Helen Mirren Reacts To Queen Elizabeth II’s Death: She Was “The Epitome Of Nobility”

Helen Mirren is reacting to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Mirren played Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, the 2006 British biographical drama film written by Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Frears, which earned her an Academy Award.

“I’m mourning along with the rest of my country, the passing of a great Queen, Mirren said in a statement provided to Deadline. “I’m proud to call myself of the Elizabethan age. If there was a definition of nobility, Elizabeth Windsor embodied it.”

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

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Mirren also received a BAFTA award for The Queen, as well as a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for the same role in Morgan’s The Audience. She also reprised the role in the 2013 feature film adaptation of The Audience, based on Morgan’s play.

The royal, who was the world’s second longest-serving monarch after ruling for 70 years, died Thursday at age 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Mirren previously revealed she had written to Queen Elizabeth before she started filming The Queen that she would be portraying her during a “profoundly painful” time in her life. The Queen focused on the reaction to the death of Princess Diana, when the queen and royal family were criticized for their reaction to the 1997 car accident.

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Mirren told Radio Times magazine: “I realized that we were investigating a profoundly painful part of her life, so I wrote to her.

“How do you write to your queen? Was it, ‘Madam’ or ‘Your Highness’ or ‘Your Majesty’? 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.’

“I can’t remember how I put it. I just said that in my research I found myself with a growing respect for her, and I just wanted to say that.”

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