Cate Blanchett: Oscar-winning actress, theater director … and IT assistant? The 49-year-old says Prince Philip once conferred with her about setting up his DVD player.
Blanchett recounted the funny anecdote on an upcoming episode of The Jonathan Ross Show, saying the request happened after she was invited to a lunch with both the prince, 97, and Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
“There were 12 of us, and I couldn’t work out for the life of me why I’d been invited,” the Ocean’s 8 star told Ross, per Entertainment Tonight.
She even wondered whether the queen, 92, wanted to talk to her about the actress’s Oscar-nominated starring role in the 1998 film Elizabeth.
“Playing Queen Elizabeth [I] and sitting next to [Elizabeth II], I thought, ‘Maybe she’s seen the movie and wants to ask me about my interpretation,” she said.
Instead, Blanchett said it was the prince who wanted to chat. “I sat next to [Philip],” she continued. “And he said, ‘I hear you’re an actor? I was given a DVD player for Christmas and I can’t work out whether I put the green cord in or the red cord.’”
“I thought, ‘He’s invited me to lunch to tell me about his DVD player!’” the Aussie thespian added with a laugh.
In the same episode, British actor Ray Winstone shared his own funny story about Prince Philip from when the 61-year-old was filming his new movie King of Thieves in the English town of Windsor.
“[Philip] pulled up in a car, and the window went down on the Range Rover, and he said, ‘What are you doing?’” Winstone recounted.
“I said, ‘We’re making a film, Sir … with Sir Tom Courtenay and Sir Michael Caine. Would you like to meet them?’ And he went, ‘No.’”
Blanchett and Winstone’s episode of The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday, September 8, on the United Kingdom’s ITV.
