Oscar-winning British actress Helen Mirren leads birthday serenade for King Charles in Italy

Oscar-winning British actor Helen Mirren led guests in an Italian rendition of “Happy Birthday” for King Charles at a reception in Rome on Thursday (June 18), before receiving an award celebrating ties between Britain and Italy.

“Would you sing happy birthday to King Charles in Italian, please?” Mirren asked the audience at the British ambassador’s residence.

“Happy birthday, right? So, let's go!” she said in Italian before joining the guests in song.

Mirren received the inaugural UK-Italy GREAT Award, created to honour people who help strengthen links between the two countries. The award recognised her longstanding relationship with Italy and her affection for the southern region of Puglia.

The ceremony came days after Mirren was named a Companion of Honour for services to drama in the King’s Birthday Honours.

“I think that the more Britain has connections with Europe, the better,” Mirren said. “I was personally very, very against Brexit, and I think it was a tragedy.”

She also wished the monarch well, saying: “Very happy birthday, King Charles. I think you're a great king. We're very proud of you and wish you a very fabulous birthday.”

Mirren, who owns a home in Salento and has actively campaigned to protect the region’s olive trees from the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa known as Olive Quick Decline Syndrome, also used the occasion to make a plea for the threatened landscape.

Mirren, who has a home in Puglia’s Salento area, also highlighted the destruction of the region’s ancient olive trees.

“Beautiful, ancient, monumental trees, which are as old as the Colosseum, are being lost in Salento,” she said. “And to me, that's losing a patrimony, a magnificent patrimony.”

-Production: Claudia Chieppa/Reuters