The Crown: Netflix releases first pictures of season four

Royal drama returns to screens this November

Netflix has released the first images from the forthcoming fourth season of its hit royal drama The Crown.

The pictures offer fans a glimpse at Olivia Colman, who is reprising the role of Queen Elizabeth, having taken over from Claire Foy in the series’ third season.

Among the characters also pictured is Gillian Anderson, who is playing former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) and Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman) in 'The Crown' (Alex Bailey/Netflix)

Season four is set during the end of the 1970s, as Elizabeth looks to safeguard the line of succession by finding a bride for Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor), still a swinging bachelor at 30.

The series also charts the growing tensions between Thatcher and the queen, as the prime minister leads the country into the Falklands War.

Gillian Anderson and Stephen Boxer as Margaret and Dennis Thatcher, outside 10 Downing St (Des Willie/Netflix)

Emma Corrin will play Lady Diana Spencer, whose growing popularity among the British public forms one of the series’ secondary storylines.

The Crown also stars Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, Tobias Menzies as the Duke of Edinburgh, Erin Doherty as Princess Anne, Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker Bowles and Marion Bailey as the Queen Mother.

Emma Corrin as Princess Diana (Des Willie/Netflix)

Season three of The Crown received mixed reviews upon its release.

In a three-star write-up for The Independent, Ed Power wrote: “As with the real Elizabeth, it is grand yet a bit colourless, gilded but never quite glamorous. 

Pincess Diana (Emma Corrin) and Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor) are seen walking by a line of photographers (Ollie UptonNetflix)

“Everything it does is in lockstep, as if hidebound by conventions as inflexible as the ones which bind the monarch in real life.”

The Crown will be on Netflix from 15 November.