Alexandra Park looks like a younger version of Elizabeth Hurley, which couldn't be more perfect because the Australian actress plays Princess Eleanor, the wild daughter to Hurley's Queen Helena on The Royals—the exciting new series that centers around a fictional modern-day British monarchy.
We sat down with Alexandra recently to find out what she thinks about her character, how co-star Hurley gave the cast pointers in royal etiquette, as well as some of the challenges she faced while on the set of The Royals.
"For me, I just love Eleanor very much," Alexandra said. "I'm very passionate about her. I think the main reason is you never know what you're gonna get with Eleanor. She can be one color one minute then completely flip it. You just never know what you're gonna get and that just made this a treat. Whatever mood she's in, she's constantly changing so it's good. She's a total badass too. I wanted to find my character and I think we all sort of did with our roles to some degree."
One of the fortunate aspects of working on the show was being side-by-side with Hurley, whom Alexandra looked up to for pointers for playing a more convincing royal.
"The biggest royal etiquette we had was Elizabeth because she's royalty herself," Alexandra pointed out. "She knows where black is worn and where it's not and what's appropriate, so Elizabeth was very much the go-to person. It's my first lead role in anything, let alone a huge American TV show. It's the biggest thing I've ever done. We love the show, we love the writing, we love the characters. We love going to work every day so it's enjoyable."
Despite the fun and glamour of working on The Royals, Alexandra did face some challenges on set—but nothing that a good meal couldn't fix.
"One challenge for me was keeping it at a certain level," she explained. "And when we're working such long hours, weeks and days, it can be hard to maintain energy and to keep on point at the level that we're expected to deliver. It gets long but we're lucky because we're all very close and we get along so well. We're like a family and we all have each other to bounce off when we need a laugh. They also have excellent craft services—there's lots of fresh juices they pump us with every day and I swear it was green juice that kept me alive."
When the cast wasn't busy filming scenes together, they were off having fun and exploring London, which proved to be a real treat for everyone involved.
"Tom organized for all of us to go to Cornwall on the train," Alexandra said. "It was beautiful. Swimming, surfing and such. Whenever we had a day off we'd go do something together. It was incredible."
E!'s new scripted series The Royals premieres this Sunday, March 15 at 10 p.m.! Follow The Royals on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates!