast appearing to recreate scenes which saw her visit a stables in Covesea in 2002

Claudia is an associate teacher at RADA (the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts) and is listed on the academy’s website as: ‘After a degree in drama from Birmingham University, Claudia graduated from RADA in 2000… 

‘As a professional actor she has had a varied and exciting career, including lead roles in TV, film, theatre and radio…

‘Her most recent work includes Humans for Channel 4, The Painkiller with Rob Brydon and Kenneth Branagh (Lyric, Belfast), Lucan with Rory Kinnear (ITV) and The D-Day Reports series with Benedict Cumberbatch (Radio 4)… 

Then: Claudia starred opposite Daniel Craig in 2005 show Archangel about a mystery concerning dictator Josef Stalin

Line of Duty who!? She is seen with Line Of Duty star Adrian Dunbar in 2003 movie Suspicion 

Starring role: Claudia is pictured with Anthony Head in movie Reversals in 2003

Seen: Claudia playing Rebecca Lomax in Suspicion 

‘She has been involved in the New Voices seasons at the Old Vic, numerous workshops for the National Theatre Studio, Royal Court and comedy improvisation for Talkback Thames.’ 

In 2006, she starred in one episode of The IT Crowd as Delina and in 2015 she was in four episodes of Humans as Dr. Aveling. 

In 2016, Claudia featured in three episodes of Dawn French-fronted show Delcious where she played Janice Woods. 

Due to the location of filming at Covesea Lighthouse, production was stopped multiple times due to RAF fighters jets flying overheard to land at the nearby RAF Lossiemouth base, situated just a few hundred metres away.

It seemed that the cast were filming scenes which saw Anne pay a visit to Covesea in 2002 to appear at a stables, because she was President of the Riding for Disabled Association.

Mr and Mrs: Joining the Princess Anne actress was The Thick Of It star Theo Fraser Steele, who appeared to be playing Anne’s husband Timothy Laurence, with the pair filming a 2002 visit Anne made to a stables in Covesea

Happy: Princess Anne and Timothy, who married in 1992, are pictured above after celebrating their first wedding anniversary in 1993

Back to work! Imelda Staunton, 65, was also filming at Scotland’s Covesea Lighthouse (the Queen is pictured right in 1991)

It’s thought that the Queen was not present for the visit, meaning it’s possible producers have added her involvement for dramatic effect during the scenes. 

The stable’s owner, Ernest Graham, was honoured to receive such a prestigious guest, as he was a respected member of the community offering free riding lessons to young girls.  

However, Graham was later jailed for six years after being found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage girl in 2004, but his sentence was later reduced on appeal because the victim was discovered to be 13, not 12. 

Throwback: The role of Princess Anne was previously played by Erin Doherty in The Crown’s third and fouth series (Pictured left: Princess Anne at Balmoral in 1983; Pictured right: Erin as Princess Anne in The Crown)