Helen Mirren is speaking out following Queen Elizabeth II's death. Immediately after the late monarch's death on Thursday, the 77-year-old actress, who played Queen Elizabeth in multiple projects, reacted to the news on Instagram.
"I am proud to be an Elizabethan," Mirren wrote alongside a photo of Queen Elizabeth. "We mourn a woman, who, with or without the crown, was the epitome of nobility."
Then, in a statement to ET, Mirren said, "I’m mourning along with the rest of my country, the passing of a great Queen. I’m proud to call myself of the Elizabethan age. If there was a definition of nobility, Elizabeth Windsor embodied it."
In a previous interview with ET, Mirren described how she viewed Queen Elizabeth.
"Honest and decent and fun-loving and warm," Mirren said. "Above all, responsible to her duty as the monarch, and everything else had to take second place to that, including her family."
The actress also recalled "very briefly" meeting the late monarch once upon a time.
"I was lucky that I met her in an environment, in a situation that she was relaxed in," she told ET. "She was relaxed and happy and having a good time. She was absolutely charming and twinkly and sweet."
Mirren won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in Peter Morgan's play, The Audience. She later stepped into the royal's shoes again in the 2006 film, The Queen, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress.
More recently, Morgan created the Netflix series, The Crown, which follows the late monarch's reign. Claire Foy and Olivia Colman have played her on the show, and Imelda Staunton is set to take over the role next season.
Colman previously told ET that it was "so much fun" to take on the role.
In the wake of Queen Elizabeth's death, Morgan said he expects the series will pause filming.
"The Crown is a love letter to her and I’ve nothing to add for now, just silence and respect," he wrote in an email, according to Deadline. "I expect we will stop filming out of respect too."
Prior to her death, Stephen Daldry, the show's executive producer, told the outlet if the show was in production when she died, it would stop for a respectable period of time.
"None of us know when that time will come but it would be right and proper to show respect to the queen. It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect," he said. "She’s a global figure and it’s what we should do. She’s an extraordinary woman and people will be upset."
For updates on Queen Elizabeth's death, visit ET's ongoing coverage here.
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