- Lesley Manville plays Princess Margaret in seasons 5 and 6 of Netflix’s “The Crown.”
- Manville told Entertainment Weekly she almost met the royal in the late 80s at Mick Jagger’s Mustique home.
- According to Manville, she missed out on Princess Margaret playing drums with Mick Jagger.
“The Crown” actress Lesley Manville missed meeting the royal she would later portray while vacationing in Mustique in the 80s.
Manville told Entertainment Weekly that she and her then-husband Gary Oldman were vacationing on the island at the same time as Princess Margaret in the late 80s. The Caribbean island is a popular vacation spot amongst celebrities, and one of Princess Margaret’s favorites, according to Town and Country Magazine.
Manville was staying with David Bowie in his vacation home with Oldman and their newborn baby, the outlet reports.
The actress shared that she wasn’t feeling well at the time and left the island early, only to receive a call from Bowie about everything she missed.
“[Bowie] then rang me and said, ‘It’s such a shame you had to go home.’ The night that I left, they’d been invited around to Mick Jagger’s, and Princess Margaret was there playing the drums!” Manville told EW.
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Marie Claire reported that the Queen’s sister was known for her partying habits on the remote Caribbean island. According to her former lady-in-waiting Lady Anne Glenconner, whose husband owns the island, vacationing in Mustique was an “adventure” for the late royal. “[It was] something she’d never had in her life,” Glenconner told the outlet.
Though Manville’s close encounter with Princess Margaret never came to be, the actress said she would’ve loved to meet her all those years ago.
“So I would have absolutely adored to have met her and seen her playing the drums. Yeah, but it didn’t happen I’m afraid because I got poorly and had to come home, which is rather annoying,” Manville shared.
“The Crown” season five will be available to stream on Netflix on November 9.
Season five will follow the royal family into the 1990s, featuring dramatized reenactments of Princess Diana’s BBC tell-all interview and King Charles’ alleged plan to replace Queen Elizabeth.