Elizabeth Hurley Inspired By Princess Di & Disney Villains For ‘Royals’ 

Elizabeth Hurley maintains that “The Royals” is completely fictional, but there is one real Royal in particular who she was inspired by.

“This is fiction. It’s not based on the real Royal family and after a few seconds of watching, you can tell that, so we had free rein to put on anything we liked for inspiration,” the actress told Access Hollywood Live‘s Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Thursday. “We’re not sure if [my queen is] a hero or a villain. She definitely does villainous things, but I believe with a heroic spirit. But, really, she’s quite bad. She’s manipulative. She’s conning. She’s controlling. She’s in charge of everything.

“I wanted her to look like a modern queen, though, because you know, we don’t have a modern queen. Our queen’s fantastic, but she’s in her 80s, so we couldn’t pull from that for inspiration, so I thought, ‘What if Princess Diana had lived? What would she have looked like now because she’s only a few years older than me?’ So, we kind of took a bit of inspiration from her looks wise and then personality wise, I just pulled on every villain I’d ever seen, including Joan Collins in ‘Dynasty,’ who comes in as my mother, Cruella De Vil, you know, Maleficent, all those fabulous big villains, I pull them,” she added.

WATCH: Elizabeth Hurley Spills The Tea On Ex Hugh Grant

Elizabeth, who has met Prince Charles through charity work, said she thinks the real British monarchy would enjoy this fictional portrayal if they decide to watch the show.

“Nobody could confuse this with real life. I think if we should be so lucky that the real Royal family [tunes] in, and I think they will, they’ll know it’s fiction and so I think they’ll just take it as it comes,” she said. “I’m hoping they’ll love it. I think they’ll see it for what it is. It’s a fun romp with some gravitas as well. There is suspense. There [are] important things going on as well as the fun.”

WATCH: ‘The Royals’ NYC Premiere

Elizabeth couldn’t reveal much about her storyline, but did hint that her character may get embroiled in some intriguing situations.

“I can’t spoil anything at this stage,” she said. “All I can say is there is scandal. There is intrigue. I may be involved in some of it.”

However, the main focus of “The Royals” is on the heirs, Queen Helena’s 22-year-old twins, Prince Liam (William Moseley) and Princess Eleanor (Alexandra Park).

“It’s what they get up to in their romantic life as well,” Elizabeth explained. “It’s a little out there. Someone’s described it as Buckingham Palace on steroids.”

WATCH: William Moseley & Alexandra Park: Meet ‘The Royals’

Albeit fictional, “The Royals” will grant viewers access into castle gates like never before, the star said.

“The whole point is, when we see the royal family, we only see them looking fabulous. We see them out and about, shaking hands, raising money and they’re brilliant,” she said. “We never really see behind closed doors. So for our show, we go behind the doors of the palace and to me, I think they’re just like every other family up and down America.”

Elizabeth revealed that her almost 13-year-old son Damian – who she ran lines with to rehearse – has his eyes on one of her co-stars!

“He has a huge crush on the girl that plays my daughter, who is exquisite and she looks a bit like a sort of younger me when I was a teenager,” the mom shared. “So maybe Damian sees a bit of [his] mummy in her. He worships her and they are very, very nice to him.”

E!’s first scripted series, “The Royals,” premieres Sunday night at 10/9c on E!

Paige Feigenbaum

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