Emma Corrin was hospitalised while filming a dangerous scene of The Crown

(Image credit: Des Willie/Netflix)

With the coronavirus-enforced lockdown 3.0 isolating us once more to our homes, we have never been more ready to binge watch The Crown again.

Yes, The Crown season four landed on Netflix in November, earning 4 Golden Globes at this week's virtual ceremony.

The fourth season saw its star-studded second cast return, with Olivia Coleman reprising her role as Queen Elizabeth, Helena Bonham Carter playing Princess Margaret and Game of Thrones’ Tobias Menzies returning to his role as Prince Philip.

It is the storyline around Josh O’Connor, The Crown’s Prince Charles, however that got everyone talking, joined by Emerald Fennel (Camilla Parker-Bowles) and Emma Corrin (Princess Diana), to act out the highly publicised and very controversial affair.

Emma Corrin has stolen the show as Princess Diana, from the uncanny voice and remake of iconic fashion moments to the painfully raw scenes of her sadness. It's great (Golden Globe winning) acting, but according to Emma, it came at a cost.

The actress opened up recently to Glamour about filming the fourth season, involving one incident where her oxygen levels dropped so low that she was hospitalised.

She and Josh O'Connor were filming in Spain to recreate Charles and Diana's 1983 tour of Australia, and one scene proved a little too dangerous.

'I’m asthmatic and had been ill for a while with a cough,' Emma explained. 'I had to film a scene in a freezing-cold swimming pool. It was the hardest scene to film because I was genuinely keeping myself alive treading water.'

She continued: 'We were meant to be flying back that night to the UK and went past a hospital to get antibiotics. The doctors gave me an oxygen test and said, "We can’t let you go because your oxygen levels are so low," so I was hospitalised.'

The hospital staff were reportedly very aware of who she was and wanted to ensure that Emma wasn't recognised, reportedly even asking her: 'Would you like us to put a cardboard box over your head so no one recognises you?'

The Crown season four is on Netflix.

Jenny Proudfoot
Features Editor

Jenny Proudfoot is an award-winning journalist, specialising in lifestyle, culture, entertainment, international development and politics. She has worked at Marie Claire UK for seven years, rising from intern to Features Editor and is now the most published Marie Claire writer of all time. She was made a 30 under 30 award-winner last year and named a rising star in journalism by the Professional Publishers Association.