Dame Sheila Hancock in 'furious' argument at Buckingham Palace reception
Dame Sheila Hancock got involved in a heated political exchange with an "important" unnamed guest at a Buckingham Palace reception.
Dame Sheila Hancock battled a guest in a "furious" political argument during a reception at Buckingham Palace.
The 92-year-old actress' confrontation with an "important" unnamed guest got so heated, that a "good-looking" bystander at the event - which is believed to have been an after-party bash for those who attended Catherine, Princess of Wales' organised Christmas Carol service in Westminster Abbey, London, last December - had to step in and calm her down.
The 'Unforgotten' star wrote in Prospect magazine: "I was at a Christmas party given by the King [Charles] and Queen [Camilla] when I inappropriately got into a furious political argument with someone important.
"Trying to keep the peace was a good-looking gentleman who stayed with me when my angry antagonist stalked off."
Sheila's mood darkened further when she spotted Justin Welby, who has since resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury over his failure to investigate allegations of abuse committed by barrister John Smyth.
The star - who got a friend to block her out of Justin's view - explained: "To my horror, I could see that Justin Welby - who the day before had made an unforgivably light-hearted speech in the House of Lords about his crass inadequacy in dealing with abuse in the Church - was about to approach me.
"Fearful of irretrievably blotting my royal copy book with a second confrontation, I made my poor new friend block the way between me and the holy man."
Sheila and her friend, broadcaster and former Conservative politician, Gyles Brandreth, were much-loved stars of Channel 4's 'Celebrity Gogglebox' - which sees famous faces react to popular TV shows.
Sheila - who starred in the 1988 comedy-romance flick, 'Buster' - is known for her no-nonsense views and thinks that being "too rude" on 'Celebrity Gogglebox' caused her to leave the programme after just one series in 2019.
She told BBC Radio 2 in 2022: "I loved every minute of it. I got the sack from that actually.
"They didn’t ask me back for some reason - I suppose because I was too rude about some of the things I saw."
