‘Very, very special’: Helena Bonham Carter describes being honoured with a CBE

For both women it was a gathering which may have provoked the strangest feeling of deja vu.

There at the dais was the Queen. And in front of her, her own mother or rather, Helena Bonham Carter, who played the Queen Mother within the hit film The King’s Speech.

The 45-year-old, who won the proper actress Bafta for her role opposite Colin Firth who played the Queen’s father George VI, was at Buckingham Palace yesterday to gather her CBE.

The Queen’s mother within the King’s Speech: Helena Bonham Carter received a CBE for services to Drama at Buckingham Palace today

It is known that the Queen has
seen the film, concerning the king’s battle to beat his speech
impediment, and enjoyed the actress’s portrayal of her late mother.

Miss Bonham Carter is renowned for
her eccentric sort of dress and didn’t disappoint when it came to her
royal encounter, choosing a watch-catching tartan outfit believed to be
by Dame Vivienne Westwood, teamed with super-high heels and a top hat
perched on her trademark bird’s nest hair.

Family affair: The actress described the day as ‘very, very special’ but joked that her daughter Nell, 4, had struggled to concentrate

A real honour: The actress, who has twice been Oscar-nominated, made her name with a string of appearances in Merchant Ivory films

But essentially the most noteworthy aspect of her outfit was, for once, not her clothes or her headwear however the cellphone in her hand.

For while most girls are likely to
accessorise with a classy little handbag, she was clutching a
smartphone encased in a fluorescent pink cover with large bunny ears
protruding from the end.

Miss Bonham Carter was accompanied to
the Palace by her equally wild-haired husband, American film director
Tim Burton, their children Billy Ray, eight, and 4-year-old Nell, and
her mother Elena.

After the Investiture ceremony, Bonham Carter posed proudly together with her partner, director Tim Burton