Dominic West was very adamant about his son Senan stepping back from his role as Prince William on The Crown — but it might have caused some friction in the family.
“He’s furious [and] can’t believe it,” West, 54, joked to Us Weekly on Sunday, January 7, on the Golden Globes red carpet in Beverly Hills, California. “He’ll never forgive me. I’ll never forgive me either.”
West, who was nominated for best actor in a drama series on Sunday, played King Charles III (before his 2022 ascension) on Netflix’s The Crown for its final two seasons. In season 5, Senan, 16, played young William before West made him step back the next year.
“I didn’t really fancy doing the scene at Balmoral, telling a boy his mother has died,” West, who shares Senan with wife Catherine FitzGerald, told Radio Times in December 2023. “They invited Senan back because he did such a good job, and he was great, but I did slightly balk at that. It was unfair of me because he did want to do it, but I wouldn’t have fancied that, to be honest.”
West — who also shares son Francis and daughters Dora and Christabel with FitzGerald, as well as daughter Martha with ex Polly Astor — was uneasy about Senan filming the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death. (Season 6 highlighted the final days of Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, ahead of her 1997 fatal car crash.)
Senan was replaced as William by actors Rufus Kampa and Ed McVey in parts 1 and 2 of The Crown’s final season, respectively. The final episodes followed William’s early courtship with now-wife Princess Kate Middleton (Meg Bellamy). West, meanwhile, continued to play Charles.
“It was great,” West gushed to Us on Sunday of his tenure on The Crown. “Lots of actors [who] I really respect and have a good time with … and then [filming] in beautiful places and wearing beautiful clothes and talking in funny accents. It was great.”
Despite enjoying his time on the Netflix drama, West did acknowledge certain challenges in playing the future king of England.
“I suppose the fact that they’re real and that you’re dealing with people’s lives that are highly traumatic at the time,” he said. “And I think we were a bit sensitive about that.”
The royal protocol stopped at the end of the work day, however.
“People [would] bow all day when I was on set, and then I’d go home and my kids wouldn’t bow to me anymore,” West joked to Us. “That’s the best thing about being royal.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
