How you eat your asparagus may reveal how “posh” you are, an etiquette expert has revealed – after the actor who played King Charles in The Crown almost made a eating faux pas while in a scene Used a knife and fork to eat the vegetables.
Speaking to History EXTRA Magazine, Annie Sulzberger, the show's research director, said that during filming, Dominic West tried to reach for the cutlery while eating the delicacy.
“Our great etiquette advisor, David Rankin Hunt, stopped him and said, 'Posh people don't eat asparagus with a knife and fork – they use their fingers,'” she said.
“So we reset it and spun it again while Dom picked up the asparagus with his fingers.
“It's important to have as many voices who can share their experiences because I don't think I could look up how two posh people would have eaten asparagus back in 1992.”
Speaking to History EXTRA Magazine, Annie Sulzberger said that during filming, Dominic West tried to grab the cutlery while eating the vegetables in Highgrove
Major David Rankin-Hunt, who worked for the royal family in two roles for 33 years, has advised the makers of The Crown on everything from choice of satire to gun salutes and umbrellas.
Speaking to Femail in 2015, an etiquette expert revealed further rules for eating this delicacy.
“When served as a first course rather than as a side vegetable, they are eaten with the hands and dipped in hollandaise sauce,” explained William Hanson.
“British people eat these with the left hand (leaving the right hand free of fat so that it can, for example, shake hands or pick up a wine glass); There are some cultures where eating with your left hand is not common. In this case, the asparagus may be eaten with the right hand. (Not many people know the left-handed rule these days.)
“You can dip the sauce twice as long as it’s your own portion.”
It comes as Dominic also recently admitted he “understands” the criticism of the show – and “acknowledges there is unease about it”.
Speaking on BBC 5 Live this week, the actor told presenter Nihal Arthanayake that he had “convinced himself that the royal family was public property and therefore fair game”.
“But I'm still uncomfortable with the idea that anyone is fair game or that anyone's private life is made public,” he added.
The actor also said he could understand why “people think this is too close to the actual events” – with a six-part series of the series dealing with the death of Princess Diana and the late queen's funeral planning.
Pictured: King Charles samples local asparagus at the Orange Tractor Center during a visit to Albany on November 14, 2015
The actor who played King Charles in The Crown almost made a dining faux pas when he ate asparagus with a knife and fork in one scene, a researcher on the show has revealed. Stock image used
“The grief is still so, so real,” he continued. “I thought about it a lot, I still do.”
“Ultimately you have to put your trust in Peter’s hands, and he is a demonstrably great playwright.”
Dominic also explained that he found it difficult to play the monarch “extremely emotionally” this season.
The Netflix star also claimed earlier this week that Charles was judged too harshly when Diana died.
He believes history should be kinder to the current king, who he believes “has made every mistake.”
Dominic, previously best known for his role as Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, believes Charles was viewed as a “villain” after his ex-wife died along with Dodi Fayed on the night of August 30.
In the sixth season, which premiered last month and the final episodes were released last week, Charles breaks down in tears upon learning of his ex-wife's death in Paris. He then defied his mother and pushed for the royal plane to be sent to France to collect her coffin. He sobbed loudly when he saw her body for the first time in the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital.
Dominic said: “You feel sympathy for him.” I think that, particularly around Diana's death, he was the villain of the piece. And I think now that we have 25 years of retrospective to look back on, we might find that – I certainly judged that – to be a bit harsh on him.”
In the sixth season, which premiered last month and the final episodes were released last week, Charles breaks down in tears upon learning of his ex-wife's death in Paris. The pair pictured is from 1989
Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales follow the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed: “I fight for him the way you fight for any character as an actor, except perhaps the most villainous.” Inevitably you try to get into the mind of your character, and that requires some sort of sense of purpose Humanity and empathy.”
He said he grew fond of playing Charles in the series and admitted he was sad the role was over.
In an interview with Town and Country he said, “I miss him.” I still read all the news articles about him. I admire him. I feel a real affection for him that I didn't particularly feel before,” adding, “He's likeable and an interesting character.”
He referred to current events, such as Charles' anger when his pen stopped working after the Queen's death.
“It's hard not to integrate the current man with the historical man, or even the real man in Peter Morgan's version of him.” But it was a wonderful gift to have all the coronation stuff and the pen – the annoyance of the pen . You don't get much insight into what goes on behind the public persona. So I greedily devoured all these moments. For an actor, they really are gold dust.”
The Netflix star also claimed earlier this week that Charles was judged too harshly when Diana died. Pictured with co-star Olivia Williams, who plays Camilla
He added: “He made every mistake. “He went through everything, it was as bad as it could be. And he was grilled as hard as he could be. And so I imagine that, like so much in his life, there's a certain determination now that he's king. I think there is some relief, probably relief, that he is no longer allowed to be political or express himself openly.”
He added: “He landed on his feet – or more accurately with a crown on his head.”
The final season of “The Crown” proved controversial and received mixed reviews, from its depiction of Diana's death to Charles' wedding to Camilla to the Queen's existential crisis over the future of the monarchy.
There are also a series of bizarre dream sequences in which senior members of the royal family, including the Queen and Charles, speak to the late princess, played by Elizabeth Debicki, after her death.
Harry's embarrassment at wearing a Nazi uniform to a party was cheerfully recreated by Netflix in the very last episode of The Crown.