The Crown: 10 Secrets That Will Change the Way You Watch the Show

The Crown is a drama—and a brilliant one at that—but between takes, it plays a bit more like a comedy. Watch Olivia Colman's hilarious 2019 Oscar speech and, well, you'll get why.

So naturally, Colman's behind-the-scenes stories were a highlight during interviews for the show's fourth season. Take this gem, which she shared with journalists: “My first time on The Crown, our director, Ben Caron, would play the show's theme music just before I'd walk on set to make me feel like I was really in it. I'd be like, ‘What the fuck is this? Stop it! I’ll just act it!’”

Or this exchange she had with costar Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana:

While season three was not unlike starting school with all new classmates, season four is better compared to summer camp. “No doubt, it was a lot less scary coming back,” Bonham Carter says. “Even [creator Peter Morgan] said, ‘Oh, you’re all so much better!’”

“It was a bit more like a family in season four,” Colman adds. “There’s that teasing and protecting and loving and joking that happens in normal families. It was such a joy to do and so much fun. We all loved it.”

So while we patiently wait for season five to begin production, we uncovered some of the most surprising facts about The Crown's fourth season, including secrets of the Ibble Dibble game, and which actor's bra was stuffed with birdseed. Settle in with a cup of tea and a scone, and prepare to rewatch season four with these in mind.

Gillian Anderson fell out of a Land Rover during the Balmoral scenes.

During the virtual premiere of The Crown season four, Olivia Colman revealed that some of her favorite scenes took place at Ardverikie Estate in Scotland, which stood in for Balmoral, the estate where the queen is reportedly most at home. “We had a ball,” Colman says. But one person who wasn't as in love with the venue—at least in Peter Morgan's version—was prime minister Margaret Thatcher. And apparently, it was a bit tough for Gillian Anderson, who played Thatcher, as well. “She nearly fell out of the Land Rover, which was funny,” Colman says with a laugh. “Yeah, that was hilarious," Anderson deadpans.

While the moment would have actually made perfect sense considering Thatcher's fish-out-of-water demeanor in the Scottish countryside, director Paul Whittington ultimately decided not to use the footage. “It was a subject of much discussion,” Morgan says. "In the end, Paul had his way. I kind of said, ‘Oh, go on!’ But Paul said it’s too funny, and I said, ‘Okay.’

Emma Corrin and Emerald Fennell fought over Josh O’Connor during rehearsal for Diana and Camilla’s lunch scene.

Lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin) and Camilla Parker Bowles (Emerald Fennell) have a very uncomfortable lunch at the appropriately named Menage a Trois restaurant in episode three when Camilla oh-so-casually mentions intimate details only she would know (Fred and Gladys, anyone?). In order to help set the tone of the scene and create tension, lead director and executive producer Benjamin Caron decided to bring Josh O'Connor (Princes Charles) in even though he's not in the scene.

“I had him sitting in the middle of the table, between Emerald and Emma, and one of the exercises was only one of them could put their hand on his,” Caron says. "But if you remember, Camilla is there first, so Emerald put her hand on Josh’s and kept it there throughout the entire scene. It made it really uncomfortable for Emma.”

Says Corrin, “It brought to our attention, regardless of whether Josh was physically there, that we were battling it out over him. It was such an interesting dynamic.”

It was quite odd for O'Connor too. “I remember feeling very strange because I didn’t know if I was supposed to be in character,” he says with a laugh.

“You just wanted us to fight over you as Emma and Emerald,” Fennell (Camilla) says. “I just didn't let go!”

“She had both of her hands on both of his hands,” Corrin remembers. “It showed that Camilla’s presence is always there. Because in all the Diana and Charles scenes, aside from those 15 blissful moments they have in episode six [on the Australia tour], it feels like there’s always an obstacle. There’s always something that’s not right.”

The Crown’s costume designer says this one character caused her the most anxiety to dress

More than 400 costumes were either made or purchased for The Crown's fourth season, but even with the addition of Diana (and her amazing looks), the most difficult costume to reimagine didn't belong to the Princess of Wales. Nor the queen. According to Emmy winner Amy Roberts, the look that made her pause the most was that of Michael Fagan, who played the palace intruder in episode five. “I so wanted to get the character of him right,” Roberts tells Glamour.

She says she was anxious to properly represent his inner turmoil through his clothes because, “I didn't want to fail what he was about and what a broken Britain was about. [Viewers may not] think twice about that, but it was incredibly important to me.” The final look was a hunter green coat with a hoodie, a navy sweater, and dark trousers. "We worked on his look for the better part of the day to get right, without hopefully anybody knowing that.”

As for the trickiest costume, that award goes to the Queen's Trooping the Colour uniform since the details needed to be exactly right. But Diana's wedding dress? “To be honest, it wasn't that difficult,” Roberts says. “It was just the expectation of it.”

Emma Corrin improvised singing “God Save the Queen” while playing drunk.

After Prince Charles proposes, Diana celebrates with her flatmates at Annabel's in Mayfair, a private club known to attract a star-studded crowd. “That was just the funnest thing in the world,” Corrin tells Glamour. “Those girls, they’re just fantastic, phenomenal actors. We got to dance to Stevie Nicks for an afternoon in ridiculous ball gowns.”

But when it came time to stumble out of the club, director Caron said to act drunk. However, that wasn't the easiest direction for the actor. “I'm terrified of acting drunk because I think it can go wrong, so easily,” she tells Glamour. “So I thought, Maybe I should sing the national anthem. I started singing it, drunkenly, on a whim, and he really loved it, so we kept that in.”

The Ibble Dibble game was just as bananas to film as it looked onscreen.

Approximately 16 minutes into the second episode of The Crown season 4, the royal family plays a wild parlor game that leaves the newly elected prime minister Margaret Thatcher—and viewers—dizzied beyond repair. It turns out that Ibble Dibble is a very real drinking game and not as hard to learn as it looks.

“It's fantastic,” Erin Doherty (Princess Anne) tells Glamour. “We were all like, ‘What is this game?!’ and it's a real game!” she says.

So what exactly is it? Well, according to Thrillist, it's a drinking game that involves dotting your face with the charred end of a wine cork. The Ibble Dibble is the “player,” while the Dibble Ibble is the mark you put on your face. “If you get it wrong, you have to put the cork on your head and get a little burnt mark on your face,” Doherty remembers, “It was absolutely impossible to film because everyone was just wetting themselves laughing.”

Doherty also tells Glamour that Marion Bailey, who plays the Queen Mum, couldn't do it. But since her character couldn't do it either, “She couldn't do the couldn't-doing-it, so it was just horrendous. But it was also brilliant. All those scenes at Balmoral where we were just playing games and enjoying ourselves…a lot of it was real because we really were just having a great time.”

Olivia Colman was really sick on her last day of filming.

Suffice it to say, Colman's time on The Crown did not end the way she wanted to. Not only was the wrap party canceled because of the pandemic, but Colman was quite sick during her last day of filming.

During a summer press conference about the show's fourth season, Colman revealed that there were buckets on set in case she needed to throw up. “I was really, really unwell,” she says of what was presumably just a nasty stomach flu. “I had to watch the episode back [recently] and I know I didn’t do a very good job of it because I was trying just not to be sick, so that’s fun to look out for.”

Before you go searching for Colman's last scene in episode 10 of season four, which is when the family gathers for their Christmas portrait, know this: The show films episodes and scenes out of order, so there's a good chance we may never know which scene she's talking about. And did we mention she's an Oscar-winning actor? If anyone can fool us into believe they're well, it's Colman.

A pizza truck was brought in for the Christmas portrait scene.

Colman's final scene wasn't the Christmas portrait scene, but it was for Erin Doherty. And what a day it was. “It was a lot of people,” Doherty remembers. “We got a pizza truck and everyone was eating pizza all day. It was amazing!”

Although Doherty says she'd love a signed copy of the pretend family's Christmas portrait, she'll have the memories of the day forever. “I look at that photo and was like, ‘Oh yeah, I just had a slice of pizza!’”

Something else pretty fantastic? At the 10:05 mark below, you can see a brief clip of Doherty and the cast dancing to ABBA's 1976 hit, “Dancing Queen,” during a break in filming the Christmas episode. Just brilliant.

The Queen Mum’s bra was stuffed with birdseed.

Yep, you read that right: birdseed. “The best thing about Marion [Bailey, who plays the Queen Mum] was squeezing her breasts because they were made out of birdseed!” Helena Bonham Carter admitted at the show's virtual premiere. "Sometimes I just wanted to bring a few birds on!”

Bailey says she has no idea why her bras were stuffed with birdseed, but one can guess it was to weigh the bra down so it would appear her breasts had minimal support. Regardless, Bailey jokes that she “went nowhere near a bird!” during filming.

Filming on the fourth season was cut short because of the pandemic.

As we mentioned above, The Crown films its episodes out of order. So it should come as no surprise that the last few days of filming season four were actually for episode nine, titled “Avalanche.”

However, as production was gearing up to film the tragic snowstorm scenes, the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to shut down Hollywood and shows all over the world. “We only had six days of shooting left,” director Jessica Hobbs reveals. “But of course what we had to shoot was an avalanche on a mountain, so [we had to think], What is it that we need from that story that will affect the journey of Charles and Diana and the breakdown of their marriage, and how could we show that in another way?”

In the end, having to shift gears ended up working out for storytelling purposes. “It forced us into the personal point of view, particularly for Charles—of what [surviving an avalanche] felt like, and how he could never really describe that to someone else,” Hobbs says. “So I think it opened up a good world of possibilities.”

When Vanity Fair asked Morgan about it, he admitted that the show is “missing at least two weeks of filming, but I just hope you can't tell where.” Could have fooled us.

Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter want to come back for the end of The Crown.

Die-hard fans knew it was coming, but it was still so delightful to see the O.G. Queen Elizabeth II, Claire Foy, return for a cameo in episode eight, when the series flashes back to 1947. In the scene, QE2 is in Cape Town, giving a speech about the Commonwealth.

So, given Morgan's idea to work Foy into season four, what are the chances he does the same for Colman once Imelda Staunton takes over in seasons five and six? “I don't want to say anything yet, but I'm toying with a couple of ideas,” he teased at The Crown's season-four virtual premiere.

“Fun!” exclaimed Colman, who started clapping at the mere thought. “Can I be in a scene with Imelda? I've always wanted to work with her!”

Answered Morgan: “I'll see what I can do."

Bonham Carter is also on board. At this summer's press conference, she said not only would she love to have tea with The Crown's original Princess Margaret, Vanessa Kirby—and future portrayer, Lesley Manville—but she wants to make a cameo before the series signs off for good in season six. “We could all be extras in the next two seasons,” she says to Colman and Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip). “We could be the servants [saying lines like], ‘How do you want your tea?’ And ‘Hello, ma’am!'”

Note to Peter Morgan: Make. It. Happen.

Jessica Radloff is the West Coast editor at Glamour. You can follow her on Instagram @jessicaradloff14 to see some of her own BTS photos with the cast.

Originally Appeared on Glamour