Helen Mirren is expressing her condolences after Queen Elizabeth II’s death at 96. On Thursday, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen “died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.” As reported by People, in a message on Instagram, Mirren called the late monarch the “epitome of nobility. I am proud to be an Elizabethan. We mourn a woman, who, with or without the crown, was the epitome of nobility,” wrote Mirren. At the “Helen Mirren and Hawk Koch Discuss the Magic of Movies” event back in 2019, the actress opened up about a “lesson in embarrassment” she was taught during tea with Queen Elizabeth. “She invited me for tea,” Mirren began. “I thought it was going to be in a room with 200 other people, which it often is. I’ve met her once before and it was in a room with 200 other people. So I said, ‘Oh, well, I can manage that.’ So it was at the horsey place and the message came to me that the Queen would like to invite you to tea, she knows you’re here.” “So I walk in, and there’s like eight people sitting around a table. Prince Philip, the Queen, a Sheik of somewhere or other and a couple of horsey people. I know absolutely nothing about horses, at all, and the Queen knows everything about horses,” continued Mirren, adding that she was “desperately trying to make polite conversation and it’s just coming out like gobbledygook.” She added of the meeting that “they were lovely, they were utterly gracious.” Mirren was appointed a dame by Queen Elizabeth back in 2003.

A slew of A-list figures, including Jane Fonda, Adam McKay, Shailene Woodley, Helen Mirren, Michael Palin and Ted Turner, have demanded governments honor a long-awaited agreement to protect the world’s oceans. In the letter, dozens of celebrities and conservation groups have called for a High Seas treaty, which has been the subject of international talks for the better part of two decades. “We need our oceans. They keep our planet habitable. They provide livelihoods and livelihoods for billions, and are home to so much of our planet’s biodiversity,” the letter reads. “Currently there is no way for governments to protect the high seas, waters outside national jurisdictions. A strong treaty would solve this by allowing the creation of vast ocean reserves, off limits to destructive human activities. Urgent action is needed. Nearly two decades ago, governments first discussed a new treaty. As they have talked, the ocean crisis has worsened. Countless species and habitats have been destroyed or lost.”

Other signatories include actors Rosanna Arquette, Javier Bardem, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry and Mark Rylance; singers Alejandro Sanz and Grag Queen; comedian Sindhu Vee and TV presenters Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Fearne Cotton and Chris Packham. The leaders of environmental organizations including Greenpeace, Oceana, SharkProject International and Women4Oceans have also added their support. There is currently no legal protection for the “high seas” – the two-thirds of international waters that are not tied to one country and are open to shipping, fishing and research to all. But the ocean, which covers 70 percent of the planet and produces about 50 percent of its oxygen, is being attacked in multiple ways by the climate crisis, environmental pollution and human exploitation. The ocean has absorbed about 90 percent of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions, largely from the burning of fossil fuels. The higher temperatures affect almost all marine life. United Nations negotiations on new Global Ocean treaty stall, activists demand robust treaty be drafted by the end of 2022

According to The Hollywood Reporter, U.K. network ITV has lined up a host of big names to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee next month. Among those leading the festivities for the monarch’s 70 years on the throne will be Tom Cruise, Helen Mirren and Damian Lewis, who will take part in a grand theatrical event, including 1,300 performers and 500 horses taking viewers through various moments in history, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I through to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Mirren is set to play Queen Elizabeth I (a role she has performed before in a 2005 TV series), while a cast of “Queen’s Players” will be introduced by a character called The Herald, played by actor and comic Omid Djalili. Each act will reflect on key moments in history, including Elizabeth I’s Tilbury Speech and James I and the Gunpowder Plot. The Commonwealth will also be celebrated, as well as the four nations within the United Kingdom. All of this will be interspersed with a number of military and equestrian displays from around the world, including Azerbaijan, India, Oman, France, Norway, Switzerland and Trinidad & Tobago. Music will be provided by a 75-piece orchestra comprising Tri-Service personnel and augmented with members of The National Symphony Orchestra, with special performances from Keala Settle, Gregory Porter and Katherine Jenkins. The musical director will be the multi-award winning composer, Debbie Wiseman, whilst the principal director for music will be Lieutenant Colonel Jason Burcham RM. The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee will be broadcast live from the private grounds of Windsor Castle on Sunday, May 15.

A whole host of A-list celebrities such as Dame Helen Mirren and Susan Sarandon have teamed up with global not-for-profit charity THINK EQUAL in their latest campaign, according to the Mirror. Think Equal’s mission is to achieve a global system change in education introducing social and emotional learning as a compulsory new subject on national curriculum around the world. EQlicious sees Dame Helen and Susan alongside celebrities such as Olivia Colman, Stephen Fry, Richard E. Grant, and Emma Thompson narrate a collection of new animated stories for families with children aged three to six. The idea is that the stories will bring wellbeing and positive life outcomes to the next generation of children. EQlicious features a total of 12 digital stories and 60 activities including art-based creations, interactive games, playful songs and prompts for meaningful conversation. Each heartwarming story provides a different learning objective, from self-esteem and communication skills to celebration of diversity, emotional literacy, problem solving and kindness. The complete article can be read over here. In the above video, taped in 2016, Helen Mirren talks about Think Equality.

Helen Mirren is mourning the loss of British stage and film actor Antony Sher, who died on Thursday at the age of 72, in an article posted by People. The Oscar winner shared an emotional tribute to Sher on Friday. “I am devastated to hear of the death of Antony Sher,” Mirren wrote, in a statement. “The theater has lost a brilliant light.” She went on to recall first meeting Sher in the mid-1970s, writing, “I will never forget the moment I met the actor in Antony. We were doing the first reading rehearsal of the play Teeth and Smiles by David Hare. Antony was a comparatively unknown actor at the time. We were buried in our scripts.” “I read the first words of our scene together and he answered. I raised my eyes above the pages to look at him more precisely, as with simply those minimal words I immediately realized I was opposite a great actor,” the Woman In Gold actress added. “Of course he went on to become the celebrated artist he was, but the extraordinary ability was born in him, as natural to him as breathing: it was as clear as a summer sky,” said Mirren. Sher – who was knighted by the British Empire in 2000 for services to theater — was commemorated Friday by the Royal Shakespeare Company, which said the respected actor died after being diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year. “‘Antony was deeply loved and hugely admired by so many colleagues. He was a ground-breaking role model for many young actors, and it is impossible to comprehend that he is no longer with us,” the statement read in part. In addition to his celebrated and Tony-nominated stage career, Sher is remembered as having played Dr. Moth in 1998’s Oscar-winning Best Picture Shakespeare in Love, along with roles in Mrs. Brown and The Wolfman. Others to pay tribute to the late actor have included Patrick Stewart and Mark Rylance. Sher is survived by husband Gregory Doran, artistic director for the Royal Shakespeare Company.