Tobias Menzies likes to be "incognito"

He explained: "I quite like being incognito. A big part of acting is watching the world, and if the world starts watching you, it can get in the way too much."

Tobias has replaced Matt Smith as Prince Philip in the hit drama series.

The London-born actor thinks the British royal may have been surprised by how his life has evolved.

Asked whether he regards Prince Philip as a pioneer because of the reversal of traditional gender roles in his marriage, Tobias told the Sunday Times newspaper: "Possibly the maths of it is that, when he first married Elizabeth, he wasn't signing up for the whole caboodle.

"Philip imagined - I think they both imagined - that they would have quite a long life with her father on the throne and Philip would have a long naval career. Would it have changed the maths for him if he'd known how his life would pan out?

"It's one of those what-if questions. He's a man of action, a doer, and you can see that he chafes with the ceremonial nature of his life."

Tobias also revealed that in spite of facing stiff competition for the role, the auditioning process was actually "relatively straightforward".

He shared: "Initially I think they went after Mark Strong, then Paul Bettany and then it came back around to me.

"I did one audition where I read 10 pages with Colly [Olivia Colman] and two weeks later I found out. Weirdly, for the size of the show it was relatively straightforward."