Thursday 15 September 2022 10:20 AM The Crown's Elizabeth Debicki''s body double films Princess Diana's visit to ... trends now

Filming for The Crown's sixth series resumed in Barcelona on Thursday, with Elizabeth Debicki's role as Princess Diana covered by a body double for a dramatic recreation of the late royal's visit to Bosnia.

The stunt performer was spotted on-set recreating the moment the Princess embraced a devastated Bosnian mother, during a three-day trip to raise awareness of the dangers of landmines.

On Friday, The Crown bosses confirmed that they were briefly suspending filming as a mark of respect after Buckingham Palace announced the Queen's passing, but they have quickly got back to work on the show, after pausing production for just a single day.

Elizabeth's double recreated one of Diana's relaxed outfits for the visit, donning a white linen shirt and cream trousers for the haunting stroll through a recreation of the war cemetery.

The scenes appeared to be a recreation of a historic moment which saw Diana embrace a devastated Bosnian mother who was weeping over her son's grave, after he was killed in the Bosnian conflict. 

Since Diana's death, it's been revealed that the visit was in impromptu one, as The Princess requested to make a stop at the Sarajevo War Cementary where victims of the three-year conflict were buried.

The story was recently relayed in the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Life and Legacy by Diana's friends Ken Rutherford and Jerry White, who were both anti-landmine advocates.

Jerry told Entertainment Weekly: 'The image of her in a cemetery in Sarajevo, on the last day of our trip still haunts me. It wasn't planned. It was never on the itinerary.'

Although they were running late for their final engagement, he said Diana was 'mysteriously adamant' she wanted to visit the nearby graveyard.

He added: 'She walked slowly, among tombstones and even yellow rose bushes.'

It was during the walk that Diana came across devastated Bosnian mother Svetlana Dragon crying over her son's grave, after he was killed in the war.

While the pair didn't exchange any words, Diana stopped to embrace her.

Jerry added: 'Diana didn't speak Bosnian, and this mother didn't know English. So they just embraced. So intimately, so physical, so emotional, mother-to-mother.'

In emotional images from the scene, Diana could be seen wiping away tears from the mother's face as she tenderly comforted her.

According to the BBC, during her three-day trip to Bosnia, The Princess spoke for 45 minutes with Franjo Kresic, a former soldier who lost his leg in a mine blast during the country's three-year war, which took place from 1992 to 1995.

She also visited the homes of land mine victims and met local disability groups and rehabilitation specialists.  

The Princess' trip to Bosnia was organised by The Land Mines Survivors' Network, a group founded in 1995 by two American victims of land mines, Ken Rutherford and Jerry White, and as part of the visit, the Princess made a surprise visit to the Suljkanovic family in their modest home in the small village of Dobrnja near Tuzla.

Several weeks earlier, the father of the family, Muhamed Suljkanovic, had lost both his feet after stepping on a land mine in the forest outside his house, a remnant of Bosnia's three-year war, and his wife recalled Diana brought him some cake for his birthday. 

Just weeks after Diana's visit, the family were devastated to learn the Princess had been killed in a car accident in Paris, but were stunned when they were giving a donation from the Royal Family, after Diana promised financial support for Muhamed for a new prosthesis, and just a couple of months after she died.

Another land mine victim, Malic Bradaric, was 13 in 1996 when he stepped one of the deadly weapons while playing in his village of Klokotnica, and the incident left him without most of his right leg.

On Friday it was revealed that filming for The Crown been suspended for one day as a 'mark of respect to the Queen', who passed away aged 96 on Thursday afternoon at Balmoral Castle.

Filming will also not take place on the day of the Queen's funeral, Monday September 19.

In a move that could be branded insensitive by fans, when the cast and crew return they will be covering Princess Diana's death in 1997 and the Queen could be seen in mourning clothes.

The potentially controversial scenes will be filmed while the nation comes to grips with the loss of their late Queen during a 10 day mourning period which will end with a state funeral.

On Thursday, star Imelda Staunton, who is playing an older version of Her Majesty in the read more from dailymail.....