Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
On Her Majesty’s secret shush
Queen liked Bond films... until they got loud
THE Queen loved Bond movies – until they got so loud they could scare The Living Daylights out of her.
Biographer and Celebrity Gogglebox star Gyles Brandreth says he made the discovery after spending time with Her Majesty.
In 2012 the Queen stunned the world when she appeared in a mini James Bond movie directed by Danny Boyle for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
She famously appeared in Buckingham Palace scenes alongside Daniel Craig – then a body double parachuted into the Olympic Stadium, before a spotlight showed Her Majesty, 95, in the stands.
It was a stunt worthy of Bond himself. TV star and author Brandreth – who wrote Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage – says: “The fun of spending time with her was finding out unexpected things about her. She really did love all the early James Bond films – ‘before they got so loud’.”
Gyles, 73, also reveals the Queen makes a bit of noise herself – doing impressions of entertainer George Formby singing his 1930s classic When I’m Cleaning Windows. Brandreth writes in his memoir Odd Boy Out: “She really can sing When I’m Cleaning Windows and the other songs George Formby sang to his ukulele when she was growing up during the war – and with Formby’s authentic Lancashire accent, too. (She is the Duke of Lancaster, after all.)”
The Bond revelation comes days after No Time To Die – Craig’s final outing as 007 – premiered in London’s West End.
Prince William and Kate were there, along with Prince Charles and Camilla. They met Craig, 53, who paid 39-year-old Kate a compliment, saying: “You look jolly lovely.”
halina.watts@mirror.co.uk
THE Queen spoke of her lost husband Prince Philip as she formally opened the new session of the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
Addressing Holyrood for the first time since the Duke of Edinburgh’s death in April, the monarch said: “I have spoken before of my deep and abiding affection for this wonderful country and of the many happy memories Prince Philip and I always held of our time here.
“It is often said the people make a place. There are few places where this is truer than in Scotland.”
Accompanied by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall – known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland – the Queen told MSPs that as the country emerges from the pandemic, there was an opportunity for “hope and optimism”.
She added: “Next month, I will be attending COP26 events in Glasgow. The eyes of the world will be on Scotland in particular as leaders address the challenges of climate change.” Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon thanked the Queen for her “kind and thoughtful address”.