Dame Helen and The Queen

Peter McKay on Dame Helen Mirren in the Daily Mail yesterday:

She considers Britain an ‘angry’ and ‘cruel’ society that no longer cherishes old-fashioned values.

But I wonder if Dame Helen, 65, is also disappointed in the Queen, whom she played in the eponymous film about HM during the Diana crisis.

She wrote to the monarch saying she’d researched her role carefully, adding that ‘day after day my respect for her was growing enormously. She hasn’t replied, but her secretary wrote to me on her behalf, explaining: “We have read your letter with interest.” ’

That’s what I reply to readers who say I should be shot.

I imagine Dame Helen gets interesting letters she doesn’t reply to either.