Princess power — will Diana be K-Stew’s crowning role?

EMMA CORRIN has competition. The latest actress to take on Princess Diana’s coy glances and cut-glass vowels on screen: Kristen Stewart. In many ways, the 31-year-old American may seem like a curious choice to play the late princess but her performance is already being tipped for an Oscar. Here’s everything you need to know.

A festive fable

The film, written by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight and directed by Pablo Larraín, hones in on an (imagined) Christmas holiday at Sandringham (it’s billed as a “fable from a true tragedy” but is reportedly informed by “first-hand accounts”).

The Crown fans will remember Diana’s tumultuous Christmas with the royals from season four and it’s a moment Knight says he was keen to drill into. Not only did the “fateful few days” in Norfolk seemingly mark the beginning of the end for Diana’s marriage to Charles — played by Jack Farthing — but it is also a “situation everyone would be able to recognise”: a strained family Christmas.

People’s princess

Stewart, right, is an ambassador for Chanel, which loaned some archival items for the filming of Spencer — including an embellished gown and red coat. Other stand-out pieces in the film include a Catherine Walker tartan jacket and a Mondi bomber jacket.

Farthing praised the Californian actress for nailing the British accent and Knight says she was impressive. “She read it and loved it and was prepared to do all of the stuff required to get it right,” he told the Telegraph. Stewart recently told an interviewer she thinks Spencer is one of her five “really good” films and that by the end of filming she had fallen in love with Diana.

Paranormality and poise

At the premiere at Venice Film Festival last month, Stewart’s performance reportedly received a five-minute standing ovation, with reviewers praising her “near-perfect” portrayal of Diana’s mannerisms, intonation and trademark head-tilt — though there has been criticism of the plot. “They’ve piled every bad thing into one weekend which is taking poetic licence a little far,” says Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty Magazine, who knew, interviewed and wrote about Diana.

⬤ Spencer is in cinemas from Nov 5