Britain's Princess Anne met Benedict Cumberbatch at a charity dinner on Tuesday (10.03.15).
Britain's Princess Anne
The Motor Neurone Disease Association reception was held at Buckingham Palace in London where guests including the 'Sherlock' actor, Professor Stephen Hawking, Michael Ball and Victoria Wood joined the Princess Royal.
As well as greeting the theoretical physicist, the 64-year-old royal - who was wearing a heavily-embellished, colourful top and a navy blue skirt - spoke with Benedict and his pregnant wife, Sophie Hunter.
The 'Imitation Game' actor was attending the event as a patron of the charity, having supported the association for 11 years since portraying Professor Hawking - who suffers with a rare form of the illness - in the BBC drama 'Hawking' in 2003.
As well as a host of actors and comedians, the Princess Royal - who is the charity's royal patron - was joined by presenters of 'This Morning' including Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard.
Also in attendance was Professor Hawking's first wife, Jane Hawking, who used the royal reception to call for a government overhaul on its policies for disabled people.
She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I think the Government needs to do a big overhaul of its policy towards disabled people, towards people with degenerative illnesses and it needs to provide much better support and it needs to have a system for vetting carers who go into people's homes."
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