The Crown actors reveal secret to depicting William and Kate romance

Fans of The Crown will encounter some new faces when the second part of the show's sixth and final season premieres on Netflix Dec. 14.

The new episodes introduce Luther Ford as Prince Harry, Ed McVey as his older brother Prince William, and Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton. The romance between William and Kate will be front and center — but by the time McVey and Bellamy began playing their respective roles, they were already very familiar with each other thanks to an audition process McVey says was months in the making.

"It was long. I think it was over six months and I had eight auditions," McVey tells EW. Bellamy recalls that before scoring the role, the pair even took part in a cast read-through. "That was crazy, to not be cast, but you’re still reading these parts," she says. "You feel like you’re the only one, and then you go back to auditions, and there's like, six other people that look like Kate. So it was kind of like a rollercoaster, it wasn’t traditionally chronological, but it worked out."

The actors agree that the long audition process helped them recreate onscreen the romance which developed between William and Kate, who met while studying at Scotland's University of St. Andrews. McVey explains that he and Bellamy were "able to work on our relationship before we’d even got on set. So by the time we got there, it was like we were already running with it really."

"And we did loads of rehearsals with the directors, which was so helpful, to get to know one another before you’re acting with them," adds Bellamy. "By the time it got to set we felt very safe with each other so we could play around with the scenes."

In contrast, Ford says that securing the role of Harry was "quite a short process, because I think it was very late in the day. I think it was about three weeks. I got it through an open casting call. And it was on Facebook. And I was like, that can’t be right! Surely not! It escalated very quickly. I didn’t expect [to get the role] because it’s such a prestigious show."

Ford explains that he was helped in his task of portraying Prince Harry, who is depicted as something of a black sheep in comparison to William, by both his own lack of thespian training and the caliber of the returning cast, which includes Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, and Dominic West, who plays Prince Charles.

"Coming from the background that I have, in terms of I hadn’t gone to drama school, it was quite easy to slip into," says the actor. "Because, when you go on the set of The Crown for the first time, you’re probably going to feel like a black sheep. It takes you quite a while to feel like you belong in that environment. The actors that are on The Crown, it’s ridiculous. I think it felt quite natural. I could be on the sidelines. It felt good there. Yeah, love that. Just watching."

Part 1 of The Crown season 6 is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 debuts Dec. 14. 

Watch the trailer for Part 2 below.

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