The Crown’s newest stars Ed McVey and Luther Ford are already proper fashion boys – and they haven’t even appeared on your screens yet. Following in the clompy, derby-clad footsteps of their series stablemate and newly minted fashion darling Emma Corrin, the pair are burning up on the red carpet long before their debut as Princes William and Harry in the Netflix drama’s final season. They’ve appeared at Paris Fashion Week, the British Fashion Awards, and, most recently, at The Crown’s LA and London premieres. They’re both in the middle of packing for another premiere in Oslo. It sounds exhausting. “But I can’t complain,” McVey says. “It’s been lovely.”
Despite jetting around in absurdly good fits from Fendi and Saint Laurent, the duo would be the first to admit their lack of fashion expertise. “This is definitely a new world of dressing up, which I am really, really enjoying,” Ford says. In his day-to-day life, his preferred outfit is “jumpers, big t-shirts, baggy trousers and trainers, please,” but he’s loved his crash course in menswear. “In a way, it’s a version of you,” he says of himself on the red carpet. “It’s a heightened reality. The exciting part is in wearing clothes that you wouldn’t normally wear, and I enjoy that.”
On the other hand, McVey’s fashion baptism has brought a latent interest in style to the fore. He’s always experimented with clothes, wearing “bright, ridiculous and garish” colours in his teenage years. He recalls a particular pair of neon orange leggings: “Wait.. not leggings – joggers!” he says, pausing to laugh. “But I looked like a traffic light most of the time.” As he got older he started thrift shopping. Now, thanks to The Crown, he’s working with designers like Ami and Giorgio Armani and building his own personal style as an actor. “I’m getting more and more knowledgeable about it and therefore more and more excited,” he says.
Neither considered themselves royal fanatics before joining the series. But the magnitude of joining not just a Netflix behemoth but portraying the country’s future king and his brother was immense. Ford focused on showrunner Peter Morgan’s scripts and avoided the tabloid buzz: “I think if you were open to everything out there, it would become overwhelming.” Still, Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was published as he was prepping for the role and the audiobook made for excellent research material. “It was very helpful from a voice perspective, even though his voice has changed,” he says. “You can embrace it to a certain extent but also there’s just too much.”
In the midst of their hectic schedules McVey and Ford have taken advantage of any chance to decompress. Ford describes a “glorious” day going for a walk and a pub lunch with their co-star Meg Bellamy, who plays a young Kate Middleton. It was the calm before the storm before the selfies come calling. “There’s so much of [this experience] that is quite hard to explain in terms of how it feels,” McVey explains. “In those quiet moments we can really unpack it all.”
Like the royal brothers, McVey and Ford have been treated like a package deal. That on-screen dynamic has bled a little into their working lives. Because of his prior drama school experience and time spent in the West End versus Ford as a first time actor, McVey found himself being protective of his TV brother. “This seems fairly self-righteous and I don’t intend it to be,” he says. “But it felt easier subconsciously to go into that older brother feeling of knowing the ropes more and wanting to guide him through that process.”
McVey was the first to be cast and when he did a chemistry test with Ford, they bonded immediately. “We just have fun and we get on, so it’s easy,” Ford says. “It would be really difficult if we found each other just slightly annoying.” McVey describes their friendship through filming and the press tour as being “forged in that fire.” “It’s an intensely unique experience, so you can’t not have a bond with the people you’re with,” he says.
They both feel more confident at events when they have each other. “You can check in afterwards and you can share the burden a bit,” McVey says. Ford enjoys having McVey with him because it makes the entire experience a lot more relaxed. “When you can laugh with someone at something, everything’s just easier,” he says. “It’s all a bit serious when you’re on your own.”
**Luther: **
Styling: Ben Schofield
Grooming: Charlie Cullen
Ed:
Styling: Holly White
Grooming: Liz Taw
