Actress Cate Blanchett has opened up about a rather awkward encounter she had with the late Prince Philip during a previous visit to Buckingham Palace.

On Wednesday, August 7, the "Lord of the Rings" star revealed that she had lunch with the late Queen Elizabeth and, quite inexplicably, the late Prince Philip asked her to help him with an apparently awkward DVD player.

"We had lunch at the palace," Blanchett revealed, admitting that she "doesn't know" why she was invited.

"The fire brigade captain was there, as was Helen Fielding (the scientist, not the novelist). I thought maybe it was because I played her ancestor, Elizabeth I. ......" She continued.

And Blanchett revealed that the late Prince Philip made a rather odd request during a visit to Buckingham Palace.

"Prince Philip asked me to help him use the DVD player," the actress explained. 'Because I was an actress.'

When host Andy Cohen asked Blanchett if she actually helped with the deceased royal's DVD, she revealed that she was not the type to fix DVDs.

"No, I haven't," she replied. 'I'm not the technical type.'

Prince Philip married the late Queen Elizabeth, who died on April 9, 2021, at the age of 99. The late Queen Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96, having been on the throne for over 70 years.

When asked if she thought the late Queen had seen the film in which Blanchett played Queen Elizabeth I, the actress replied emphatically: "It was clear that she had not!"

Blanchett played Elizabeth I not once, but twice, in the 1998 film Elizabeth and the 2007 film Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

"I've been lucky enough to choose what interests me," Blanchett said in one 2007 interview. A career is created by what you do with the opportunities that come along."