Cate Blanchett and Prince Philip once discussed the British royal’s inability to operate his DVD player during a lunch.
The 49-year-old actress has revealed she sat next to the Prince at a lunch, where she expected to be asked about playing royalty in some of her film and TV roles – but she instead ended up talking about DVD players.
Cate recalled: "There were 12 of us, and I couldn’t work out for the life of me why I’d been invited. Playing Queen Elizabeth and sitting next to her, I thought, ‘Maybe she’s seen the movie and wants to ask me about my interpretation.’"
However, as it transpired, the Prince wasn’t entirely sure who Cate was.
She told ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’: "I sat next to him and he said, ‘I hear you’re an actor? I was given a DVD player for Christmas and I can’t work out whether I put the green cord in or the red cord…’
"I thought, ‘He’s invited me to lunch to tell me about his DVD player!’"
Meanwhile, Cate and her family recently moved to the UK from her native Australia because she wanted her children to grow up in a country that is more "benign".
The award-winning actress – who has kids Dashiell, 16, Roman, 14, Ignatius, 10, and Edith, three – explained: "I just think that in my country you walk into a field and you’re going to be killed by some kind of snake or accosted by a huge [animal.] It’s much more benign here … pigs, chickens."
Between acting and raising her kids, Cate is looking forward to catching up on novels she hasn’t read and pottering around in the garden.
She said: "I suppose that’s what I like about coming back here.
"There are so many books I haven’t read, so many films I haven’t watched, so many conversations I haven’t had, so many plants I haven’t planted … It’s important to sort of sit and think what could be next."
Cate Blanchett recalls surreal Prince Philip conversation
