Emma Corrin says her brother thought she’d be great as Princess Diana TWO YEARS before she was cast

Emma Corrin has revealed her brother told her she was a perfect fit for the role of Princess Diana two years before she was cast in the Netflix hit.

The Crown star, 25, reflected on her sibling’s intuition during an interview with Variety in their iHeart podcast The Big Ticket on Wednesday.

Explaining how her brother shared his support for her taking the part in 2017, she said: ‘I remember being on holiday with my family maybe when the second season of The Crown had come out and I remember them joking about who was going to play Princess Diana. 

‘One of my brothers was like, “You should play Princess Diana.” I was at university at that time and I was like, “In my wildest dreams.”

‘It’s very strange to think back on those kind of moments now,’ she admitted. 

Emma made her debut in The Crown’s fourth series, playing a younger version of Princess Diana, as the show documented her turbulent marriage to Prince Charles. 

She has won critical acclaim for her portrayal of the late Princess Diana, but casting directors didn’t originally see her as the person for the role until they watched her play against auditioning actresses. 

Emmy-winning casting director Robert Sterne revealed recently to Elle that the tense lunch between Princess Diana and Emerald Fennell’s Camilla was used as an audition scene for the latter role, with Emma only serving as a stand-in reader as Diana.   

Sterne explained: ‘I usually read in all these meetings, but we decided because it was this major scene that we would get somebody to come in [for Diana]. We asked Emma to come in, not thinking about casting Diana at this point.

‘But as she was reading with these Camillas, all the directors and the showrunner were looking more at her and not at the people playing Camilla—who will remain nameless, of course.  

‘When we got to thinking about Diana a year later, there she was in my notes.’

The revelation comes after Kent-born Emma said she ‘understands’ calls by the Culture Secretary to include a disclaimer on the newest series.  

The actress insisted the series doesn’t require a warning as fans are aware the drama is ‘very clearly’ a ‘dramatised version of events.’ 

It comes following calls from Oliver Dowden to state that The Crown is clearly a work of fiction, but Netflix has insisted the series is billed as a drama meaning a disclaimer isn’t needed.   

Emma spoke out on the disclaimer row in an interview with Variety for their iHeart Radio podcast The Big Ticket, saying: ‘It is very clearly a dramatised version of events.’

The actress echoed her co-star Josh O’Connor’s claims that viewers are well aware the series is a work of fiction.  

She added: ‘This is fictitious in the same way people don’t mistake Succession for what actually happened with the Murdochs.

‘I also understand [the request] comes from a place of sensitivity and protectiveness of the Royal Family and Diana.’