Helen Mirren Once More unto the beach at 63 in another Colourfull Bikini

When she was pictured looking sensational in a red bikini this summer, Helen Mirren insisted that the image was too good to be true.

Yesterday, with her hair dripping wet, she looked a little more like a woman of 63.

The Oscar-winning British actress was pictured while snorkelling in Hawaii. The red swimsuit had been replaced with a less flattering halter-neck two-piece while her tan had faded and she was wearing no make-up.

Purple patch: Helen Mirren shows off her figure in a halter neck bikini as she snorkels off the beach in Hawaii

Dame Helen takes a dip in the Hawaiian waters

The initial picture - taken near her Italian holiday home in July --had surprised even Dame Helen herself. She said of it: 'I am beyond the bikini-wearing age, really. I wouldn't normally wear one.

'The truth is I don't really look that good. I look like a woman in her 60s. I've always looked awful in a bikini, even when I was younger.'

Dame Helen, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her title role in The Queen in 2006, is busier than ever and working on six different film projects. She is in Hawaii filming an alternative version of Shakespeare's The Tempest

Helen in that bikini in July in Italy...