Damian Lewis participated in the final night of Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebrations at Windsor Castle last Sunday. The celebration, filmed live on castle grounds, was about narrating the Queen’s life story as the longest-reigning British monarch from her birth in 1926 to present day.
Damian was spotted on the grounds earlier in the day during Sound Check…
…then he was among the crowd greeting the Queen and Prince Philip as they arrived for the final night of special birthday celebrations…
… And then he was on stage introducing a horse battalion in connection to some historic moments in queen’s life… Well, everyone knows that the queen LOVES horses! But did you know that her love for horses worked some wonders for Damian, too? 🙂 Curious? Then read more!
Damian expresses his feelings about the birthday party in his most recent tweet…
Now… As much as it seems to be SOME party, Queen’s birthday party is not the first occasion Damian has got to hang out with the royals.
First and foremost, both Damian and Helen are ambassadors for The Prince’s Trust, a charity founded by Prince Charles 40 years ago, that help disadvantaged young people to find jobs or get education and training. Here is a little clip from 2013 in which Damian and Helen meet some young entrepreneurs to share experience and advice as part of the 30th birthday celebrations for the Trust’s Enterprise program.
Earlier this year, the couple attended the Trust’s Invest in Future fund-raising gala where Damian could not help “teach” Prince Charles some history lesson… Hey, don’t forget, he’s some kingly king, too!
As the duo talk about Damian playing Henry VIII in Wolf Hall, Damian goes: “You know he invented ‘Your Majesty’? No monarch before Henry VIII was ‘Your Majesty’, because monarch wasn’t enough.”
Charles: “They teach us to read and everything, Sir!”
And Helen’s words on the exchange are PRICELESS: “Only my husband could give the future king of England history lessons on the monarchy.”
It turns out Damian and Helen met the Queen earlier in 2013 at Windsor Castle when she received a honorary BAFTA. And, the Queen, being the horse-racing expert that she is, gave them a tip or two.
Damian tells: “I asked for the Grand National, because that’s the only time we’re there, and she said ‘no, no, no, that’s miles away – you need tips for Royal Ascot first.’ She gave me a tip for Royal Ascot and it came with a royal seal.”
Damian cannot remember the name of the horse he bet on but he remembers the amount he won: “Enough for a weekly shop”.
Not bad, huh? 😀
The Royal Family does not only seem to give tips to Damian for horse-racing but they also seem to inspire him… well, for his roles 🙂
Telegraph reports that one “unusual” inspiration for Damian as he prepared for his role as Henry VIII in Wolf Hall was “the Duke of Cambridge, a known fan of his hit television programme Homeland, and Prince Harry, after observing how the pair approach their public duties. Damian says: “I have actually on occasion found myself thinking about Wills and Harry; wanting to normalize your life as much as possible.”
And Damian thinking about Wills and Harry obviously get me thinking about Damian hanging out with Wills and Harry 🙂 Well, one gets inspired by whom he hangs out with, doesn’t he?
Firstly, Damian had a chat with Wills, the Duke of Cambridge, when he was awarded his OBE in November 2014!
From the Press Association News Report:
“Speaking about his brief chat with the Duke, Damian revealed: “He said ‘Catherine and I are huge Homeland fans’.
“He said ‘you appeared again the other night briefly, and we all got very excited,’ which is true, but it was also on Sunday night which means he is absolutely up to date with the latest episode and I’m amazed they have time for that.”
Well, everyone makes time for Brody 🙂
Damian recently shared another sweet anecdote from his conversation with Prince William at New Yorker Festival.
Lauren Collins says she read somewhere once that the Queen, no matter what you say to her, she just says “Quite.” And Collins is curious to find out if that was true: “What did she say to you?”
Damian laughs and says: “I was, actually, given my honor by Prince William, which is very lovely. Prince William had been at the same school that I had been at. And I was wearing… ’cause you could go just in your school uniform… …so I bought a different tail coat in blue, and I just said “Your Highness…I’m wearing mine in blue, you know, I did not want to wear my school uniform… He’s quick as a flash… He just looked at me and said ‘you wouldn’t fit into that anymore, would you?’ That was all in Buckingham Palace just as he was pinning the medal on my chest.”
Only a few weeks later, Damian Lewis got to hang out with Prince Harry at the ICAP Charity Day in which Damian participated to raise funds for Prostate UK.
ITV news reports the most hilarious chat between Damian Lewis and Prince Harry. You will love this!
Prince Harry, when he bumped into Lewis: “I see another ginger.” Lewis replied: “What’s it like to be the second most famous redhead then?”
Spot the most famous redhead in the picture! 🙂
The most famous and the second most famous ginger of the world also got together at the Royal Ascot last year. We don’t know if they talked about the world’s latest “most famous ginger” rankings 😀
Having hung out with them all, who is Damian’s favorite royal? Make a guess and FIND OUT here!
Exemplary actor Damian.
Every project he is involved in is a tremendous success.
He brings every character to life.
He works extremely hard to be that person who he is portraying.
End result perfection.
Hi James! What a NICE way to put it — I agree with you completely. Hope you are enjoying our blog, please come visit us again, and keep your feedback coming!
James is right, he wrote what we think all!
Damian is the most extraordinary actor now,he becomes the character, he is no longer Damian lewis!
He must be very tired at the end of a shoot, because he must feel, whatever he expresses!
Je l’adore
Monique
Oh yes he always gives his 200% to whatever character he brings to life! You are right, Monique; James writes what we all think!
Love this! How fortunate he has been to have so many quality interactions with the royal family. 🙂
Me, too! And all participants being witty make a real difference!
He is so funny. I can just imagine him saying that to Harry and giving Charles a history lesson too.
Ah how I wish to have been a fly on those walls 🙂 Incredibly funny!