In 1997 she played the iconic monarch in Mrs Brown, earning an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Now, she’s playing the same part later in life, documenting Victoria’s real-life friendship with Indian servant Abdul Karim.
“I didn’t know the story of Victoria and Abdul,” Dench told a press conference.
“So for me it was a question of taking that bit of history on and learning more about a really remarkable person.”
She added: “I never expected to revisit this part but I have a great affection for [it] because I had no film career to speak of before I played Mrs Brown, thanks to Harvey Weinstein. Because that was made for television and then after that it became a film.
“So I never expected to play her later on but I must say this particular story of Queen Victoria four years after John Brown died seemed to me to be a kind of continuance, because I’d done the homework, and the screenplay I think is wonderful.
“It tells a great, great story – so that and working with Stephen [Frears] again, I found an irresistible proposition.”
The film has split critics so far, and holds a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Hollywood Reporter and Screen International are among its more vocal supporters, while the likes of Variety and The Guardian have taken a more negative stance; the latter awarding only two stars.
Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Tim Pigott-Smith, Simon Callow and Michael Gambon also star.
Victoria and Abdul is out on September 15 in the UK.