The Queen's new palace (it ain't quite Buck House!)

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So it's no surprise that Helen Mirren, who has won a series of awards for playing both Queen Elizabeths, has bought herself a castle.

Rooms for improvement: The Italian castle bought by Helen Mirren

Her purchase is no Buckingham Palace however. It is uninhabitable and comes with tumbledown walls and a driveway that is little more than a dirt track.

It isn't quite Buckingham Palace

According to local reports, Dame Helen bought the 500-year-old property in Puglia this week after two house-hunting trips in southern Italy.

The actress is reported to have bought the castle and grounds for around £680,000 but will have to spend a lot more to bring the property up to scratch.

She spent the week drawing up big plans for the estate with refurbishment work planned to start this summer.

Helen Mirren in her Oscar winning role as the Queen

On her first reconnaissance trip to Puglia last month, she was joined by her old friend Lord MacAlpine, the former Tory Party treasurer, who owns a home there.

The second time she was accompanied by another friend, Eduardo Winspeare, an exotic Anglo-Italian aristocrat and sometime film director.

Dame Helen's husband, the American director Taylor Hackford, was apparently unable to accompany her because of work commitments.

Mr Hackford joined his wife in the nearby village of Tiggiano, near Lecce, this week to greet locals and - once they heard - civic officials. The welcome was so warm that a baker even made her a cake decorated with a scene from The Queen, the film for which she won an Academy Award last month playing Elizabeth II.

She also won a Golden Globe and Emmy for playing Queen Elizabeth I in a TV mini-series.

Her new Italian home is surrounded by high fortified walls and has a mature vineyard within its grounds.

The Mediterranean can be seen half a mile away.

It is thought that it will take builders a year to make the living accommodation habitable.

Dame Helen, 61, also owns an enormous home in California and a property by the Thames in Wapping, East London.