Olivia Colman doesn't leave her house anymore

Speaking in the November issue of Harper's Bazaar, she said: "I'm very shy and private. I find it very, very difficult to be stared at. I don't go out! I find that fixes it.

"I was talking to a friend of mine who's a therapist, and I said, 'It's fine, I just don't leave the house any more.' As soon as I said it out loud, I realised it sounded quite weird. It's not what you expect, the other side of it."

But spending her down time at home means she can really research - something she hates doing - her role as Queen Elizabeth in the historical drama television series as she needs to learn how to "sit like her", walk like her and talk like her.

She explained: "I don't really enjoy research. But for this, I have to accept it. I can't just sit like me, I have to sit like her, and look like pictures of her.

"They have been teaching me how to walk - I'm really terrible at that, I have no physical awareness. I walk a bit like a farmer, one of the directors said.

"I thought that general 'posh' would do it, but apparently not.

"Really unusual vowel sounds. If you're saying 'yes', you say 'ears'. It's fun to do, isn't it? Very hard to stop. Ears."

Olivia is quite experienced at playing queens as she portrayed Queen Anne in 'The Favourite' last year and scored Best Actress at the 2019 Academy Awards.

She said: "I can't register that it's happened! It's bonkers! It's in our sitting-room, on the sideboard, and we keep laughing at it. It looks fake, it's so shiny. And it's really heavy! I could do some amazing weight-lifts."

The November issue of Harper's Bazaar UK is on sale from October 3, 2019.