The Dame got inked! Dame Judi Dench just proved it’s never too late to get tatted up.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel actress, 81, revealed fresh body art while attending the Prince’s Trust gala in Buckinghamshire, England, earlier this month. Dench’s design, located on the inside of her right wrist, reads “Carpe Diem,” the famous Latin phrase for “Seize the Day,” in black block letters.
“That’s my motto,” she told Surrey Life magazine about the tattoo, which was gifted to her by her daughter Finty Williams. “Finty gave it to me for my 81st birthday — she’s wonderful with surprises.”
The permanent phrase has already made her the butt of a playful joke among friends. “Mind you, the company of A Winter’s Tale, which I was doing at the time [when I got the tattoo], used to say that it said ‘Fish of the day,'” she explained.
The 007 actress has wanted a tattoo for quite a while, but previously couldn’t decide what to get. “There’s an Indian symbol that I like, which supposedly represents life and love and everything,” she told Good Housekeeping UK in January 2015 about being tempted to get the shape for her 80th birthday. “One of the cameramen who worked on The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel told me what it meant, but I’m a bit nervous in case I’m being set up … . It might be unbelievably rude!”
