Helen Mirren might be Hollywood royalty, but she will not be attending Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming royal wedding.
The Collateral Beauty actress stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, January 11, and revealed that even though she starred as Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 film The Queen, she will not be going to the nuptials.
“No, I’m not,” the British actress, 72, told DeGeneres. “I don’t know them exactly. I was at an awards thing or something, and William was presenting and he knew that I was in the room and he said, ‘I’ve got to be really, really good because my granny is in the house. So, he kind of knew who I was.”
The Oscar winner revealed how pleasant it was when she met the royal family in the past, especially the princes. “I’ve met Harry. I’ve met the queen, briefly. And I’ve met Prince Harry and William,” she said. “They’re both unbelievably charming, very straightforward, very charming, and a great credit to their father, [Prince Charles].”
The talk show host asked the actress what she thought about the Netflix series The Crown, which is also about Queen Elizabeth’s life. “I think it’s incredibly accurate. I think Claire Foy was brilliant,” Mirren said. “And I sent an email congratulating her.”
The talk show host mentioned that Foy wasn’t returning to the series, and asked Mirren if she would be joining the cast to play an older version of the queen. “I wouldn’t do that. No, because it’s wonderful that I did it, it was wonderful that it was a success,” Mirren said, revealing that she didn’t want to be remembered just for playing that role when she dies.
“I wanted to kind of get away from that. I like to move forward, not backward,” she concluded.
As previously reported, the royal couple announced their engagement in November. Harry and Markle are set to wed in a televised ceremony on May 19 at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
