The Crown‘s casting of Prince William and Kate Middleton in its upcoming series has won praise at the royal couple’s former university.
Stars Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy were seen at St Andrew’s University during filming of Season 6 of the award-winning Netflix show.
A clip of one of their scenes went viral after being shared to TikTok by a current student who wrote: “The casting directors were spot on.”
The footage, liked more than 40k times and viewed more than 475k times, was captioned: “Watch The Crown be filmed on my uni campus.”
One comment, however, suggested the casting may have been better in relation to one royal than the other: “Kate looks nothing like Kate but William is spot on.”
Season 6 of the show—expected to be its last—will include Princess Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997 and the period of royal mourning that followed.
It will also show Prince William growing up and meeting Kate at St Andrew’s University, where their romance blossomed.
William famously fell for Kate after seeing her on the catwalk during a student fashion show.
The Prince and Princess of Wales went to a 600th anniversary dinner for the university at the Museum of Metropolitan Art, in New York City, on December 9, 2014, where William gave a speech about their time there.
He said: “It’s a great pleasure for Catherine and me to be here tonight. I don’t need to tell all of you just how much St Andrew’s University means to me and Catherine.
“It goes without saying to all of you in this room that the education we received there was first class.”
“It’s often said by the undergraduates of St Andrews,” he continued, “that you leave the university in either one of two states: either married or an alcoholic.
“Fortunately for Catherine and me, we ended up married. But for those of you who are parents of undergraduates right now, I give you one tip: ask your son or daughter over the holidays if they know what Ma Bells is. If they answer yes, perhaps remove their wine glass out of reach.”
In May 2021, the couple went back to the university for a visit and days earlier the Prince of Wales spoke of his fond memories of their time there.
“I spent four very happy and formative years studying at St Andrews,” he told the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. “The town and the students left me alone to get on with student life, allowing me to share their freedoms and their pubs.”
Jack Royston is the chief royal correspondent at Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
The Crown‘s casting of Prince William and Kate Middleton in its upcoming series has won praise at the royal couple’s former university.
