Emma Corrin felt like she ''got to know'' the late Princess Diana as a ''friend'' when she played her in 'The Crown'.

The 24-year-old actress is starring as the late Princess of Wales in the final series of the Netflix show and she admits she felt a ''great sense of companionship'' with the Princess, who died in 1997.

She said: ''I feel I've got to know Diana like you would a friend. I know that sounds really weird, but I get a great sense of companionship from her. I suppose, over time, you kind of start to patch together a sense of empathy and a sense of understanding. I love figuring people out.''

And Emma confessed she never told her friends about the casting for a while as she knew they couldn't keep it a secret.

Speaking about her casting, she added: ''I didn't tell anyone for a while. I love my mates but I think it would have got out ... My friends from school did this incredible thing, where they made me a scrapbook filled with all of the screenshots from our group WhatsApp, where I have said, 'Oh my God, guys, I've been invited to read.' Or a random conversation we'd had four years ago when I said, 'Isn't Diana amazing!'''

The 'Crown' star adorned a gown made from the exact pattern that was used to create Diana's wedding dress, and she admits everyone went ''completely silent'' when she walked on set in it.

Speaking to British Vogue magazine, she shared of the iconic dress: ''The Emanuels, who designed the original, gave us the patterns, and then it was made for me. We were filming the scene when you first see her in the wedding dress - I think it was Lancaster House in London - and I had a team of about 10 people helping me put it on, because it's massive. I walked out and everyone went completely silent. More than anything else I wear in the series, it's so ... It's her.''

Read the full feature in the October issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands Friday, September 11.