Faux 'Fairytale Image': Actor Michael Sheen 'Would Not Want to Have' a Royal Life Despite Playing Scandal-Ridden Prince Andrew in New Miniseries
Acclaimed Welsh actor Michael Sheen played Prince Andrew in a new miniseries, but would never want to live like a British royal.
Michael Sheen, who memorably played Prime Minister Tony Blair in the 2006 film The Queen, is now taking a crack at portraying Prince Andrew in A Very Royal Scandal, but he would never want his life.
"No," the award-winning star told an outlet when asked if he would ever want to be royal. "The fairytale image of it seems so extraordinary – living in palaces and having everything you want and servants and all that kind of stuff. But the reality seems to be that there are far more restrictions than there are freedoms. No amount of wealth or assets or privilege can make up for not being able to have basic sort of freedoms that a lot of us take for granted. So no, I would not want to have that life."
The series, set to release on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday, September 19, explores the days leading up to the disgraced Duke of York's "disastrous" November 2019 interview with Emily Maitlis. Sheen admitted to being surprised by his suggestion that the royal family frequently makes "deals" with the media to support their image.
"I'd always quite naively imagined that the media and the royal family were quite separate institutions," he added.
"But then it became clear that there’s all these sort of negotiations that go on between them, and there’s a kind of, you know, 'Well, if you do this, then we’ll do that. And if you give us this interview, we’ll hide this thing," the Frost/Nixon actor continued. "You know, it’s a real — there are deals being done all the time between the two institutions, which I found fascinating, and I didn’t realize that. That was a big surprise."
Sheen's performance as Blair in the 2006 film alongside Helen Mirren's portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II, won praise and awards. However, the performer's 2009 meeting with the real Elizabeth II led to the sovereign "shoving him away" after collecting an OBE honor from Her Majesty.
"She must meet so many people, presumably a lot of people get a bit rabbit in the headlights with her," the star of The Special Relationship revealed in 2022. "So she does this thing where she shakes your hand and then when it's time to go, she just kind of shoves you away."
He later returned the medal in 2017 to voice his opinions about the Crown without being a "hypocrite."
In his current interview, the actor concluded by highlighting the sometimes "soap opera" nature of the British monarchy, and stated, "The royal family is so controlled with what gets out. So you’ve got, on the one hand, very stage-managed photographs and interviews and personal appearances, and then you’ve got, gossip and rumor and, 'The person who used to be security guard said…' And you don’t know what people’s agendas are."
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Fox News reported on Sheen's remarks.
