Watching the latest series of The Crown you might be wondering who was Sydney Johnson?
The Crown season 5 reintroduced Johnson (who was very briefly seen in season 3) as the valet to the Duke of Windsor. He served the former king for over 30 years and later started working for the Egyptian billionaire, Mohamed Al Fayed.
Episode 3 of the series, titled “Mou Mou”, shows how an Egyptian street vendor (Al Fayed), inspired by the abdicated King Edward, built himself his own empire and eagerly tried to integrate into British High Society. To help him along his quest, he hired the Duke of Windsor’s former valet, Sydney Johnson.
But who was the real Sydney Johnson and how was he linked to the royal family? And who portrays him on The Crown? Here is everything you need to know.
Who was Sydney Johnson?
Born in the Bahamas, Sydney Johnson entered the service of Edward and his wife Wallis, Duke and Duchess of Windsor, as an attendant during World War II, when the Duke was acting as governor-general of the Bahamian islands. This was after he was sent away from the royal family due to his decision to abdicate from his role as King Edward VIII in 1936 so that he could marry American divorcée, Wallis Simpson.
Only 16 years old when he started working for the Windsors, Sydney Johnson moved with them to Paris and worked his way up until he eventually became the Duke’s footman in 1960, the same year he got married to a French woman named Ofelia. Johnson served the Duke of Windsor and his wife dutifully for over three decades until his death in 1972.
After the Duke’s passing, Johnson requested to change his hours as he needed to care for his children after his own wife’s death. The Duchess of Windsor reportedly denied his request and suggested that if he needed to leave early from then on, he did not need to come back. His relationship with Wallis Simpson was obviously not as close as it was with the Duke and when it came down to it, despite his fondness for the family, Johnson left his position.
Johnson went on to work as a waiter at the Ritz hotel in Paris, which was purchased by Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed in 1979. Fayed took notice of Johnson and hired him as his butler. In The Crown, it is shown that Johnson then taught true anglophile Fayed everything he needed to know in order to be part of the upper echelons of British society.
In 1986, the two men worked together to restore the former Villa Windsor to its former glory. The mansion had indeed fallen into despair after the deaths of both Windsors. According to reports from the time, Fayed took a 50-year lease on the former home of the Duke and Duchess and spent the next three years recreating the mansion under the guidance of Johnson, who took great care to ensure every single detail was correct.
Fayed made sure to give credit where credit was due, telling The New York Times in 1986: “Sidney is a dictionary. He's a very cultured man. He got all these things out of boxes and safes and storage rooms, and he knows their history.” During the opening party for the house, Johnson, decked in red and gold livery, guided guests around the house, delighting them with stories about his former employers and declaring “The restoration is so authentic I expect to see the Duchess stepping down the staircase asking, ’How do I look?'”
Only weeks after opening the restored Villa Windsor to its guests, Sydney Johnson died at the age of 69 in January 1990. The Crown depicts Johnson and Fayed having a close friendship, where the latter is seen taking care of Johnson on his deathbed. In reality, Johnson’s cause of death is not publicly known but is said to have been sudden. After his passing, Fayed issued a statement saying that Sydney Johnson ″was truly a gentlemen’s gentleman. We shall miss him very much.″
Who plays Sydney Johnson on The Crown?
Sydney Johnson is first played by Alex Jennings in flashbacks scenes before Nigerian actor Jude Akuwudike takes on the role for the rest of the episode titled “Mou Mou.”
Akuwudike has mostly worked in the United Kingdom, both as a stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts in the mid-1980s and has had a prolific career in the theater. Akuwudike appeared in productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, lending his talents in plays such as Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales and David Mamet’s Edmond alongside Kenneth Branagh.
Akuwudike is known for being featured in movies like Beasts of No Nation and TV series like Roger Roger, Fortitude, Manhunt and Gangs of London. In 2023, audiences will see him in The Little Mermaid live-action film from Disney in the role of Grimsby.
The Crown season 5 is now streaming on Netflix.
