Cate Blanchett spills on what Prince Philip once asked her at lunch

Cate Blanchett has shared an entertaining story from her lunch at Buckingham Palace. Photo / AP

Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett, 49, shared an amusing anecdote when she appeared on Britain's The Jonathan Ross Show last weekend.

Along with espousing the delights of living in the English countryside with her family and their two pigs, Benson and Hedges, Blanchett shared that she'd once been invited to Buckingham Palace for lunch — but the Aussie Oscar winner was not sure why she'd been invited.

Although Blanchett didn't specify when the visit to Buckingham Palace occurred, it seems it might have been in 1999, around the release of Elizabeth, in which she starred as Queen Elizabeth I, which earned her an Oscar nomination.

Blanchett's comic tale was inspired by stories that Paul Whitehouse and Ray Winstone, also guests on the show, shared about Prince Philip driving past their film set in his Range Rover and declining to meet anyone. Winstone revealed that Prince Philip had rather unceremoniously declined his offer to meet Sir Michael Caine.

This prompted Blanchett to launch into her own story or her encounter with the Duke of Edinburgh, enthralling her fellow guests, which included Joanna Lumley and Jack Black.

The Aussie actor, who has developed a reputation for her outspoken and mischievous media appearances — as well as some positively larrikin turns on US talk shows — revealed, "I went to their house once for lunch and there were twelve of us, and I couldn't work out for the life of me why I'd been invited.

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip invited Cate Blanchett to lunch at Buckingham Palace, but the Aussie actor was mystified as to why. Photo / AP

"I played Queen Elizabeth, and I'm sitting next to her [Queen Elizabeth II], and maybe she's seen the movie and wants to ask me about my interpretation, and I sat next to him [Prince Philip] and he said, 'Oh I hear you're an actor' and I said, 'Yeah, that's right' and he said, 'Well I was given a DVD player for Christmas and I can't work out whether I put the green cord in or the red cord in'," said Blanchett hilariously.

"And I said, 'Well, sir it's really not my area of expertise. I thought, 'He's invited me to lunch to tell me about his DVD player'.''

At the time, Prince Philip, who is now 97, appeared not to recognise the rising star. Now retired from public life, the Duke still attends occasional engagements with the Queen.

As for Blanchett, she has played her fair share of royalty, reprising her role as Queen Elizabeth I in The Golden Age, and as Galadriel, queen of the elves in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

An international, multi-award-winning A-list actor, Blanchett has achieved a level of grandness today that makes Prince Philip's request even more outlandish than it was at the time.