Miriam Margolyes to play Queen Victoria in The Windsors
James R | On 20, Feb 2020
Miriam Margolyes (Call the Midwife, Miriam’s Big Fat Adventure) will guest star in the new season of The Windsors as Queen Victoria.
Channel 4’s royal sitcom returns this month, picking things up as Wills (Hugh Skinner) is torn by the older royals deciding to go on strike and Charles (Harry Enfield) trying to persuade him to join forces. When trying to make his decision Wills is given advice by a portrait of Queen Victoria played by Margolyes.
Julia Deakin (Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Simon Day (The Life of Rock with Brian Pern, The Fast Show) will also guest star as Carole and Mike Middleton. Charles and Camilla (Haydn Gwynne) will reluctantly agree to visit the Middletons’ house with Wills and Kate (Louise Ford). While there Charles thinks he hears Mike threatening to chop off his and Camilla’s heads! Charles informs Camilla who takes matters into her own hands and plots to kill the Middletons, but will Wills stop Camilla’s evil plan before it’s too late?
Margolyes comments: “Queen Victoria has always been one of my heroes. I hope she’ll forgive my irreverent portrayal.”
Deakin adds: “I am shocked they let me have a go at this. I love the show and everyone wonders how they get away with it, the answer is… because it’s funny! Carole is a gift, an enigma wrapped in a riddle. So little footage of her actually speaking exists! Less is definitely more. The Windsors version is far from this. Mix Carole and Mike on a weekend with Camilla and Prince Charles. Oh dear!”
Day comments: “Great to be appearing in The Windsors as Mike Middleton. I never thought I would get this close to the royal family.”
The Windsors Season 3 will air from Tuesday 25th February at 10pm Channel 4, with all episodes available to stream on All 4 alongside the first episode.
Tom Durant-Pritchard takes over as Prince Harry on The Windsors
22nd December 2019
The Windsors will return to Channel 4 for a third season, and when they do, they’ll have a new Prince Harry.
Tom Durant-Pritchard will take over the role from Richard Goulding, who played the Prince in the first two seasons. Season 3 of the satirical comedy about the royal family will see Harry, under the orders of his wife Meghan (Kathryn Drysdale), replace his hard drinking and rugger ways with mindfulness and mint tea. Fortunately though his IQ remains unchanged: 8.
Durant-Pritchard says: “I am thrilled to be joining The Windsors family… it has been a pleasure playing such a well-loved character.”
Writers Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie adds: “Tom was brilliant and fitted into our Royal Family perfectly. Harry’s got plenty on his plate this season – one week he gets mistaken for a brain surgeon and has to perform a highly invasive brain operation. Does he pull it off? You’ll have to tune in to find out! (But if you’re too busy: no).”
Also this season The Fab Four (Wills (Hugh Skinner), Kate (Louise Ford), Harry and Meghan (Kathryn Drysdale) are feuding, Charles (Harry Enfield) has his eye on the top job and in his new role as defender of ALL faiths, conjures up the devil, Camilla (Haydn Gwynne) continues her scheming ways and locks horns with Carol Middleton over who’s going to be the next Queen: Camilla or Kate, with Beatrice (Ellie White) getting married, Eugenie (Celeste Dring), and Fergie (Katy Wix) worry whose going to walk her down the aisle now Andrew (Tim Wallers) has ‘withdrawn from public life’, Pippa (Morgana Robinson) inveigles her way into Harry and Meghan’s life when she gets a job as their nanny , we see a ‘fun’ side to Princess Anne (Vicki Pepperdine) when she falls for David Beckham, and a hapless Prince Edward (Matthew Cottle) falls victim to Bulgarian loan-sharks.
The Windsors Season 3 will air in the new year on Channel 4.