Entertainment> Celebrities

Mirren snubs dinner invite from the Queen

(Daily Mail)
2007-05-07 09:59

A senior Palace official said: "It is unheard of for Her Majesty to extend a personal invitation to dinner to someone who has portrayed her in a film. We did not expect to be told that the date is unacceptable. [Daily Mail]

Helen Mirren has astonished the Queen and her closest advisers by turning down a personal invitation to dinner at Buckingham Palace.

The actress, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of the Monarch in the film The Queen, said she was 'too busy' to attend.

Her rejection of the offer is being seen by senior Palace officials as a snub.

Furious Royal aides say Dame Helen, 61, is unlikely to be offered an alternative date and indicated she will not be invited again.

"The Queen has an extremely busy schedule. Her diary is mapped out a year in advance and for her to make time for a private dinner shows how much she wanted to meet Miss Mirren. It remains to be seen if another date can be fixed."

Another aide said: "It is rare for the Queen to ask an actress or actor to a private dinner. The gesture showed how much she appreciated the comments made by Miss Mirren in accepting the awards for the film.

"While there is an understanding about commitments, this was not a run-of-the-mill dinner invitation."

Dame Helen, who is filming in America, said: "The Palace very kindly extended an invitation to dinner last Tuesday, May 1.

"But, unfortunately, I was filming in South Dakota and unable to change my schedule. I am very sad not to have been able to attend."

The Queen's private secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin, contacted Dame Helen after she was named Best Actress at the Oscars in February.

Courtiers were pleased by her acceptance speech to a TV audience of more than one billion.

She praised the Queen for maintaining 'her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle' for more than 50 years.

Dame Helen added: "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. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Queen."

Dame Helen's portrayal of the Queen was seen by many senior Royal aides as sympathetic and accurate.

The invitation to Dame Helen and her film director husband Taylor Hackford was for the night before the Queen flew to America for the start of her current tour.

But the actress said she would be filming.

Her reply is thought to have included an apology for turning down the invitation.

Since mid-April, Dame Helen has been filming National Treasure: Book Of Secrets in the Black Hills of South Dakota with Nicolas Cage and Jon Voight.

She would have needed permission from the producers to leave the set because her absence could have held up filming.

But given the nature of the invitation, it is unlikely the producers would have stood in her way.

Dame Helen's spokesman insisted last night that her rejection of the Queen's invitation was not intended as a snub.

A Palace spokesman said: "We never comment on private matters concerning the Queen."