Judi Dench gets first tattoo for her 81st birthday

The tattoo can be seen in a close-up photograph of Dame Judi's wrist

Dame Judi Dench has got her first tattoo for her 81st birthday.

The tattoo was a present from her daughter the actress Finty Williams.

She has 'carpe diem', which means 'seize the day' in Latin, in capital letters on her wrist.

"That's my motto: 'Seize the day.' Finty gave it to me for my 81st birthday - she's wonderful with surprises," she told Surrey Life magazine.

"Good, isn't it? Mind you, the company of A Winter's Tale, which I was doing at the time, used to say that it said fish of the day." she said.

The tattoo could be seen on her wrist at a James Bond gala evening to celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award earlier this month.

The tattoo can be seen on Dame Judi's wrist as she greeted the Earl of Wessex at the Prince's Trust gala at Stoke House in Buckinghamshire

She had spoken about wanting to get a tattoo last year

Previously Dame Judi had said she was tempted to get a tattoo to mark her 80th birthday.

She told Good Housekeeping she had chosen a symbol but she was not totally sure about it.

"There's an Indian symbol that I like, which supposedly represents life and love and everything.

"One of the cameramen who worked on The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel told me what it meant, but I'm a bit nervous in case I'm being set up… It might be unbelievably rude!"

Practical joke

She has also joked in the past that she had got a tattoo of the movie producer Harvey Weinstein on her bottom.

She told the Hollywood Reporter in 2014, that she had embarrassed Weinstein when she told him about this supposed tattoo.

"I once said to him, 'I have your named tattooed on my bum.' He laughed and was, well, quite embarrassed, actually. It's quite difficult to embarrass Harvey, but I did!"

And she went a step further with her joke when she went to lunch with him.

"Beforehand, I got my makeup lady to actually write Harvey's name [on my body]. Then I brought it up at lunch and said, 'You know, I do have it on my bum' - and then I actually got up and showed him! I've never seen a man more embarrassed and I've never let him forget it."