Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip attend Royal Premiere

A rare night out at the movies was in order for The Queen and Prince Phillip last night, as they attended the Royal Film Performance. This year’s chosen film was Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader, the 3rd film in the series. The Royal Film Performance is the major fundraising event of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (CBTF). The Queen is patron of the charity, which supports film and TV employees and their families in times of hardship. Actor and writer Julian Fellowes, who welcomed the Queen to the cinema, said: ‘The support of the Queen for the CTBF is fantastically important. It keeps the whole profile of the organisation in front.’

After the screening, the cast and crew waited to meet the Queen and Prince Philip. A smiling Neeson said afterwards: ‘I’m told the Queen doesn’t see many movies, nor her husband, but they’re coming tonight and that’s pretty special.’

However for one actor, the visit from The Queen came as a bit of an unfortunate surprise. Ben Barnes, who plays Prince Caspian, said he was disappointed to have missed the chance to meet the Queen because of his commitments he made to perform the stage version of Sebastian Faulks’s novel Birdsong directed by Sir Trevor Nunn,
He said: ‘We didn’t know that it would be a royal premiere so I arranged to come to this and then nip back before anyone missed me.’Then the Queen decided to come so I’m devastated about that, but the theatre will be full of people who would be disappointed if didn’t go.’

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Films, Patronage, Premiere, The Duke of Edinburgh.