Dame Helen Mirren has confessed that she now thinks marriage was not such a bad idea after all.

The Oscar-winning actress, who has been happily married to acclaimed director Taylor Hackford for 12 years, revealed she was totally against the idea at the beginning.

“I saw marriage as losing my independence,” the Daily Express quoted her as telling Woman’s Weekly.

“Then, one day, I just felt it would be right. I’d been with Taylor over a decade. He’d given me respect and loyalty and I trusted him 100 per cent.

“But I was terrified it would change our relationship. Then I woke up the morning after the wedding, realised everything had changed and loved it.

“I feel a shiver when I hear Taylor say ‘my wife’ and I get an enormous sense of pleasure when I say ‘my husband’,” she added.