The Oscar winner, who looks graceful in a billowing green gown for a Harper’s Bazaar photoshoot, changed her gait, accent and the way she sits for the third season of The Crown. In an interview with the magazine, the 45-year-old said: “I can’t just sit like me, I have to sit like her and look like pictures of her. They have been teaching me how to walk – I’m terrible at that, I have no physical awareness. I walk a bit like a farmer one of the directors said.”
Colman also said it was hard to get the Queen’s accent right because of her “really unusual vowel sounds”.
She added: “I thought that general ‘posh’ would do it, but apparently not.
“If you’re saying ‘yes’, you say ‘ears’. It’s fun to do, isn’t it? Very hard to stop. Ears.”
Olivia is taking over as the Queen from Claire Foy, who played Her Majesty in the first two seasons of the Netflix show.
The new series of The Crown – which covers 1964 to 1976 – will also see Tobias Menzies follow in Matt Smith’s footsteps as the Duke of Edinburgh.
Foy and Smith were at the centre of a pay dispute last year when it emerged he earned more than the lead star.
When asked if she was being paid as much as her on-screen husband Menzies, 45, Colman said: “I bloody well hope so. It’s not called Philip, it’s called The Crown.”
The November issue of Harper’s Bazaar is out on Thursday.