CELEBRITIES
Helen Mirren honoring Queen Elizabeth II at the 2023 BAFTA awards
The actress will honor the late Queen in a special tribute at the awards show.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced on Tuesday that Helen Mirren will be leading a special tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at the awards show on Sunday.
Mirren won both a BAFTA and Oscar award for portraying the Queen in the 2006 film ‘The Queen.’ In 2014, she reprised the role in the Broadway play ‘The Audience.’
A role fit for a Dame
In 2003, Mirren became a Dame, the female equivalent of a knight, receiving the honor at Queen Elizabeth’s 2003 Birthday Honors, in recognition of her services to drama.
The Queen was apparently so moved by Mirren’s portrayal that she was invited to dinner at Buckingham Palace, but due to filming constraints, Mirren had to decline the invitation.
Upon receiving her Oscar, Mirren praised the queen for maintaining “her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle,” throughout her reign.
“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... If it wasn’t for her, I most certainly wouldn’t be here,” Mirren said. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Queen.”
The Queen’s long relationship with the arts
The Queen had a close relationship with the arts organization, a relationship that spanned 50 years.
She was patron of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Royal Variety Charity, and the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.
On April 4 2013, the Queen received her own honorary BAFTA award, presented by Sir Kenneth Branagh at Windsor Castle.
“I am delighted that this evening has given us the opportunity to give something back,” Branagh said in his speech. “I have the great honor to announce that we are to present Her Majesty with an honorary BAFTA today, in recognition of her outstanding patronage of the film and television industries.”
Royal attendance at this year’s BAFTA award show
Prince William and Kate Middleton will be among the audience members on Sunday’s show, Kensington Palace confirmed.
Prince William has been president of the association since 2010. The event will mark the first official outing for the couple as Prince and Princess of Wales, the title given to them when Prince William’s father, King Charles III acceded to the throne last September.