Beloved Australian actress Cate Blanchett has recalled an interesting lunch she once had with the late Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip.
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on August 7, 2024, Cate shared:
“I had lunch at the palace… I do not know [why I was invited]. The head of the fire brigade was there and Helen Fielding — not the novelist — the scientist, was there.”
The Oscar-winner then revealed that Prince Philip had an odd question for her.
“I thought maybe [I was invited] because I played her ancestor Queen Elizabeth I, but I mean, Prince Philip just asked if I could help him with his DVD player,” Cate said.
“Because I was an actress.”
“And did you help him?” host Andy Cohen asked.
“No, I did not. I’m not technical,” Cate replied.
Andy then asked if the late Queen had seen Cate’s 1998 film Elizabeth – in which Cate plays Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousin 14 times removed, Queen Elizabeth I.
“It became very clear that she had not!” Cate joked.
This isn’t the first time Cate’s spoken of Prince Philip asking her to fix his DVD player.
In 2018, during an interview with Jonathan Ross, she said:
“I sat next to [Philip], and he said, ‘I hear you’re an actor? I was given a DVD player for Christmas, and I can’t work out whether I put the green cord in or the red cord.’”
Cate then added with a laugh, “I thought, ‘He’s invited me to lunch to tell me about his DVD player!’”
