The 2006 biographical film about Queen Elizabeth II starring Helen Mirren is The Queen. Directed by Stephen Frears and written by Peter Morgan, the film focuses on the royal family’s response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.
Mirren plays Elizabeth II during a period when traditional royal protocol clashed with intense public grief and media pressure. Michael Sheen portrays the newly elected prime minister Tony Blair, whose approach contrasts with the Queen’s reserved reaction. The story dramatizes political and private conversations, so it is a docudrama rather than a literal record of every event.
The title can cause confusion with Elizabeth, the 1998 film starring Cate Blanchett, and with The Crown, a television series covering several periods of Elizabeth II’s reign. A Royal Affair is unrelated: it is a 2012 historical drama about eighteenth-century Denmark.
Mirren’s performance earned the Academy Award for Best Actress. The Queen was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.