Looking Back at Judi Dench's Relationship with Queen Camilla and the Rest of the Royal Family
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When Judi Dench was pictured riding in the carriages with members of the royal family at Royal Ascot last month, many were naturally curious how the famed British actress became part of the royals' inner circle. Dench has long been close with King Charles and Queen Camilla. But how did she get there?
Royalty on screen
Dench has a history of portraying royal women on screen. Dench has portrayed Queen Victoria twice in her career (in Victoria & Abdul and Mrs. Brown) and Queen Elizabeth I once (in an Oscar-winning role in Shakespeare in Love).
Honored by Queen Elizabeth
In recognition of her storied career, Queen Elizabeth appointed Dench as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1970 Birthday Honours, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1988 New Year Honours. In 2005, Queen Elizabeth appointed Dench Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the annual Birthday Honours (above).
In 2018, Ian McKellen confessed on the Graham Norton Show that he and Dench got into trouble at the Palace. "We went on dancing around the corner, and we found ourselves behind the band, and there behind this sort of partition was the throne," McKellen said, and, then "we sat on them."
Friendship with Charles and Camilla
A select timeline of Dench's public appearances with King Charles and Queen Camilla:
2008: Dench was spotted arriving at Highgrove for Charles's 60th private birthday for friends and family members, indicating she was in their inner circle.
2013: She and her partner David Mills accompanied Charles and Camilla on a visit to the 132nd Sandringham Flower Show.
2018: Dench joined Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, on a visit to the Isle of Wright, where the two were pictured smiling as they enjoyed vanilla ice cream.
2020: Dench appeared on Camilla's guest edit of The Emma Barnett show for BBC Radio 5 Live, as they discussed lockdown.
2023: Dench participated in the inaugural Queen's Reading Room Literary Festival at Hampton Court Palace, and warmly greeted Queen Camilla.
2023: She attended day four of Royal Ascot with the royal family, and arrived in the carriage procession.
Publicly defending the royal family
Last year, Dench said Netflix needs to add disclaimer to The Crown stating the show is fiction. In a letter the Times, she wrote, "the closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism."
Dench continued, "While many will recognise The Crown for the brilliant but fictionalised account of events that it is, I fear that a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas, may take its version of history as being wholly true. This is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent."
She concluded her letter by saying, "The time has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve its reputation in the eyes of its British subscribers."
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