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London - Oliver Burton, a boy from Leicester, England, who was diagnosed with leukemia when he was just three years old, had his dying wish fulfilled when Dame Helen Mirren dressed up as the Queen and had tea with the ten-year-old, reports The Sun.
Oliver, who also suffers from down-syndrome, was given just weeks or months to live and his parent's Catherine, 29 and James, 32, have since brought him home from hospital determined to make the most of his final days.
The Queen was too busy
Oliver's dying wish was to have tea with the Queen, but when the National Children's Tumour Leukaemia Cancer Trust wrote to the Queen she said sadly she could not meet everyone who asked for a royal appointment.
Not willing to give up, the charity then wrote to Helen Mirren who was happy to play "queen" for the day and went above and beyond to give Oliver a special day that he would always remember.
Dame Helen paid for Oliver and his family to watch her show The Audience, escorted to the theatre in a limousine and took them backstage for tea and biscuits where Oliver met the show’s corgis.
The actress even took the time to knight Oliver, giving him the official title of Sir.
'She stayed in character'
"She stayed in character for the whole thing. Oliver thought she was the real Queen, and well, that's good enough for us," said James Browne, Oliver’s father.
"It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet such a brave young man," Mirren later told The Sun.
Andi Daw, the families support worker spoke to The Sun newspaper saying: "I expected it to be two minutes in and out, but it was not at all.
"They had tea and cakes, they had the corgis, and they really took care of them. The theatre could not have been more helpful, we really could not fault them.
"It has made an enormous difference to Catherine and her family. She even said she has woken up the last few days feeling lifted. It's a memory that she will hold for the rest of her life.
"Even when Ollie is not around anymore they have got something they can look back on. It really was Ollie's biggest wish to meet the Queen so it was absolutely huge."
Oliver, who also suffers from down-syndrome, was given just weeks or months to live and his parent's Catherine, 29 and James, 32, have since brought him home from hospital determined to make the most of his final days.
The Queen was too busy
Oliver's dying wish was to have tea with the Queen, but when the National Children's Tumour Leukaemia Cancer Trust wrote to the Queen she said sadly she could not meet everyone who asked for a royal appointment.
Not willing to give up, the charity then wrote to Helen Mirren who was happy to play "queen" for the day and went above and beyond to give Oliver a special day that he would always remember.
Dame Helen paid for Oliver and his family to watch her show The Audience, escorted to the theatre in a limousine and took them backstage for tea and biscuits where Oliver met the show’s corgis.
The actress even took the time to knight Oliver, giving him the official title of Sir.
'She stayed in character'
"She stayed in character for the whole thing. Oliver thought she was the real Queen, and well, that's good enough for us," said James Browne, Oliver’s father.
"It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet such a brave young man," Mirren later told The Sun.
Andi Daw, the families support worker spoke to The Sun newspaper saying: "I expected it to be two minutes in and out, but it was not at all.
"They had tea and cakes, they had the corgis, and they really took care of them. The theatre could not have been more helpful, we really could not fault them.
"It has made an enormous difference to Catherine and her family. She even said she has woken up the last few days feeling lifted. It's a memory that she will hold for the rest of her life.
"Even when Ollie is not around anymore they have got something they can look back on. It really was Ollie's biggest wish to meet the Queen so it was absolutely huge."
