The Crown's Tobias Menzies Reflects on Prince Philip's Death
When Prince Philip passed away earlier this year at the age of 99, tributes and remembrances poured out around the world, both from people who knew the Duke of Edinburgh personally, and from those who had never met him, but instead saw him as a steadfast cultural presence.
Upon the royal's death, Tobias Menzies, the Outlander and Game of Thrones actor, who played Prince Philip in seasons third and fourth seasons of Netflix's The Crown, found himself in an unusual position.
“Of course, it’s an odd cultural position to be in, to be have been the most recent person to have portrayed him at the time when he passed away,” Menzies told Radio Times.
“But truly, you know—I never met the man. I didn’t know him, you know. We were making a dramatisation of parts of his life. It was quite interesting, because I did get asked quite a bit around that time [of Prince Philip’s death] to go onto shows and comment and talk about him, which really didn’t feel comfortable at all, because in a very fundamental way, I don’t know him.”
Per Radio Times, Menzies “felt disconcerted at the idea of being approached as a spokesperson in the wake of Prince Philip’s death.”
“I did my best to get close and try and understand and bring him to a screen. But that is, you know, fundamentally a very different thing than the man and his life, which was a very long and very varied and rather extraordinary life – a small bit of which we try to, you know, bring to life in our show,” Menzies said. “So, if I’m really honest, I’m wary to sort of confuse the two things really. Yes, and I feel fairly sure that he wouldn’t want me to confuse the two either. He certainly wouldn’t want me giving forth about his life.”
All that said, Menzies did send a tweet in honor of the late royal. He posted:
“If I know anything about the Duke of Edinburgh I'm fairly sure he wouldn't want an actor who portrayed him on TV giving their opinion on his life, so I'll leave it to Shakespeare.
'O good old man! how well in thee appears / The constant service of the antique world...'
RIP”
The Crown showrunner Peter Morgan has made a habit of replacing the entire cast of the series every two seasons, so it's unlikely fans will see Menzies play Philip again. Instead, in seasons five and six, the Queen's consort will be portrayed by Jonathan Pryce. Menzies is expected to appear in the second season of Modern Love later this year.
You Might Also Like