Daniel Craig recalls the moment the ‘very funny’ Queen cracked a joke at his expense

Daniel Craig has recalled the joke the Queen made at his expense when they met during their 2012 Olympics skit, with the star hailing her as ‘very funny’.

The country’s longest-reigning royal, Queen Elizabeth II, died ‘peacefully’, aged 96, at Balmoral in Scotland on Thursday.

And prior to her death during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the US on Wednesday, the James Bond actor, 53, looked back on their meeting as he told the host what she was like in private.

Keen to know what the monarch was like behind closed doors, Stephen, 58, asked: ‘I understand that you may not be able to answer this question, but I’m gonna ask anyway: What’s she like in private?’

Remembering their time together, Daniel – who appeared in the now infamous Olympics opening ceremony sketch with the Queen a decade ago – replied: ‘Very funny. Very funny’

‘[She] wants to crack a joke, and [she] cracked a joke about me.

‘We were having our photographs taken and she just went, ‘Oh no, he’s the one that doesn’t smile. Fair enough!’

The 007 star then went on to describe what her beloved corgis were like, recalling how he enjoyed time playing with the ‘friendly’ dogs.

He explained: ‘I was rolling around on the floor with them most of the time.

‘I think they have their own footmen, they’re very friendly.’

The No Time To Die actor, and Her Majesty filmed a hilarious scene for the opening ceremony, featuring 007 accompanying the royal Bond girl to a helicopter.’

The memorable scene ended with stunt performers, doubling for Bond and the Queen, jumping out of the helicopter and parachuting into the stadium.

The recorded sequence – directed by Danny Boyle –  opened at Buckingham Palace, where a tuxedo-wearing Craig as 007 was presented to the Queen by her personal footman as she was writing a letter and training her corgis Monty, Willow and Holly to roll over.

Greeting him with an ‘Evening, Mr Bond’, the Queen, in a rose-pink dress, was seen striding briskly through the palace with the action hero before climbing into a helicopter emblazoned with the Union Flag.

The two were depicted as soaring over the streets of London and through Tower Bridge until they finally reached the Olympic Park.

Speaking about the skit in 2012, the actor said:  ‘It wasn’t supposed to be funny. It was supposed to be serious.

‘She was fun, incredibly game. We had a short space of time and I was a bit grumpy as it was my day off and suddenly I am at the Palace with the Queen at her private chamber.’

‘And she improvises a little bit. She was supposed to be sitting at the desk and she asked if she could write, so she pretended to write.’

In 2019, the Queen’s dressmaker and confidante Angela Kelly revealed it took ‘just five minutes’ to persuade Her Majesty to agree to director Danny Boyle’s request for her to appear alongside Daniel Craig in the famous footage of her appearing to parachute into the Olympic Stadium.

Mrs Kelly, the Queen’s dresser of 25 years, wrote in her book The Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, The Dresser And The Wardrobe how she was called to a meeting with Boyle and private secretary Edward Young to discuss the idea in 2011.

‘I asked him and Edward to give me five minutes so that I could ask the Queen,’ she said.

‘I remember the look of shock on Danny’s face that I would be asking Her Majesty straight away, but there’s no point in waiting around with these things: If she said no, that would be the end of it.

‘I ran upstairs and luckily the Queen was free. She was very amused by the idea and agreed immediately. I asked if she would like a speaking part. Without hesitation, Her Majesty replied, “Of course I must say something. After all, he is coming to rescue me”.

‘I asked whether she would like to say, “Good evening, James” or “Good evening, Mr Bond” and she chose the latter, knowing the Bond films. Within minutes, I was back in Edward’s office delivering the good news to Danny – I think he almost fell off his chair when I said that the Queen’s only stipulation was that she could deliver that iconic line.’

Meanwhile, after calling his interaction with the Queen, Daniel shared a heartwarming tribute to her following her death.

In a statement to the PA news agency, the 007 actor paid tribute to the former monarch, saying she would be ‘profoundly missed.’

‘I, like so many, was deeply saddened by the news today and my thoughts are with the royal family, those she loved and all those who loved her. She leaves an incomparable legacy and will be profoundly missed.’

Following the Queen’s death, a host of other big names from the showbiz world shared tributes to the monarch, including Victoria Beckham, Sir Elton John and Mick Jagger.

It comes as Britain is today mourning the death of its beloved Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. After a remarkable 70 years on the throne, the country’s longest-reigning royal yesterday died ‘peacefully’, aged 96, at Balmoral in Scotland.

Her death sparked an immediate and huge outpouring of emotion, with thousands of heartbroken mourners gathering outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and other royal buildings yesterday evening.

At one point, a rendition of ‘God Save The Queen’ rang out among the mourners, followed by cheers of ‘Long Live The King’.

Others laid flowers outside Windsor Castle – where The Queen had spent much of her time following the death of her beloved husband, Prince Philip, in April last year.

And in a sign of the Queen’s considerable worldwide influence and appeal, royal fans laid flowers outside British embassies including in Washington, Berlin and Oslo.

Senior royals dashed to be at the Queen’s bedside on Thursday, but did not reach Balmoral in time before she passed, it is believed.

Only her eldest children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, who were already in Scotland at the time of the Monarch’s sudden turn for the worse, were able to make it to the royal estate before her death, sources said.

Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, his wife Sophie, and Prince William all flew in from Berkshire via private jet to Aberdeen on Thursday as they dashed to Balmoral to see her. But it is understood that they did not reach the estate before she passed.

Prince Harry, who was due to attend a charity event with wife Meghan in London on Thursday, also attempted to reach Balmoral in time. But he arrived at 8pm, nearly an hour-and-a-half after the public were informed of the Queen’s death.

The Queen’s son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, is now King Charles III, while Prince William has inherited his father’s title and is now, along with his wife, styled The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge. William is also now the ‘heir apparent’ to the British throne.