Dame Helen: My heartfelt letter to the real Queen
SHE was playing the Queen at one of the most painful times in modern royal history. So when Dame Helen Mirren was preparing for the role, she went straight to the top.
The actress, 76, has revealed that while making the 2006 film The Queen – which focuses on the death of Princess Diana – she contacted the monarch. ‘I realised we were investigating a profoundly painful part of her life, so I wrote to her,’ Dame Helen told Radio Times. ‘I can’t remember how I put it. I just said that in my research I found myself with a growing respect for her.
‘She didn’t write back, of course, but her secretary did. I was very relieved subsequently that I had written that letter.’
She added: ‘I said: “We are doing this film. We are investigating a very difficult time in your life. I hope it’s not too awful for you”.’
Dame Helen, who won an Oscar and a Bafta for her portrayal, said that while preparing for the film she had thought of the Queen as a submarine: ‘Her eyes are the periscope. She is watching the world through the Queen’s eyes.’