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The Crown star Tobias Menzies opens up about Prince Philip's relationship with son Charles

The pair don't have many scenes together in season three

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Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
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Tobias Menzies, who will be portraying Prince Philip in The Crown season three, has opened up about the royal's relationship with his eldest son, Prince Charles, and how it will be portrayed in the new series of the popular Netflix show. The Outlander actor revealed to EW that he thought Philip was a "difficult" father, explaining: "We spend very little time together, and I think that’s very much what Peter [Morgan, showrunner] feels is the truth of that relationship. It’s interesting, I’m constantly sort of trying to warm it up a bit, because I think I might ever so slightly disagree with that idea. I think he is a difficult father, but I don’t think he’s a negligent father or a disinterested father. I get the sense that they’re very different people and his fatherly concern for Charles manifests as slight bullying. But I don’t think he’s uninvolved."

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Tobias opened up about the royals' father son relationship

He added that Philip appears to be closer with his daughter, Princess Anne, in season three, explaining: "We see more of him with Anne [Erin Doherty]. There seems to be a lot of evidence that Anne is a lot more like him, and he gets on a lot more easily with Anne. She’s more of a chip off the old block, as it were, more similar in personality, whereas Charles is much more sensitive as a human."

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The Crown will return on 17 November

Fans won't have much longer to wait for new episodes of The Crown, as season three drops on Netflix on Sunday 17 November. The series will return with Olivia Colman taking over the main role from Claire Foy, while Helena Bonham Carter will play Princess Margaret with Ben Daniels as Tony Armstrong-Jones. Olivia previously opened up about speaking to Claire about taking over the iconic role, explaining: "She was just very supportive. She said I'll have a lovely time, everyone on it is amazing; the voice coaching is impeccable. Because they were all amazing, so I'm just full of fear because you don't want to be the one who screws it up. She's lovely and she said I can call her anytime."

READ: Helena Bonham Carter reveals hilarious real life meeting with Princess Margaret