Vanessa Kirby played Princess Margaret in the first two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown.
Kirby portrayed Margaret as Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister during the series’ opening period, which covers the royal family from the late 1940s into the early 1960s. Her storyline includes Margaret’s relationship with divorced royal equerry Peter Townsend and her later romance with photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones.
The Crown recast its principal characters roughly every two seasons so different actors could portray them as they aged. Helena Bonham Carter took over as Margaret for seasons 3 and 4, followed by Lesley Manville for seasons 5 and 6. That casting structure is the main reason viewers sometimes associate another actress with the same character.
Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons, not Margaret, while Olivia Colman played Elizabeth in seasons 3 and 4. Bonham Carter is therefore a later Margaret, not the original performer. Kirby’s work earned major acclaim, including a British Academy Television Award for her season-two performance.