Helen Mirren once again assumed the role of Queen Elizabeth I for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations to mark her 70th year on the throne. The first official Jubilee celebration event called A Gallop Through History featured 1,300 performers and 500 horses at the Royal Windsor Horse Shown arena. It was broadcast live from Windsor Castle.
Mirren, 76, who has played Queen Elizabeth in the2005 two-part drama Elizabeth I, performed her famous speech to the troops at Tilbury in a historic royal gown and hat, including a curly red wig. “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.”
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She appeared as Queen Elizabeth II in the West End play The Audience, and the film The Queen, for which she won an Academy Award. Princess Diana’s death in 1997 is the subject of the 2006 film, and the drama surrounding her funeral between Tony Blair and the Royal Family is depicted. Mirren was reportedly invited for dinner by Queen Elizabeth after the film’s release. However, her filming schedule prevented her from attending.
In a February interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mirren expressed her belief that the Queen had seen the film. “At the time, it had never been done before, playing the queen. It was quite nerve-racking because I didn’t know—no one knew—how the public would receive it, let alone the establishment in Britain,” she said.
“But I got the sense that it had been seen and that it had been appreciated. I’ve never heard directly, and I never will,” Mirren added. She and Queen Elizabeth went on to meet several times over the years. Regarding her involvement in The Queen, Mirren said, “My parents were republicans, they didn’t believe in monarchy. I’ve found myself when I started researching the role, very admiring of the queen. I honestly never really thought about her before. To me, she was like Big Ben. She’d just always been there.”
“The queen came to the throne when I was 7, I think,” Mirren continued. “She’s been there for my whole life. I didn’t really take any note of her until I started having to research her as a person, as a human being. Then I found myself finding a huge admiration for her, and respect.”
Mirren said in 2019 that Prince William and Prince Harry, the Queen’s grandsons, had seen the film and were “cool” and “funny” about it.”The younger [ones], Harry and William, have mentioned it, and they’ve been very funny about it, very cool about it,” Mirren told Good Morning Britain. “I think Harry once said, when I was at an awards ceremony, he said, ‘And Granny is here,’ and I felt insulted by that.”
The actress praised the Queen in 2006, when she accepted the Oscar for Best Actress, saying, “for fifty years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty, and her hairstyle.” She continued, “She’s had her feet planted firmly on the ground, her hat on her head, her handbag on her arm, and she’s weathered many, many storms. And I salute her courage and her consistency. And I thank her: If it wasn’t for her, I most certainly wouldn’t be here. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Queen,” Mirren told the audience as she held up the Oscar.
