Helen Mirren Tells Off Drummers In Costume As Queen

Helen Mirren told off some drummers, and people are cheering her on for it. A troupe of street drummers were scolded by Helen Mirren when Mirren emerged from a London theater in costume as Queen Elizabeth II to yell at them for interrupting her show.

Mirren admitted that she used language more befitting of a Cockney girl than a queen as she ranted at the drummers.

"I'm afraid there were a few 'thespian' words used," Mirren said"They got a very stern royal ticking off but I have to say they were very sweet and they stopped immediately.

"I felt rotten, but on the other hand they were destroying our performance so something had to be done."

Mirren is currently starring in the play "The Audience," on London's West End It is about the weekly meetings and resulting spats between Queen Elizabeth II and Britain's prime ministers over a sixty-year period of time in which she reigned.  

The drummers were marching through London in order to promote a gay music festival called As One in the Park.

"Not much shocks you on the gay scene," parade organizer Mark McKenzie told UK newspaper The Telegraph. "But seeing Helen Mirren dressed as the queen cussing and swearing and making you stop your parade - that's a new one."

"I talked to a few of the drummers this morning," Chris Dangerfield, an onlooker, said "The conductor, who really got it in the ear, said he was terrified."

A spokesman for the festival, Mark Williams, apologized, saying that the drummers "are terribly upset if we caused her any distress. If she'd like to let her hair down and attend the festival she'd be more than welcome."

No word yet on whether Helen Mirren will attend the festival, but hopefully the drummers have gotten over being told off by Mirren dressed as the Queen.