Dame Judi Dench feels "lucky" to have found love again following the death of her husband Michael Williams.

The 'GoldenEye' star was left devastated after her partner of 30 years - the father of her daughter Finty Williams - passed away in 2001 after a battle with lung cancer and almost a decade later she struck up a romance with conservationist David Mills who she has been with ever since - and Judi feels blessed to have found someone to share her life with.

She told the Mirror's Notebook magazine: "[I] never expected, not fir a minute, that there would be anybody else in my life.

"I've had many, many good friends, but it's been very unexpected to have somebody who is as caring as my partner David. Someone to be able to share things with ... I feel very lucky indeed."

Judi went on to reveal the secret to her longtime relationship with David is their shared sense of humour. She added: "To laugh with someone is terribly important. We laugh about everything."

Judi previously revealed the pair have no plans to ever get married, telling Good Housekeeping Magazine: "We talked about [marriage] but I think we are far better off as we are as we have got two separate houses. And we are either in one or the other and we are four miles apart. He is not going to propose. No, no, no, no, no. Let's just pull ourselves together and be our age!"

She also confessed she's not a fan of using the label of partner or boyfriend for David, adding: "I don't know what the word is because I don't like the word 'partner'. Partner is something to do with dancing. Partner - horrible word. Friend? No. Boyfriend? No. Chap? Will chap do?"