Miriam Margolyes to star as Queen Victoria in The Windsors

The 19th century monarch is making an appearance as a talking portrait, one offering advice to 'Wills' (Prince William, played by Hugh Skinner) when the older royals go on strike.

“Queen Victoria has always been one of my heroes. I hope she’ll forgive my irreverent portrayal,” Margolyes said.

But she isn’t the only star making a guest appearance in upcoming episodes. The Fast Show’s Simon Day and Hot Fuzz actress Julia Deakin will play Mike and Carole Middleton, parents of Kate Middleton (Louise Ford).

“I am shocked they let me have a go at this,” Deakin said of her role. “Carole is a gift, an enigma wrapped in a riddle. So little footage of her actually speaking exists! Less is definitely more.

“The Windsors version is far from this. Mix Carole and Mike on a weekend with Camilla and Prince Charles. Oh dear!”

Elsewhere in the series, we can also expect a split between Wills and Kate and Prince Harry (Tom Durant-Pritchard) and Meghan Markle (Kathryn Drysdale), mirroring real-life tensions between the couples.

“We’ve got a feud between Harry, Meghan, Wills and Kate and we’ve got the whole storyline between them, the Fab Four,” explained Durant-Pritchard.

Fans can also expect the return of power couple Prince Charles and Camilla, once again played by Harry Enfield and Haydn Gwynne.

The Windsors series 3 starts Tuesday 25th February at 10pm Channel 4