Harry Potter cast member Miriam Margoyles is known for being a little outspoken, but as she recalled back in 2019, there was one person who was a little impatient with her chatty ways: the Queen of England, Elizabeth II.
As reported by Fabulous (via The Sun), Margoyles visited Buckingham Palace as part of a Royal reception for British Book Week. However, the 81-year-old revealed that they were so nervous about being faced with the Queen, she started talking… and just kept talking even after the Queen walked past her, which led to a cringe-inducing moment where Her Majesty bluntly told the British-Australian actor to keep it zipped.
Alongside being a star of the Harry Potter movies, where she played Hogwarts professor and Head of Hufflepuff House, Professor Sprout, Margoyles is also known for her roles in various family movies and drama movies, including James and the Giant Peach, Babe, The Age of Innocence, and, Romeo + Juliet.
The BAFTA-winning actor recalled, “The Queen walked over to me, and she said: ‘And what do you do?’ And I said, instead of saying I’m an actress or I read stories, I said ‘I’m the best reader of stories in the whole world!'” She continued, “When you meet royalty, something snaps in you, I was nervous, and I behaved like an idiot. I kept on talking, and she went ‘Shhh…that’s enough!’ It was so embarrassing.”
“If I’ve got an opinion, I can’t help myself,” she added. “The Queen thought I was an idiot, and she was quite right. But I thought she was a little bit harsh.”
After a 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II sadly died on Thursday, September 8 2022, aged 96. Her body is currently lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday 19 September, marking the end of a 10-day mourning period for the country.