Daniel Craig

No Time To Die is the British actor's fifth outing as 007.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on the red carpet, he said the role was "incredibly important to cinema and to history, and the weight of that has been on my shoulders for a while".

"I've been incredibly lucky," he added. The film hits UK cinemas on Thursday.

Unusually for a royal premiere, there were two separate generations of royals who came out for Craig's farewell as Bond. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were joined at the Royal Albert Hall by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall

Nearly 60 years after the first Bond film Dr No premiered, cinema's favourite spy, known for his love of fast cars and cool gadgets, returns in the highly anticipated 25th Bond movie next week after an 18-month delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Costing an estimated $US200 million ($NZ285m) to produce, No Time To Die sees Bond come out of retirement from an idyllic life in Jamaica to help track down a new villain armed with lethal technology.

The 25th official James Bond movie will be called No Time To Die - the news was revealed by producers on Twitter.

The movie, which will see Daniel Craig play 007 for the fifth and final time, will also star Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek as "a mysterious villain".

Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge is one of the writers. Ralph Fiennes and Ben Whishaw will return as M and Q respectively.

Naomie Harris is coming back as Moneypenny and Rory Kinnear will again play MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner.