Sir David Suchet thought birthday invite to lunch with the Queen was ‘a hoax’-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro

Sir David Suchet thought the invite to dine with the Queen was a prank (Picture: PA/Alamy Stock Photo)

Sir David Suchet admits he thought an invitation to have lunch with Queen Elizabeth II was a “hoax”, as he paid tribute to her “twinkly” demeanour.

The veteran actor, best known for playing Hercule Poirot in the long-running Agatha Christie detective series, was invited to a private lunch at Buckingham Palace on his 44th birthday in 1990.

Suspecting it was a prank by a friend, his wife of some 40 years, Sheila Ferris, called the number supplied in the invitation and was answered by staff at the Palace.

Sir David, who was knighted in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity, recalled the story on ITV’s Good Morning Britain over the weekend.

The 76-year-old star said: “My great memory, of all the occasions that I found myself in their company, was in 1990 on my birthday actually.

‘Just prior to my birthday I got an invitation to have lunch with her majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh in one of her ‘meet the people’ lunches. My wife and I thought it was a hoax because the date was my birthday, which was May the 2nd.

Sir David met the Queen on a number of occasions (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)

‘Sheila went to the phone and rang up to expect a mate and the gentleman at the end said “Buckingham Palace” and she slammed the phone down and said, “It’s real, this is real!”

‘So I went and had lunch at the Palace and it was extraordinary because previously I had met her on duty and this was off duty.’

The Poirot star received an OBE after being named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours (Picture: PA)

Sir David described the late monarch – who died aged 96 at Balmoral on September 8 – as ‘very relaxed and very smiley and twinkly,’ adding that ‘it was a very happy occasion’.

He revealed that it was during this meeting that the Duke of Edinburgh taught him how to peel and eat a mango, a technique he used in the Poirot episode The Theft Of The Royal Ruby in 1991.

‘That was the occasion that famously has gone down where the Duke of Edinburgh taught me how to peel a mango,’ said Sir David. ‘And that business of peeling a mango got into a Poirot episode.

‘In fact, in the episode I was asked as Poirot, “Where did you learn that?” and I said, “A certain duke taught me.” ‘

The world paid its respects on Monday (September 19) with the Queen’s state funeral, with world leaders, dignitaries and celebrities from around the world in attendance.

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