Emilia Clarke has had millions of people “bend the knee” to her Game of Thrones character onscreen, but when she came face-to-face with a real-life royal, it was her turn. And that’s no lie.
In 2018, the 33-year-old actress, who played dragon mom and queen Daenerys Targaryen, met Prince William at Kensington Palace during the Centrepoint Awards, which celebrates young people who have overcome homelessness. She was a presenter.
When asked by Vanity Fair if she asked the Duke of Cambridge to “bend the knee,” as was commonly done to her character on the HBO series, Clarke said, while connected to a lie detector, “No, I think I was asked to bend the knee.”
“You have to do the whole thing, you can’t turn your back, you have to curtsy, you have to say- he has his title, his Royal Highness, or something along those lines,” she said. “I struggled with that. But I should’ve. I don’t think he’s ever watched my show.”
In 2017, William and wife Kate Middleton confirmed in a BBC Radio 1 interview that they were indeed fans of Game of Thrones, a show the duke said ”was worth watching.”
While taking her lie detector test, Clarke was also asked if she is indeed the “mother of dragons.” She also revealed which one of her character’s dragons was her favorite.
“Drogon is kind of like, he’s my oldest boy, who was the first, really,” she said. “When the three of them came out, I think he came out first.”
“I’d like to think he went to Hawaii. I know there is a specific place where dragons go [that’s in the books],” she said. “Otherwise he’s just roaming the seas. Crying.”