Julie Walters shares stage fright story as she is made a Dame

Julie Walters congratulated her Harry Potter co-star Helen McCrory as they collected gongs from the Queen at Buckingham Palace yesterday.

Oscar-nominated Walters, 67, was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire — following an OBE in 1999 and a CBE in 2008 — while McCrory, 49, received an OBE.

The pair posed in their finery outside Buckingham Palace, along with McCrory’s husband, Homeland star Damian Lewis.

Despite acting for decades, Walters confessed to stage fright. She said of the service: ‘It was slightly nerve-racking. I thought: “When do I curtsy?”’