Claire Foy says love for Imelda Staunton enticed her back to The Crown

Claire Foy on the Graham Norton Show (Matt Crossick/PA)

Claire Foy has said she reprised her role as the Queen in the latest series of The Crown because of her love for Imelda Staunton and because “it is a lovely thing to do”.

The actress, 38, appears in a flashback scene that opens the fifth series of the Netflix drama, showing the late Queen’s visit to Clydebank in 1953 to launch the Royal Yacht Britannia.