Claire Foy and Matt Smith Talk Marriage Struggles in Season Two of ‘The Crown’

Prior to the panel discussion and screening, the stars spoke of the "honest portrayal of two people struggling with life and marriage" at Netflix's FYSee event.

Netflix’s month-long FYSee Emmy campaign kicked off with a panel discussion led by The Late Late Show host James Corden with The Crown stars Claire Foy and Matt Smith at The Netflix FYSee Space in Beverly Hills Wednesday evening.

Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth in the series, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how the notion of marriage, specifically with the Royal Family, was shared through the first season and will continue in the second.

“This is a story of a marriage very much in the second series, and how they navigate that," Foy said. "They’ve been together for ten years, they’ve had two children and it’s about going and assessing the situation. It’s not going to be a rose-tinted view of marriage."

Season two will take place in the 1960s. "In this new world of the 1960s with sex and drugs and rock 'n’ roll, and that’s not what you really associate with 'the royal family.'"

Smith explained to THR how the progression of the '60s impacted the couple’s relationship. “There’s an edge to the dynamic between them. We’re entering the sixties and the world is changing around them in quite significant ways," the actor, who plays Prince Philip, said. "Like always with the royal family, they’re having to adapt but they’re having to do it away from the public.”

For writer Peter Morgan, as each season features a different time period, it's only natural to see the growth and change in each character.

"We meet [Prince Philip] when he's young and we learn about his history," Smith revealed to THR of the theme of growth in the second season. "I think it’s actually really tragic what he went through as a child and I think that will shock some people. It wasn’t easy, he didn’t have an easy life.”

Foy added: “It’s very much about the outside world encroaching on the royal family and how they’re all coping with it and about change and about how you cope with change.”

The second season of The Crown is set to premiere on Netflix at the end of this year.