Helen Mirren for the ultimate win. The Queen? Not so much, unless she’s ill, of course. Mirren won the Oscar, among many other awards, for her portrayal of the Queen. That was one of the most richly deserving Best Actress wins in recent history. Mirren, a veteran who’d been acting for decades turns in the role of a lifetime and wins the Oscar. That is really the Oscars are their best.

When a dying boy’s wish to meet Queen Elizabeth was rejected, Helen Mirren, acting as the Queen, stepped in to have tea with the boy. Mirren paid for 10-year-old Oliver Burton, from Leicester, England, and his parents to attend her West End show, where she plays the Queen. Afterward, she invited them backstage and had her butler serve them tea, while Oliver played with her Corgis.