The sad news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest reigning monarch and the world’s second longest reigning monarch, was announced earlier today, and the outpouring of sympathy that followed saw messages pour in from the public, world leaders , and celebrities. One of the first to share their thoughts was Dame Helen Mirren, who played Elizabeth in The Queen in 2006, and won an Oscar for her performance.
The actress, who will soon be seen in the superhero movie Shazam! Anger of the Godsissued a statement on the beloved monarch’s passing, which was shared by Deadline. The simple statement said:
“I mourn, along with the rest of my country, the passing of a wonderful queen. I am proud to call myself of the Elizabethan era. If there was a definition of nobility, Elizabeth Windsor embodied it.”
The actress also joined many others in posting her thoughts on her Instagram page, saying: “I am proud to be an Elizabethan. We mourn a woman who, with or without the crown, is the epitome of was of nobility.”
Mirren received numerous accolades for playing Elizabeth in the Stephen Frears-directed biography of the British monarch, who served as queen since 1952 and became one of the longest-serving monarchs in history.
Helen Mirren’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth is still one of her best performances
Helen Mirren has had an outstanding career, but one of the highlights was her performance as Queen Elizabeth II, a role that also earned her a BAFTA award. The actress also won a Tony and Laurence Olivier Award when she reprised her role in Public, a play by The Queen writer Peter Morgan. Mirren reprized the role one more time in 2013 when: Public was filmed.
Before taking on the role of one of the most iconic people in the world, Mirren previously spoke about how she was preparing for the role, which would see her portray Elizabeth through one of the most traumatic times of her long life; dealing with the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Before filming the movie, Mirren said she wrote to the Queen, in part to express her growing respect for her after the research she completed for the role. She said:
“I realized we were exploring a deeply painful part of her life, so I wrote to her. How do you write to your queen? Was it “Ma’am” or “Your Highness” or “Your Majesty”? I said, ‘We’re making this movie. We are investigating a very difficult time in your life. I hope it’s not too bad for you.’ I don’t remember how I said it. I just said that during my research I started to respect her more and more, and I just wanted to say that.”
Many other stars of stage and screen, music and sports shared posts on their social media. These include Sir Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mick Jagger, Andrew Lloyd Webber, George Takei and Ozzy Osbourne, who show the magnitude of the grief felt around the world for a woman often considered as the ‘grandmother of the nation’. in recent years. We join in our condolences to the Queen’s family and all those who mourn the loss of a true inspiration and icon of a generation. Below are some of the many posts.