And the Oscar goes to....

The Oscars, taking place in Los Angeles on March 2nd 2014, are the meeting place of Hollywood royalty.  But while real royals might have some of the best stories in town, it's rare for a regal role to win a king or queen of the big screen the ultimate prize - an Oscar.  In the eighty six years of the Academy Awards, just a dozen or so royal roles have led to an Oscar win.  And with no kings, queens, princes or princesses among the parts nominated this year, it will be another year before any chance of an extra royal joining the list.  Here are the royals whose lives have landed their stars an Oscar.

The Queen - Helen Mirren won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Elizabeth II during the days following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997

In the last fifteen years there have been three winners who scooped the ultimate acting award with a royal role with perhaps the best known being Dame Helen Mirren who won just about every prize going for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in The Queen.  The film, which was set in the days following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, was released in 2006 with Dame Helen collecting her award in February 2007.

Dame Helen Mirren as the Queen - she ended her Oscar acceptance speech by praising Elizabeth II

Four years later, a portrayal of Elizabeth II's father landed British actor Colin Firth a Best Actor Oscar. He played George VI in The King's Speech (released in 2010) which told the story of the unexpected monarch through his struggle to overcome his stutter.  And while Helena Bonham Carter was also nominated for her portrayal of Bertie's wife, later better known as the Queen Mother, it was the make believe king who took home the gold statuette when the awards were held in early 2011.

  

Colin Firth as George VI in The King's Speech, the role for which he won Best Actor at the Oscars

Dame Judi Dench had started the royal trend in 1999 when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love.  It's one of the shortest ever appearances to win an Academy Award and as well as winning for her star turn as Gloriana, many commentators believe it was also an opportunity to recognise Dame Judi's performance as another royal - the year before she had just missed out on the Best Actress Oscar for her potrayal of Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown.

Dame Judi Dench as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, released in 1998, and a big winner at the Oscars ceremony in February 1999

And there was another daughter/ father twist in this Oscar tale - the first actor to win an Academy Award for portraying a royal was Charles Laughton who grabbed the gold statuette in 1933 for playing Elizabeth I's father, Henry VIII, in The Private Life of Henry VIII. He was only the seventh actor to win the prize and the film was the first British production to be nominated as Best Film - it took the Oscar.It's also one of the few tellings of Henry's story to set out to be a comedy handling the last part of his reign, seen by many as a tyranny, with a lightness of touch and lots of one liners.

Charles Laughton as Henry VIII in his Oscar winning performance from 1933

It's not really surprising that it's the great powerhouses of the English monarchy who provide parts that win Oscars.  Katherine Hepburn won her fourth and final Academy Award for her role as Eleanor of Aquitaine in the 1968 film, A Lion in Winter.

She had to share the prize but she still got a full Oscar - Katherine Hepburn won Best Actress for playing Eleanor of Aquitaine in a tied result which also saw Barbra Streisand recognised for her role in Funny Girl

But finding other royal links to Oscar winning roles is much harder. Audrey Hepburn won in 1953 for Roman Holiday in which she played a fictional princess called Ann.  And Laurence Olivier won in 1948 for his version of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in the film version of Shakespeare's famous play.  

Audrey Hepburn in her Oscar winning role as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday

But to get really royal at the Oscars, a trip back to the 1950s is needed.  In 1957, Yul Brynner won the Best Actor award for his part in The King and I where he played King Mongkut of Siam - albeit in a musical based on a memoir.  In the same year,  Ingrid Bergman won a Best Actress Oscar for her part as a woman involved in a plot to prove she is Anastasia, the Tsar's daughter rumoured to have survived the killing of the royal family in 1918.  But as they were collecting their Oscars, another Academy Award winner from the 50s was beginning a new life as a real princess.  Grace Kelly won the Best Actress Oscar in 1955 for her part in The Country Girl but in 1956 she married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became his consort.  Hollywood royalty doesn't get much more royal than that.

And the Oscar goes to....Grace Kelly with her Academy Award as Best Actress in 1955