The Crown star Imelda Staunton reveals outrageous secret about Queen’s wardrobe as she struggles to ‘shake off’ role

THE Crown’s Imelda Staunton says she still wears the clothes she wore to play Queen Elizabeth II.

The actress was at a public event this week in one of the blouses she used to play Her Late Majesty in two series of the Netflix drama.

Imelda, 68, said she had to force herself to lose Elizabeth’s steely royal persona, as her next part is the lead role in a West End musical comedy.

Speaking in Brighton, she said of The Crown: “It was quite a serious job and quite a serious responsibility carrying all that stuff.

“I finished doing that last May and June and shaking that off — so now I can be up and funny — it’s just taken me that time.

“I was doing it day in, day out.

"I knew in 2019 I was doing it, and I started in 2021, so it was a long time. Four years of her in my head.

“The work that went in, you can see it on the screen, every detail from the set to the costumes.

"I’m wearing one of her shirts now.”

Imelda stars in Hello, Dolly! at the London Palladium this summer.