Julie Andrews Confirms She Won't Return for Princess Diaries 3

Julie Andrews has confirmed she will not reprise her role as Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the upcoming third installment of Disney's The Princess Diaries franchise. The 90-year-old actress, who played the grandmother of Anne Hathaway's character in the first two films, stated she is effectively retired from on-screen acting and felt the story should now focus on Hathaway's character, Princess Mia.

"I'm not going to be in it," Andrews told TODAY.com. "I think the story is slightly different, and I'm not quite sure how they're dealing with that. But it's too late for me to do it. I think the story has to continue in Princess Mia. It's her story. It's not really mine."

In a separate interview with InStyle, Andrews elaborated that the film's creative team had approached her about returning throughout the previous year. "It was very, very hard to say no, but I did because I thought I had a wonderful ride, and this one I felt would flourish very well and wouldn't need Granny going in there at my age," she explained, adding, "I think I probably passed. I think I'm retired, really, would be about the best description for that."

Andrews' decision is not entirely unexpected. She had...