For someone who is supposed to embody a 300-year-old woman, it has to be said that Carice van Houten looks pretty good. In Game of Thrones’ seventh and penultimate season, Carice plays the mysterious Melisandre, a priestess who has weathered several centuries.

In season six her age was revealed in a memorable scene in which she removed a magical necklace and became an aged, wrinkled crone in front of our eyes.

Carice says now the most frequent thing Game of Thrones fans say to her when they meet her is, ‘You’re really pretty in real life.’

‘I’m always like, “Thank you. I guess?”’ she adds.

Today, Carice arrives for our interview at a London hotel looking much younger than her 40 years. She’s wearing black jeans and a beanie hat with thick-framed glasses that seem slightly too large for her elfin face. She moves with an adolescent mixture of gawkiness and elegance.