The Crown's writer calls the Queen a ‘countryside woman of limited intelligence’

Morgan said monarch 'would have much preferred looking after her dogs and breeding horses to being queen'

Picture: (Getty / Chris Jackson)

The writer of award-winning Netflix drama The Crown has referred to the Queen as a woman of “limited intelligence” and claimed the royal family is a “deranged institution”.

Peter Morgan, the man behind The Audience and The Queen told the Sunday Times Magazine that if he had been told he would writing a series of dramas about Queen Elizabeth II he would not have believed it.

“I wouldn’t have guessed there would be anything more to say about this countryside woman of limited intelligence who would have much preferred looking after her dogs and breeding horses to being queen,” he said.

Morgan, who is described as a staunch republican, is impressed however at the monarch’s ability to survive without any “catastrophic errors” while leaders in Parliament have seen their careers end over their decisions, calling the royals “survival organisms, like a mutating virus”.

“Look at how many prime ministers are wheeled out in coffins,” after having made fools of themselves, he told the magazine, “and yet she survives. It is clearly a deranged institution and a completely insane system, but perhaps it’s the insanity that makes it work.”

Claire Foy, who won a Golden Globe for her performance in the series, will star again as the Queen on Netflix from 8 December, in the show’s second season.

Olivia Colman, who won a Bafta for her performance in Broadchurch and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the spy chief in The Night Manager, will be taking over the role from Foy in seasons three and four, as the drama moves into the royal’s life in the 1960s.

​Foy said she was “apoplectic with joy” when she found out Colman would be the next Queen.

“I just love her, I admire her so much and the idea that we sort of will be doing the same job but not actually working together is just enough – I’m honoured by that,” she said.

Colman said she is thrilled to be part of the show and was “utterly gripped” watching it.

Peter Morgan wrote The Crown, The Queen and The Audience (Getty Images)

“I think Claire Foy is an absolute genius – she’s an incredibly hard act to follow,” she said. “I’m basically going to re-watch every episode and copy her,” she told the BBC.

Series three is expected to air in 2019.