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Helen Mirren of 'The Queen' headliner at Buckingham Palace reception

English actress Dame Helen Mirren attends the EE British Academy Film Awards 2014 at The Royal Opera House in London on February 16, 2014. UPI/Paul Treadway
English actress Dame Helen Mirren attends the EE British Academy Film Awards 2014 at The Royal Opera House in London on February 16, 2014. UPI/Paul Treadway | License Photo

LONDON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Helen Mirren says there was no mention of the times she has portrayed the British monarch when she was presented to Queen Elizabeth Monday at Buckingham Palace.

Mirren was one of the headliners at a star-studded gala to honor the queen's patronage of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the Daily Telegraph reported.

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A day earlier, at the BAFTA Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, Prince William joked he should call Mirren "granny" when he presented her with a BAFTA fellowship. Mirren, who has also played Elizabeth on the stage, won an Oscar and a BAFTA award for "The Queen."

"I am genuinely always astounded by her aura, her twinkle, her presence," Mirren said. "It never fails to surprise me and again it's what everyone says when they meet her -- it was what overwhelmed me the first time I met her."

She said the queen did not mention "The Queen."

"I feel like saying I am so sorry and I promise I will stop," Mirren said of her royal portrayals.

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William's wife, the former Kate Middleton, did mention her husband's quip of the previous night, Mirren said.

The guest list ranged from international stars like Mirren, Alan Rickman and Uma Thurman to many mostly known in Britain like Trevor Eve. The entertainment included songs from the musical "Oh What a Lovely War" to mark the centennial of the beginning of World War I and to honor RADA President Richard Attenborough, who directed the movie version.

Mirren, who played a female Prospera in a movie version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," ended the show by reciting Prospero's famous speech: "Our revels now are ended; these our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air."

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