The 69-year-old star, who played Queen Elizabeth in The Queen, told the Sunday Mirror’s Notebook magazine: “I was kind of ambivalent about it because I’ve always seen myself as slightly on the outside or the edge of things.
“In Britain, a Damehood is very much being welcomed by the establishment… so I was a bit wary.
“To me, actors shouldn’t be too establishment. Our job is to be sort of anti-establishment.”
Mirren, who features in the film The Hundred-Foot Journey, said her father and Russian ancestors would have been “incredibly proud”.
“So, I took it for that reason and I did feel embarrassingly proud about it,” she said.
