Season two of The Crown arrived this past weekend, and with it, a raunchy new storyline courtesy of Princess Margaret’s relationship with Antony Armstrong-Jones. While the first season of the hit Netflix show relied heavily on innuendo to signal its sex scenes, actress Vanessa Kirby has revealed that they decided to be a little more explicit in season two, although you still won’t be catching a glimpse of the ‘royal boob’.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she talked about the progression of her character Margaret’s relationship with the rakish photographer on screen (played by Matthew Goode), and how the woeful lack of air time it gets meant that they had to be clever in what they showed: ‘We didn't have much screen time to show what [Margaret and Antony] are actually like together, now that they're together,’ she said. ‘It was really important that the sequence of them having sex, in whatever capacity, really represented what their relationship was like, and so we wanted to put all the different elements in with the playfulness and that they were matches for each other and the vulnerability with her feeling like, 'Oh my God, my heart's on the line and I think you're amazing and I just want you to love me back as much as I love you,' as well as the sexuality and sensuality.’
She also went on to explain why they decided to avoid nudity, despite the couple’s passionate relationship: ‘I read a lot about how matched they were as sexual partners and how intense that was at the beginning. The nudity, we then thought we don't need to tell that story, in a way, and that maybe it would be better represented in me throwing my shoes at him in the face or him grabbing me or me slapping him, and it became more about that. But we did have nipple covers. They were on high alert. They were on standby.’
There was a more explicit sex scene planned for the couple, but Kirby told HelloGiggles that it was cut and swapped for the more sedate version: ‘There was originally a sex scene between Margaret and Antony that was supposed to be really important for her to finally meet her man, come together with him,’ she explained. ‘It wasn’t raunchy at all in the end, it was respectful. We had a big debate on whether to show royal boob or not. We decided they don't want to see royal boob, thank God.’
Matthew Goode, who plays Armstrong-Jones, doesn’t quite escape the no-nudity ban though, as he stars in what is perhaps the most shocking sex scene of the series, which shows him participating in a threesome with a married couple. It’s perhaps fitting considering that in real life he was known for his endless extramarital romantic dalliances, even fathering a love child who was born during his honeymoon with the princess.
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