Something for the weekend: British actress Claire Foy may have to consider raiding the Crown Jewels for a payday bonus after it was reported that she was paid less than her male co-star Matt Smith for playing leading monarch Queen Elizabeth in the hit Netflix drama The Crown.
According to Hollywood publication Variety, show producers confessed at a television industry conference in Jerusalem that Foy’s on-screen husband Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was able to command a more princely pay packet than Foy due to his previous work on popular shows such as Doctor Who.
Golden Globe winner Foy, 33, was reportedly paid £28,000 per episode for The Crown’s first two series, while Smith’s pay per episode remains unconfirmed.
Suzanne Mackie, co-producer on The Crown, told the conference that the pay difference would be rectified moving forwards, although Foy will still not benefit from this because a new cast of royals are being introduced for series three and four.
Mackie told Variety: “Going forward, no-one gets paid more than the Queen.”
Here at Employee Benefits, we are glad to hear that the new occupants of The Crown’s Buckingham Palace will be paid on an equal basis moving forward, however we think a meeting with the Queen herself would certainly be an ample reward…
