When we found out that THE Elizabeth Hurley would be stopping by BuzzFeed New York to talk about her new series, The Royals ,we couldn't quite contain our excitement. But in discussing her new show, we discovered that we had a lot of burning questions spanning her entire career. When she arrived not only did she exceed our expectations of being kind and beautiful — she answered every single one of our 51 questions, from Bedazzled to Austin Powers. As Powers would say, "Yeah, baby."
1. In your royal opinion, are corgis the cutest breed of dogs or...
Corgis are not my favorite dogs. I prefer spaniels. In fact, I really don't like corgis at all.
2. Has playing the queen changed your everyday behavior?
I'd like to think so, yes. I would like to become moreso.
3. What's one antiquated royal tradition you'd like to see eradicated?
Well, I really have no criticism of the royal family, but what would it be…I love it all!
4. What kind of music does Elizabeth Hurley listen to?
Oh, well I have a soon-to-be teenage son. He's 12 going on 13 so I'm only allowed to listen to what he's listening to. But I don't know any of their names.
5. What's her favorite book of all time?
Well I think probably of all time is Despair by Nabokov.
6. What clothing item do you wish you still owned from your punk phase?
I know exactly what that is! It would be my "Anarchy In The U.K." T-shirt by the Sex Pistols. I would have been wearing it on this tour, possibly [here]!
7. Would you ever wear pink hair again?
Unlikely.
8. What's one fashion trend you'd never wear again?
Ooooh, gosh, there's so many. I think in the '80s we used to wear our bikini bottoms right up here. Pulling them right up on your hip bones. Now if you do that in front of the mirror you're just astonished at how you used to look, so, it would have to be that.
9. What's your favorite item you have in your closet?
I've got beautiful evening dresses that I've collected over the years — hundreds. Couture, Versace...I could never get into them now, but they're all there.
10. But is there one special dress that's truly a favorite?
No, they've all got a lot of memories attached, funnily enough. One day I'll get them all out and look at them.
11. Do you still own the safety pin dress?
I don't. I never had it. I only had it for one night and it went away. I know that Lady Gaga wore the very same dress last year on the dress's 20th anniversary. Who knew dresses had anniversaries? That's what I read in the paper, anyway. It's been in exhibhitons around the world, but no, I never laid eyes on it again.
12. What's your favorite Austin Powers phrase?
It would be, "Do you wanna to shag now or shag later, baby?"
13. Was there any specific scene in Austin Powers that was hard to get through without laughing?
Yes. There was. It was the penis enlarger scene that we did at the airport. I laughed so much I was sent to my trailer.
14. Do you have any good stories about Mike Myers?
Oh, Mike was the best! I just adored him. He's a very, very funny man and he used to make me laugh all the time and I couldn't understand why he always made me feel so good. And he said, "There's a lot of comedians whose humor is slightly cruel." But his humor never had a side that was cruel, it was just funny. So it was just pure funny humor and he was one of the best.
15. Can you tell us one secret from the Gossip Girl set?
Well you know what, they'd been there a really long time by [the time I arrived]. And in between takes all the makeup and hair crew and the actors would learn Michael Jackson routines and the cast and crew would be in the makeup room doing his routines. They were quite good, they'd been doing it for five years!
16. Did you know Dan was Gossip Girl all along?
No.
17. Who do you think should have been Gossip Girl?
You know, when I got offered the part I had to watch it all, fast. And I really got into it. I was surprised, but that's the world of TV. You never know. I just did one season and it wasn't until about the 12th episode that I'd been told as an actress that actually I'd been Chuck's mother the whole time — but then wasn't by the end of it! So you're clueless, basically.
18. Since you spent so much time with him...what does Chace Crawford smell like?
Very nice! He's a very, very sweet guy. In fact, my first day on Gossip Girl I had to make out with him all day. It was embarrassing on so many levels — it was first day on set, I could have been his mother — there were many things embarrassing about that day, but it was a good one.
19. What's your favorite piece of wardrobe that you've ever gotten to wear on set?
At the time — though I wouldn't be able to get one leg into it now — it was my red leather catsuit I had in Bedazzled.
20. What do you typically do to relax?
Well, I take a long hot bath every night before bed — unless it's insanely late — put in some bath oil, have a glass of wine, read my book. I love it.
21. What do you generally do to work out?
Well, I don't do a lot of of set working out. I walk my dogs a lot. I walk quite fast in the country. Pilates if I can fit it in.
22. How do you stay calm, cool, and collected on a red carpet?
Who says I do? (laughs) I think you go into autopilot, and I've been doing it for a long time now. It's like being onstage. There's no questions of forgetting your lines or doing anything — you're just out there.
23. What are your thoughts on One Direction, and do you have a favorite?
Oh, gosh! I only know one of their names and that would be Harry Styles. There is another one that I think is better looking but I don't know his name. The darker guy!
24. (All, in unison) Zayn?
Yeah, he's the cutest. How did you all know that?
25. Out of all your roles, which was the most difficult character to play?
There can be challenging parts because you're going a little outside of your comfort zone, or there can be challenging conditions and it's a really tough shoot where you're cold and wet all the time. I made a movie on a boat once with Sean Penn, directed by the lovely Kathryn Bigalow, and we were on a sailing ship the whole time in Nova Scotia. We were all really seasick the entire time and we had to do these romantic scenes, but we were vomiting overboard between takes! So that was a tough shoot but it was a beautiful movie.
26. Where would you like to travel to that you haven't been to yet?
You know, I've never really done enough traveling in South America, and that's what I'd like to do.
27. What's one thing we don't know about Elton John?
He's one of my best friends and he's a very nice man, but he loves to pinch my knees really hard! And he's got the strongest hands and forearms from bashing a piano. He's really strong! Whenever I sit next to him and I'm trying to be nice and sort of impress somebody or suck up to them, he'll come in and he'll squeeze my knee so hard that I scream and kick the table and knock over my glass. So he's strong! Very, very strong.
28, What's it like working with Joan Collins?
Well she is a fabulous woman! She is 80 but she looks phenomenal and has the energy of a 22-year-old. When you talk to her, it's like talking to anyone of any generation. She was a joy to work with. She was on Dynasty forever so she totally gets working on a TV show. She came to guest on ours and was just the best.
29. What's your favorite charity and why?
It's a breast cancer charity, a breast cancer research foundation. And I've been raising money for them for over 20 years. And they're phenomenal.
30. What's your favorite color?
Yellow.
31. Where's your favorite beach?
Oh, well. I like the Maldives and I like the Caribbean. The Maldives is quiet, and nothing's going on; it's like a desert island. And the Caribbean you have the crashing waves and it's more fun. But I love them both!
32. What's your favorite flower?
There's so many! Probably the sweet pea.
33. What's your favorite emoji?
I do use them. I use the crying pussycat a lot, which is pathetic!
34. What was your favorite punk rock band?
Oh, probably The Clash!
35. Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram?
Interesting! Well, I have more followers on Facebook than any so I suppose I have to say Facebook.
36. New York or L.A.?
Ooooh. I lived in L.A. for 10 years, but I think I prefer to be in New York.
37. London or Paris?
Paris, any day.
38. Cats or dogs?
I've got so many of both! I'd have to say doggies, really.
39. Comedy or drama?
Probably a drama.
40. '80s or '90s?
Good question. '90s.
Pancakes.
42. Coffee or tea?
Very good question! Depends on the time of day. But overall, tea.
43. Do you take your tea with or without milk?
I take it with milk!
44. Favorite British curse/slang word?
Bollocks.
45. What's the best advice you've ever received?
Be nice. It's nice to be nice. When I was making a movie about the mafia here called Mickey Blue Eyes we had some advisers, who were quite scary, American men. They used to say to me, "It's nice to be nice," and I was like, "You're right!" And I was nice the entire time to them. So I try and do that.
46. What's one thing you haven't done yet that you'd like to?
Oh, golly! So many things. I think I'd like to just spend some time on an almost deserted island — an almost, not quite deserted island, but I'd like to just hang out for a long time away from civilization. A really long time!
47. What would you say is your most embarrassing moment?
There are so many! Well, when I was a lot younger in my early twenties I was showing off at a nightclub and I fell off a table and broke my elbow. So, that would be a bad one.
48. If you're comfortable sharing, what is your daily makeup routine?
It's a quick one, but quite a thorough one because I've been working for Estee Lauder for 21 years. They taught me how to do it. It's a quick cleanse, moisturizer, and I probably do my makeup in about four minutes. I can do it without a mirror but I always put it on. Fully.
49. Why do you so passionately feel it's important to buy organic?
I think it's a good idea generally not to want to eat too many pesticides. But also it happened when I had my son and had a newborn baby. When you see how pure and perfect their systems are that's when you really feel, What do I want to put into that system? and that's when I really realized I really don't want to put anything in that's too adulterated, has added hormones, or anything that's just nasty. And that's when I bought a farm, which I then converted to organic. It really meant a lot to me seeing good food go into him as he grew up.
50. If you could have lunch with any royal in history who would it be?
Oh, very interesting. Well it would have to be Henry VIII, wouldn't it?
51. And finally: What drew you to this new role on The Royals in the first place?
I think when we're little you probably play games about princesses, you wear crowns, and it never quite goes away. So when my agent said, "There's an amazing new TV series about a fictitious royal family that's out there and you would be the queen of England," I was like, "Yes, definitely!"
The Royals airs Sundays at 10/9c on E!