Claire Foy and Matt Smith dazzle in ‘The Crown’

Today, Netflix’s hotly anticipated new series “The Crown” (from creator Peter Morgan, “The Queen”) pulls back the curtain on the British royal family.

But their honeymoon phase is cut short by the subsequent death of Elizabeth’s father, King George VI (Jared Harris, “Mad Men”) after which Elizabeth, at only 25 years old, ascends to the throne.

Foy’s and Smith’s performances as young newlyweds whose world is turned upside down serve to humanize Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, who in real life are notoriously reserved.

We spoke with the two stars about the challenges of playing royalty and how there won’t be much “rumpy pumpy” between the on-screen couple.

It must be nerve wracking playing these two iconic figures. Did you grow up watching Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip?

Claire Foy: When you live in England, they’re very much in your lives. There are different points of the year — the Christmas speech, the jubilee — you get used to the celebrations. Harry and William, especially, is our generation. My mom really identified with Diana.

So, you do grow up with an awareness of them, but not an awareness of them when they’re younger, or knowing what their early married life was like, as she [Princess Elizabeth] came to the throne, or all the struggles that we fictionally believe they had. You do sort of have to forget everything you know, and not put that on it in a negative way. It gives you the distance to not judge them, to see them as just human beings and try to put them in the context of your life.

Foy: They’ll definitely be aware of it. But, we’ll never know [if they watch it], is the answer, because they’ll never say.

Matt Smith: Too inscrutable.

You really humanized the characters—the struggle of Elizabeth being only 25 years old and having her world turned upside down.

Foy: It’s the script and the reality of their situation. You can’t help but be moved by it and feel sympathy for the situation and the struggles they’re going through.

Smith: You can’t help but empathize. It sort of makes it almost, much less glamorous, even though it’s a very glamorous world. You understand what they’re going through, that they’re just very human, and they’re trying to deal with this very, oddly, inhumane situation.

Prince Philip’s role is very complex—in that era, for a man to be subservient to his wife.

Smith: Yes, absolutely, I think that was very difficult for him, with his great love and affection that he has towards Elizabeth, being emasculated after the death of King George — because from that point on, he had to walk two steps behind her the whole time. I think that was a very difficult concept for him to negotiate — you know, being asked to kneel to his wife. These are things that in the context of the 1950s were unheard of with men.