The veteran actress cut the ribbon on a sculpture of St Paul in tourist hotspot Covent Garden, but she fell victim to a newly-painted purple platform, which left her cream coat spattered with bright coloured marks.

In images obtained by WENN, Dench is seen with the right sleeve of her jacket ruined by purple paint.

The statue has been placed outside St. Paul's Church, also known as The Actors' Church, and Dench led the unveiling ceremony because of a personal connection to the site.

She tells London Live, "(It is) lovely for us. Lovely for everybody to walk past and see it, it's in a beautiful place and it's very beautiful. It's a really good place for it to be and interesting for everybody. It is (my church). My husband's memorial service was here and a lot of other friends (sic) and I love the church particularly... It's good that it's The Actors' Church."

Dench's husband, actor Michael Williams, passed away in 2001 after battling lung cancer.