Ed McVey Is Entering His Leading-Man Era

Welcome to Portrait Session, an intimate photo series and interview featuring some of our favorite people of the moment. 

After six seasons, The Crown is taking its final bow this month. Following the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 up until 2005, the award-winning Netflix historical drama has consistently given us spectacular performances from industry greats such as Olivia Coleman, Matt Smith, and Helena Bonham Carter, to name just a few, while also skyrocketing the careers of some noteworthy new faces (Claire Foy and Emma Corrin, anyone?). With part two of season six hitting the streamer today, we predict that kind of star-making power will unfold once again as the story focuses on the early courtship of Prince William and Kate Middleton at St. Andrews. Since season six casting news broke back in fall of 2022, fans have been eager to see newcomers Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy’s portrayal of the infamous royal couple. Plucked from obscurity, the actors stand to have a major breakout moment following their screen debut. So if they weren’t already on your radar, they should be now.

The first time I met McVey was during our photo shoot for this story at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. He was delightfully charming, cracking jokes in between poses for the camera, clearly poised for a bright future. Our second meeting took place a few weeks later, albeit virtually. In that time, the actor’s schedule was jam-packed with premieres, junkets, and press appearances galore, but he didn’t appear phased. Part one of the final season came out in November, but since he’s not in those first episodes, he likens the experience to being on a roller coaster that is slowly making its way up the hill. The anticipation of what’s on the other side is there, but the rush hasn’t fully hit yet. McVey expects that will come later, after part two drops. "I’m sure when it does go out, it will be nuts, and I won’t be prepared for anything,” he said.

McVey, 24, was fresh out of theater school when his agent encouraged him to audition for the role of Prince William for The Crown’s final season. It was an open casting, so he figured he had nothing to lose. "You know everyone and their blue-eyed blonde-haired brother is going for that job,” he laughed. It was a long and laborious six-month audition process with multiple rounds that included chemistry reads and a full read-through for the season. When McVey finally got the call that he had the part, it was a huge relief more than anything. He had become more and more invested in the part as time had gone on, and the dread of losing it had started to set in. He finally felt like he could breathe. 

The nerves of joining a behemoth of a project like The Crown set in for McVey shortly after. While there was the tall order of portraying a real person who happens to be a major world figure, he was more concerned with doing the show justice. "I wanted to serve the writing and the directors and the producers and the people who had given me this opportunity. I wanted to make them proud,” he told me.

So McVey got straight to work. Luckily, Prince William was one of the first royals documented since birth, giving him a lot of material to work with. He had an album on his phone dedicated to Prince William images from different periods of time and also worked with movement and vocal coaches to perfect the Prince of Wales’s mannerisms and the way he carries himself. "There was the classic sort of Diana stoop thing when he was younger,” McVey says. Since the four episodes of part two cover a roughly six- or seven-year period, McVey had the opportunity to age the character, something that really excited him in terms of exploring his changes in physicality over time. "That’s what I love about acting, how the body can manifest the mind,” he shared. "As the show goes on, and as the character gets more and more at peace with his life and what his future duty is, he gets more and more comfortable in his skin and starts to take up more space as he gets older.”

The benefit of working on a show like The Crown, for any newcomer, is the incredible acting talent around you. It’s a master class, and McVey took full advantage. "You couldn’t buy it. It’s priceless,” he said. "Getting to watch these titans of the industry in their element, you can just watch. And everyone worked so differently, so I was able to pick and choose little bits that I connected with. It was just heaven.”

He also had his fellow young co-stars, Bellamy and Luther Ford, who plays Prince Harry, to lean on. McVey tells me the three of them got along swimmingly, forming a close bond right away. As for the not-so-small matter of building chemistry with Bellamy, McVey counts himself lucky. The two were cast on the same day and got to spend a lot of time together before filming to work on scenes and build their characters. 

When I asked McVey if he’s thought about Prince William watching the show and his performance, he was again unphased. "If you try and make sense of that in your head, I think it would become debilitating, so I let it be,” he said. "You have a job to do, and you’re not making a documentary. It’s writing on a page, it’s fiction, and it’s a character, a historical character.”

While all the attention will be on McVey’s on-screen performance this month, what he’s doing off-screen, specifically on the red carpet, is equally of note. The young actor doesn’t play it safe when it comes to fashion, a choice we certainly appreciate. With the help of stylist Holly White, McVey has been hitting all the right notes. There was the white Valentino dress shirt with flower detailing paired with black slacks and Mejuri jewelry for The Crown’s Los Angeles premiere, the Fendi three-piece suit with decorative stitching from the brand’s S/S 24 collection for the global premiere in London, and most recently, a Daniel w. Fletcher sleeveless cowl-neck look for the British Fashion Awards. The unconventional choices make him a standout. 

McVey met White at a Vogue Netflix party earlier this spring. After he saw her work on Instagram, they set up a fitting and immediately hit it off. "She is such an awesome person and has an amazing eye and really good taste and just gets you really quickly.” And for McVey, it’s all about striking the right balance. The two have been strategic about selecting the right moments to go a little bolder and show personality while opting to keep it simple for others. "For me, fashion is a way to just crunch up your image. It’s such an easy way and a quick way to make yourself look different. … I am an actor, and that’s why I enjoy it. You can give an array of different characters.” 

While McVey is still very much living in the moment, taking it all in, I have to ask what’s next for the budding star. He laughs, thinking about how to go up from here. "I always intended to get to this point at some point in my career, but to be lucky enough and privileged enough to do it so early, it’s a weird one because it’s like I’ve sort of already done my dream project.” McVey is not one to try to manifest anything, so he’s keeping an open mind to what could be around the corner. He’s excited for more screen work but also looking to get back to the theater world, which is his bread and butter. Whatever transpires, we can confidently say this: McVey is leading-man material.

Catch the final season of The Crown, now streaming on Netflix. 

Photographer: Emily Malan

Groomer: Rachel Burney at The Wall Group

Stylist: Holly White

VP of Creative: Alexa Wiley 

Director of Production: Samantha Rockman

Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker