JOHN STILLWELL/Getty ImagesArise, Sir Wolverine? Sure, it has a nice weird ring to it, but a knighthood isn't what brought Hugh Jackman to Buckingham Palace yesterday. (But give him a decade or two.)
Instead, Hugh stopped by the digs of Queen Elizabeth II last night—on what proved to be quite a popular and busy night out for the royal family—for a reception hosted by the queen and Duke of Edinburgh attended by the cream of the Aussie crop in advance of the monarch's trip Down Under next week.
So, what does one say to the sitting sovereign?
"She was talking about the flight, about traveling. I wanted to ask her if she was stopping off, but I didn't think I was meant to ask questions," he told reporters.
"I did say, 'Have a great trip to Australia,' and she said, 'Thank you, I'm excited about it.'"
He added that he was slightly nervous about visiting the palace and meeting the queen.
"As an Aussie it feels weird—I'm just waiting to get thrown out," he joked.
In addition to Jackman—who incidentally turned 43 earlier this week—350 fellow Australians turned up to the reception, including Elle MacPherson and (awkward alert?) The King's Speech director Tom Hooper (the movie, as cinemagoers will recall, was all about her dad and even featured a young version of the queen).
"You just meet her very quickly, and I don't really know if she knew who I was," Hooper told reporters later.
Oh, somehow we doubt that. But way to roll with the punches, Liz.
Her 11-day trip, expected to be her last to the Commonwealth (she is 85, after all) begins next Wednesday.