Two worlds collided when Hollywood royalty met actual royalty in 2011: Catherine Zeta-Jones was presented by the then Prince Charles with a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) medal for her work as both an actress and a humanitarian. Zeta-Jones, per The Daily Express, shared unseen footage of herself, husband Michael Douglas, and their two children looking “very much at home” as they entered Buckingham Palace the day she was given her CBE from Charles—who Zeta-Jones referred to as “saucy.”
Zeta-Jones took to Instagram to reflect on her brush with royalty, sharing a video of her daughter, Carys, leading the way into a hall followed by her son, Dylan, and a very observant Douglas, “who admired the paintings on the wall as he made his way in,” The Daily Express reports.
“Monday Memories!” she captioned the clip. “The day I took my family to Buckingham Palace. They seem very much at home yet look like they’re casing the joint,” alongside laughing emojis and a crown emoji. Carys, who is now 20 (and would have been around eight at the time), wrote in the comments “Why am I leading the show?” followed by a laughing emoji.
At the time 12 years ago, Douglas had just battled tongue cancer, which left Charles concerned. “It means a lot to come home with my family and to be honored in this way [with a CBE]—very emotional, rather nervous I must say, and it was worth [it] to have Michael in good health to be able to enjoy it [with me]. Obviously, we talked about Michael. The last time I saw His Royal Highness, Michael had just got his treatment, so he was concerned, but he was very happy to hear…he’s well on the road to recovery.”
In 2013, Zeta-Jones was on The David Letterman Show when she was shown a photo of Charles placing the CBE medal on her. “Check out his hands, I don’t know,” she joked. “I love the royal family, but he is being a little saucy.”
Zeta-Jones is a proud royalist and has even sat down to lunch with Charles’ wife, Queen Camilla (but then Camilla Parker-Bowles). “In our family, we’ll dress up on royal occasions,” Zeta-Jones said. “My son will wear a top hat and tails and have scones. I had a wonderful lunch with Camilla and Lady Astor in New York years ago, before they were even married, and I loved her. What you see is what you get with Camilla.”
