Emma Thompson has said she “sniggered” with the Duke of Cambridge when he presented her with her damehood.
The actress received the honour in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.
She said: “I love Prince William, I’ve known him since he was little, and we just sniggered at each other.
“I said, ‘I can’t kiss you, can I?’ And he said, ‘No don’t’!
“If you’re first up you have to be more formal on such an occasion, but he’s looking wonderful and doing so well.
“He said, ‘This day isn’t about me, it’s about you’.
“It’s really lovely because I’ve always loved the boys and I’ve always been a long-term correspondent with their dad, it’s a very lovely feeling.”
Dame Emma was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June for her services to drama.
She wore white trainers and an emerald Stella McCartney suit to the ceremony, with the choice of designer a representation of British fashion, she said.
The Remains Of The Day and Nanny McPhee star said: “I’m very outspoken, politically, I’m a card-carrying feminist, human rights advocate, so good for them, because the establishment need more people who can speak up for those things.”
Sporting a Fawcett Society Equal Pay badge, she said she hopes to use her damehood to bring attention to children going hungry in the school holidays, known as holiday hunger.
She said: “This is a very rich country with hundreds of thousands of children who don’t get enough to eat.
“I’m sorry, but that’s just rubbish.
“I’m going, why isn’t this top of the list? We have kids begging in schools for leftover food, that’s just awful.”