From Marilyn Monroe to Lady Gaga: How the Queen charmed the stars
The Queen encountered hundreds of showbiz stars, pop legends and Hollywood greats over the decades.
Glittering film premieres, Buckingham Palace receptions for the arts, Royal Variety Performances, Jubilee concerts, and investitures to honour those in the music or the movie industry saw the sovereign meet many famous faces during her official duties.
Actor and filmmaker Sir Kenneth Branagh once said he had no recollection of the conversation he had with the Queen.
Sir Kenneth added: “I was terrified – terrified of stepping on dogs, the corgis are everywhere.”
She even became a Bond Girl when she made a cameo appearance at Craig’s side in a spoof for the 2012 London Olympic opening ceremony, in which the pair appeared to skydive into the stadium.
The Beatles came into contact with the Queen in 1965 when they collected their MBE medals at a palace investiture.
John Lennon returned his four years later, but Sir Paul McCartney went on to be knighted and to perform at the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee concerts.
Sir Elton John, will.i.am, Kylie Minogue and Jennifer Lopez all shook hands with the monarch backstage over the years, as did Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Tom Jones and Sir Cliff Richard after performances for the Queen.
Her interaction with another celebrity of sorts delighted millions when she appeared in a surprise comic sketch with Paddington Bear, as part of the celebrations earlier this year honouring her 70-year reign.
The monarch and the bear met for a chaotic cream tea at Buckingham Palace in a special, secretly pre-recorded sequence played at the start of the televised BBC Platinum Party at the Palace event.
The duffle-coat wearing bear from Michael Bond’s books told the Queen how he made sure he always had his favourite treat on him, just in case, lifting up his red hat to reveal a marmalade sandwich.
Another national treasure the monarch had a strong rapport with is Sir David Attenborough.
In 2018 the pair appeared together in a documentary programme that followed the progress of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy project, a project to create a network of protected Commonwealth forests around the globe in tribute to the Queen’s service to the family of nations.
The ITV documentary, The Queen’s Green Planet, featured a unique and informal conversation between the head of state and the veteran presenter, filmed in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.
Sir David and the Queen had known each other for many years, with the broadcaster producing the Queen’s televised Christmas Day address for more than five years in the 1980s and 1990s.