Watch CBS News

From London, A Royal Update

The BAFTA awards – Britain's version of the Academy Awards – are this weekend and Helen Mirren is a heavy favorite to win another award for playing Queen Elizabeth in "The Queen." The Early Show royal watcher, Victoria Mather, stopped by to talk about the movie and the real Queen.

"The Queen" is about the death of Princess Diana and the royal family's reaction to the accident. There's a powerful scene in which Mirren's Elizabeth comes back from Scotland to see the crowds in mourning for Diana.

"The interesting thing about that clip where she comes down and you see her reading all these terrifying messages saying that the royal family has murdered Princess Diana and really for the first time getting it," Mather said. "Then she turns and goes to a child – and I was watching this because I covered Princess Di's funeral – she goes to the child and says 'would you like me to put this?' and the child says 'no.' And you can see what's going through her mind: 'my God, it's come to this.'"

But the little girl leans forward and tells the Queen that the flowers are for her. "I was amazed," Mather said.

When Harry Smith pointed out how much Mirren looks like Queen Elizabeth, Mather said the comparison goes much further.

"She walks like Queen Elizabeth as well – she perfected the slight waddle," Mather said. "There was a rather marvelous cartoon in the Daily Mail a few weeks ago, after Helen won the Golden Globes, the Queen is rushing into a room at Buckingham Palace going, 'Philip, Philip, they are making a film called 'Helen Mirren'! I've been asked to play the part!'"

The real Queen is coming to America this summer, and Mather said Americans should be very excited.

"You realize she actually is mistress of more land than anybody else in the whole of the world, technically, because she is Queen of Canada and Australia," she said.

But the Queen is not the royal that all the British papers are talking about right now. Prince Harry made all the front pages for a late night of partying, but Mather doesn't think he's out of control.

"He's having a good time – he's young, the second son," she said. "People go, 'Oh dear, he goes out and has a few drinks.' But they always did. It's just that the press nowadays is more on their case."

And what about Prince William, is he going to get married? There were rumors about his engagement to Kate Middleton around Christmastime, but not much has been reported since then.

"There's has been a moratorium – the press has agreed not to follow her – and they are trying to stick by that, So the paparazzi level has gone down," Mather said.

"But I am not personally in favor of this marriage," she said. "I think she's too young. They are all so young, and she's an older woman as well. He's 24 and she's 25. What has she got in life except for long hair?"

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.