Two Doors Down star reveals awkward encounter with member of Royal Family after she mocked them

Scottish Sun

28-05-2025

She wasn't sure how the Royal would react to her joke
ROYAL RIDICULE Two Doors Down star reveals awkward encounter with member of Royal Family after she mocked them
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TWO Doors Down star Arabella Weir has revealed she risked upsetting Princess Anne by making fun of her lack of qualifications.
The actress was presented with an MBE by the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace last year.
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Two Doors Down star Arabella Weir poked fun at Princess Anne when presented with her MBE
Credit: PA
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She is best known for playing Beth Baird in the hit BBC comedy
Credit: Handout
After being told by a friend to make the princess laugh when receiving the honour, Weir poked fun at the royal's academic performance.
When Princess Anne confessed she wasn't very good at school, Weir jokingly replied: "We all know that."
Princess Anne famously never went to university and left school with a handful of O-levels and two A-levels.
Weir, who plays Beth Baird in Two Doors Down, said she was relieved when the Royal laughed after her quip.
Speaking on presenter Lewis Nicholls' YouTube channel, she said: "I'm not a royalist or anything but I was quite nervous before it.
"My friend who went with me and my two children to the palace said to me 'Just make her laugh' and I did.
"Princess Anne said to me 'I know who you are but why are you getting this?'
"I said 'Oh I think it's because I make people laugh'.
"She said 'When did you first realise you were funny?' and I said 'At school because I wasn't very academic.'
"She said 'Neither was I,' and I went 'We all know that,' because famously she didn't do well.
Two Doors Down star looks worlds away in unrecognisable BBC newsreader role
"As it came out of my mouth I thought 'Is that something you're not supposed to say to royalty,' but she laughed. She was jolly nice."
Weir, 67, received her MBE for service to acting and charity work.
She made her name in The Fast Show alongside co-stars Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson and John Thomson.
She has played Beth in Two Doors Down since 2016 and is set to reunite with the cast for a Christmas special this year.
Princess Anne was taught at home in a small class before going to Benenden School in Kent at the age of 13, the first sovereign's daughter to attend boarding school.
She left five years later, with six O-levels and two A-levels and instead of going to university she entered the public life of the Royal Family.
Since then she has come to be regarded as the busiest and most hard-working of all the Royals and is well-known for her no-nonsense approach.
In a documentary to mark her 70th birthday in 2020, she said: "So many of my contemporaries, when asked why they were going to university, would say, 'Well basically because that's what you do.'
"And I remember thinking really that doesn't sound like a very good reason to go university, so I thought I would skip that."