Dominic West he said that reading his memoirs Duke of Sussex, ‘Spare’, influenced the way he portrayed him now King Charles III in a key scene of the series “The Crown”.

The English actor joined the cast of the hit Netflix drama series about the UK royal family in season five, playing Charles at the age of 40. He reprises the role in the current and final season of the show, which is entering a new decade.

The fourth episode of the first part of the sixth season – released in November – deals with the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death in Paris in 1997. In the first scenes of the episode, Charles played by Dominic West is seen waking up his two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry to announce the tragic news.

Referring to the filming of this particular scene, the actor told Variety that reading Harry’s book “slightly affected the performance of this key scene.”

In his memoirs, Harry described the moment he learned of his mother’s death. He wrote that Charles put one hand on his knee, assuring him that “it’s going to be okay.” Prince Harry explained that the move “was big for him”.

The actor also mentioned that he has been reading all the press articles about Charles III of the United Kingdom since taking on the role.

The way “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan presents Charles in season five differs from the way he presents him in season six, West said.

“We had a few conversations, particularly about Charles as a father and how warm or attached he was to his sons,” she added. “I thought it was a more honest portrayal of him. Peter saw him as much more distant than his sons” write down.

“We had a very interesting conversation with someone who had seen him with his sons. He said: “What I saw was a closeness.” And then, of course, Harry’s book comes out and we didn’t know what to think!” explained.