Some watchers were perplexed and shocked by the wave of mourners that filled Westminster Abbey on Monday for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, including Sandra Oh.
The Grey's Anatomy and Killing Eve star was seen slowly making his way down one of the abbey's aisles as part of the procession in a tiny clip from the funeral programme that has been making the rounds online. She was dressed in all-black mourning attire and sported a fascinator with feathers.
One Twitter user posted a clip of the footage along with the question, “Why is Sandra Oh at the queen's funeral?,” which received more than 60,000 likes.
Oh received one of the highest civilian honours bestowed by the Canadian government—the Order of Canada—in June.
In order to honour individuals for their contributions to Canadian society, Queen Elizabeth II established the Order of Canada in 1967. Since then, a wide range of individuals, including politicians, scientists, authors, performers, and activists, have received this honour. Other celebrities that have been honoured include actor Mike Myers, executive producer of Saturday Night Live Lorne Michaels, and comedic actress Leslie Nielsen.
Oh, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Order members, such as Olympic gold medalist swimmer Mark Tewksbury and performer Gregory Charles, attended the funeral as a representative of Canada. Canada belongs to the British monarchy as a commonwealth nation.
Oh wrote in an Instagram post that she was “proud to represent (Canada flag emoji) w/ my fellow Order of Canada & Valour recipients… at Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II funeral at Westminster Abbey today,” sharing a photo of the group, a selfie along the Thames, and a screenshot of the widely shared procession video.
Fans of the BBC America television programme Killing Eve, which Oh executive produced and featured in, commented online that Oh's appearance at the funeral was related to her portrayal of Eve Polastri, a member of the British espionage service MI5.
Oh made history in 2018 when she won the Golden Globe for best lead actress for her work on the television series Killing Eve. The Canadian Korean actor became the first Asian actor to win two Golden Globes and just the second woman of Asian origin to win in a main TV role (the first was Yoko Shimada for Shogun in 1980).
For her portrayal of Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy, Oh previously won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress. She has also received twelve Emmy Award nominations for both of her roles. – News Services of the Los Angeles Times/Tribune