Diana role scared me, says

Elizabeth Debicki as Diana (Image: IMDB)She told this week’s Radio Times: “I was thinking I was completely mad for trying to do this. My sister would find me staring at the sink and would go, ‘Oh, my God, what’s wrong?’ and I’d say, ‘I can’t do it. I don’t know how to’.”Netflix has been criticised for its portrayals of sensitive Royal moments – with many conversations and scenes imagined by scriptwriters.The new series, airing on November 9, has drawn fury from highprofile figures including ex-Prime Minister Sir John Major, while Dame Judi Dench blasted Netflix for “crude sensationalism”.The new series hints at a close intimacy between Prince Philip, who died aged 99 last year, and Countess Mountbatten of Burma Lady Penny, 69.The Duke of Edinburgh is played by Jonathan Pryce, 75, while Lady Penny is portrayed by English actress Natascha McElhone, 52.Sources have claimed Philip’s intimate scenes with Penny may involve “touching hands as he divulges details of his marriage,”This has prompted fury from The Queen’s former press secretary Dickie Arbiter who recently fumed that “just weeks after the nation laid Her Majesty to rest next to Prince Philip, this is very distasteful and cruel rubbish. “Penny was a long-time friend of the whole family. Netflix is not interested in people’s feelings.”Lady Penny has been a mainstay of the Royal Family since she married the grandson of Lord Mountbatten, Norton Knatchbull, in 1979.They became closer when Penny’s daughter died of cancer in 1991 and she was nicknamed “And Also” by staff, as whenever Philip listed guests invited to a function he often ended with “and also Penny”.Jonathan has confessed he was initially a “reluctant viewer” of The Crown. He said: “I’m not a monarchist and I thought I would have very little interest in the Royal Family but my wife Kate and I decided to watch it.”We got to the end of episode one, and we turned to each other and said, ‘Shall we watch another one?’. We just got hooked.”What made me the most nervous is the public’s perception of Philip and whether I could come anywhere close to it.”