Elizabeth Hurley: Call me queen

Elizabeth Hurley used to play queen and order her brother around.

The British actress is indulging her fantasies in The Royals, a fictional take on an English aristocracy. She plays Queen Helena, which takes her right back to her childhood.

"I think all little girls dream of being princesses," she told British magazine OK!

"And I remember as a child I used to do an awful lot of play-acting. My little brother would be my pageboy who would have to shuffle behind me carrying whatever I was carrying. So right from then, I've had it in the back of my mind that I'd be a very good queen!"

The 49-year-old has been lucky enough to have some run-ins with the real royal family, meeting Britain's Prince Charles as she is a patron of one of his charities.

Abolishing the monarchy is a hotly contested topic, but Elizabeth would be sad to see it go.

"I love it, I think it's just fabulous," she gushed. "I get hours of enjoyment from watching them do their thing.

"No matter how much non-royal people become famous, it's still the royal people that make people just go, wow. We kind of see it as a fantasy world of which we have no part. We're looking through the window and it's great."

In the show, Queen Helena refers to herself as a "b***h" and Elizabeth admits she uses "devious" tactics to get her way. However, the actress concedes she much prefers playing villains as they have more substance.