Helen Mirren Steps in for Queen to Grant Dying Boy’s Wish - East Idaho News
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Helen Mirren Steps in for Queen to Grant Dying Boy’s Wish

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ht helen mirren oliver burton tk 130522 wblog?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1369269676663OneLittleLifeInspiresEveryone/Facebook(LONDON) — When a dying boy’s wish to meet Queen Elizabeth II was rejected, Helen Mirren, acting as the Queen, stepped in to have tea with the boy.

Mirren paid for 10-year-old Oliver Burton, from Leicester, England, and his parents to attend her West End show, where she plays the Queen. Afterward, she invited them backstage and had her butler serve them tea, while Oliver played with her Corgis.

“She stayed in character for the whole thing. Oliver thought she was the real Queen, and well, that’s good enough for us,” the father James Browne told the UK’s Daily Mail.

“She was really lovely. She did the whole thing — had a butler there, was dressed in costume and did it all properly for him,” Browne added.

Oliver, who was born with Down’s Syndrome, is facing his third battle with cancer and, according to his father, has been given only weeks to live.

At the top of his bucket list was a visit with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. After his local member of Parliament wrote to Queen Elizabeth, the family was told the Queen would be unable to meet with him, according to Oliver’s Facebook page.

Then, a charity worker, who heard about Oliver’s story, approached Mirren, who was happy to fill the royal’s shoes.

Mirren even knighted the boy and “told everyone that they had to call him Sir Oliver,” his father said. “He had a brilliant day.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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