Daniel Craig says it was “something else” to be alive during Queen Elizabeth’s record-breaking 70-year reign.
The James Bond actor, 54, continues to pay tribute to the British monarch since her death at the age of 96 on September 8 as he performed in a historical skit with Her Majesty for the opening of the Games 2012 London Olympics – which he has now called “an incredible thing”.
Daniel told the BBC at the Toronto International Film Festival of the monarch and the new king: “What an incredible thing. We will never see his kind again.
“To be alive during his reign is something else. I’m very saddened, so I guess good luck to Charles, really.
In the comedy sketch, Daniel, who played 007 in five consecutive films, was seen calling Buckingham Palace to summon the Queen to the Olympics.
The monarch turns away from her desk and greets him with the words: “Good evening, Mr Bond.”
They then walk with some of the royal corgis, to a helicopter and over London to the Olympic Stadium, before a double from Her Majesty parachutes Bond style into the sports arena.
Seconds later, the real queen, wearing the same peach dress as the stunt double, appears at the stadium to thunderous applause.
Daniel also paid tribute to the Queen in a statement on her death to the Press Association news agency.
He said: ‘Like so many others, I was deeply saddened by today’s news and my thoughts are with the Royal Family, those they loved and all who loved them.
“She leaves an incomparable legacy and will be deeply missed.”
Before the Queen’s death, Daniel described her as “very funny” and said she joked “he’s the one not smiling” when they posed for photos while doing their Olympic sketch.
Frank Cottrell-Boyce, 62, who co-wrote the Queen’s TV appearances with Daniel and later Paddington Bear to mark her platinum jubilee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that the Queen had volunteered for the Bond scene.
He added: “We went to the Palace to ask permission to portray her and find out what she was wearing that day, and it was her amazing dresser who said, ‘No, no, she wants to be in it’ .
“She was up for it and she was up for it. In fact the day we were shooting she asked Danny Boyle if she could have a line because there was no line in the script probably because when I was typing the script I wasn’t quite sure how would you type the queen character… what would you type? »