The Crown star Imelda Staunton pootles around Corfu in a motorboat called Donald Duck… And it's a far cry from the Royal yacht!

It was something of a downgrade from her previous means of nautical transport, but The Crown star Imelda Staunton seemed content to swap the Royal Yacht Britannia for a tiny motor boat called Donald Duck in Corfu last week.

Ms Staunton, 67, who plays the late Queen in the hit Netflix show, looked relaxed as her husband Jim Carter, 74, who starred as butler Mr Carson in Downton Abbey, was given a crash course in piloting the vessel.

The pair enjoyed a cosy lunch at Taverna Agni in north-west Corfu before strolling down the jetty to the 18ft Donald Duck where a local instructor gave Carter a quick lesson.

A witness said: ‘The instructor taught Jim how to steer and reverse the boat before they headed out into the Mediterranean. Imelda was smiling and looked very happy.’

Avlaki Boats charges £80 a day to rent the Donald Duck. Company founder Nicholas Salvanos said: ‘To be honest we didn’t know she was famous. She and her husband were a really kind and happy couple. They were very nice to chat to and loved spending time on the water.’

Ms Staunton took over from Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in season five of The Crown, released last November. She will reprise the role in the sixth and final season due later this year.

In the fifth series she portrayed the Queen weeping when she was forced to give up Britannia in 1997. It was one of only a handful of times the monarch was filmed crying during her 70-year reign.

Ms Staunton’s Corfu holiday is not the first time she has enjoyed the Greek island’s charm. In 2005, she appeared in a TV film adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s My Family And Other Animals, which was also filmed there.

Ms Staunton took over from Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in season five of The Crown, released last November