As Helen Mirren is set to honour Queen Elizabeth at BAFTA awards, a look at their relationship

It is only fitting that Dame Helen Mirren has been chosen to honour the late Queen Elizabeth II at this year’s BAFTA awards. The actress not only starred as the monarch in the 2006 film ‘The Queen,’ but she also took on the role again in the Broadway play The Audience in 2014.

Helen Mirren won a BAFTA for her role as the Queen and in 2003 was made a dame for her services to drama. She also met the late monarch on several occasions. On one of these occasions, Helen Mirren recalled how she forgot how to properly address the late Duke of Edinburgh when asking him to pass the milk.

“The milk is on the other side of Prince Philip and I want some milk in my tea, but my brain goes completely dead and I cannot remember how to address Prince Philip,” Helen Mirren said. “I mean, is it sir? Is it your majesty? Is it your highness, Mirren said. “Is it rude to ask him to pass the milk? Or should I just ask for a lackey?”

In case you are wondering if Helen Mirren ever asked or received the milk from Prince Philip, the answer is no. In the end, the actress decided it was best not to ask!

It is of no surprise that the BAFTA awards have decided to honour the late Queen at this year’s ceremony. When she passed away last year, the organisation released a statement and said: "Through her various patronages, The Queen was renowned for her support of the UK’s creative industries, having been patron of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Royal Variety Charity and the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.”

In a statement provided to Deadline, Helen Mirren also expressed her sorrow at the death of Queen Elizabeth II. “I’m mourning along with the rest of my country, the passing of a great Queen,” she said. Helen Mirren then went on to say the following: “I’m proud to call myself of the Elizabethan age. If there was a definition of nobility, Elizabeth Windsor embodied it.”

Helen Mirren also shared her thoughts about the late monarch on her Instagram and said: “I am proud to be an Elizabethan. We mourn a woman, who, with or without the crown, was the epitome of nobility.”

Kate Middleton and Prince William are due to attend this year’s 2023 BAFTA awards. Prince William has held the title of president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts since 2010.