Helen Mirren: Dying Boy Granted Wish By Actress, Who Helps Him Have Tea With The Queen
Dame Helen Mirren donned her Queen Elizabeth II finery, but this time it was to grant the wish of a dying little boy.
Oliver Burton, afflicted by his third bout with cancer, wanted only one thing in the world: to visit Buckingham Palace. When the real queen couldn't meet with him, Mirren stepped up.
The Daily Mail reported that the actress, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II, brought Burton and his family to London. They first received tickets to her current West End show The Audience, in which she reprises the role of the queen. After the show, still in her queen costume, Mirren took the family backstage and had a butler serve them tea. They ate sandwiches and cookies together, while Burton played with the show's corgi actors. Then the actress knighted him.
"[She] told everyone that they had to call him Sir Oliver," said the boy's father, James Browne. "He took his British flag and got her to sign it and just waved and waved it all day."
Oliver suffered his first bout with leukemia at the age of three. The Leicester boy also has Down's syndrome, which has made his cancer treatments more difficult. Still, Oliver has now a memory that can last the rest of his days.
Mirren "was really lovely," said Browne. "She did the whole thing - had a butler there, was dressed in costume and did it all properly for him.[Oliver] had a brilliant day."
