is a first-time Emmy nominee for his lead role as Prince Charles in , Peter Morgan’s historical drama about the royal family that garnered a total of 18 noms for its sixth and final season. “I talked to Jonathan Pryce first, because I said, ‘You’re being a bit greedy having been nominated twice,’ ” West recalls, laughing, of his co-star who’s also received a guest actor nomination for . West played Prince Charles in seasons five and six of the Netflix series and found the current king to be a man he not only grew to like but someone with whom he shares common interests.
“I think he’s a deeply, deeply thoughtful man and also our most cultured monarch since George IV. I really admire his love of the theater — of Shakespeare, particularly — of gardening and of nature. They’re wonderful attributes, and he has a genuine passion for all those things, particularly acting.
I didn’t really realize he did quite a lot of acting in his youth,” says West. “He’s also a very emotional man, which we’re not used to after the last queen. I rather like that he wears his heart on his sleeve a bit.
” I suppose the first and most important thing I had to do was remember that the guy I was playing is famous and is a real person and you have to use your own emotion and your own response to the situation. It’s difficult with because it was such a well-known show and because Josh O’Connor had done so brilliantly as Charles [in seasons three and four], it was diff.