Queen Elizabeth's Only Meeting With Marilyn Monroe Found Monarch Feeling 'Sorry' for Doomed Screen Icon
Queen Elizabeth II reportedly felt 'great pity' for Marilyn Monroe.
When the late Queen Elizabeth II met Marilyn Monroe in October 1956, the meeting of the two most famous women in the world at the time didn't go as smoothly as expected.
"Apparently, the queen said to friends at the palace that she thought Marilyn was lovely, but she felt sorry for her," Michelle Morgan, author of When Marilyn Met the Queen, told an outlet.
Queen Elizabeth spoke briefly with Marilyn Monroe at the Royal Command Performance at the Empire Theatre in London’s Leicester Square.
"She had licked all of her lipstick off," Morgan added about Marilyn, born Norma Jeane Moretensen. "When you see the footage, you see the queen coming up the line. Marilyn is licking her lipstick off because she’s nervous. And the queen picked up on that. I thought that was an interesting thing for the queen to notice."
Monroe was in London at the time filming The Prince and the Showgirl, with acclaimed British actor Laurence Olivier directing. The Hollywood icon was invited to the Empire Theatre in London's Leicester Square to attend the Royal Command Performance, with the equally glamorous monarch, only four years into what would become a historic reign, also attending in person.
"When Marilyn was asked to meet the queen, a memo went [a]round to everybody … that said, 'You must wear something conservative. You must think about the neckline,'" the author pointed out when addressing strict royal protocol at the time. "And that went straight over Marilyn's head."
"She already had an idea of what she wanted," the scribe continued. "She went to a dressmaker, a theatrical dressmaker. She had a little diagram of what she wanted. They... made it for her. And it came with a gold cape and a little gold bag. And it was very, very low cut."
Queen Elizabeth II met 'the other most famous woman in the world,' Marilyn Monroe, in 1956.
But it wasn't Her young Majesty who was not amused by Monroe's low-cut surprise...
"It caused quite a sensation," Morgan further observed. "When she came out of the car, she had the cape on, and, of course, she then put the cape to the side. And there she was."
The scribe went on to reveal that the doomed member of Tinseltown royalty was actually a topic of interest to the Queen. The head of state reportedly watched and enjoyed Monroe's 1953 musical comedy film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Prince Philip.
Marilyn Monroe was said to have found Queen Elizabeth to be 'sweet' and 'graceful' during their short 1956 meeting.
Although the monarch felt pity toward the star due to the incessant media spotlight she was under, Her Majesty would go on to remain intrigued by Monroe like millions of others.
"A friend … said that the queen was fascinated by Marilyn afterward," Morgan wrote. "That’s all we really know, because the queen didn’t ever speak publicly about many people. Her motto was 'Never complain, never explain.' So, all we’ve got is this little nugget of information from an unnamed friend from the palace."
Monroe died at the age of 36 on August 4, 1962, from barbiturate poisoning. Her Majesty passed away in her sleep at the age of 96 in 2022.
Although Queen Elizabeth felt pity for Marilyn Monroe, the monarch was said to have been 'deeply saddened' by the film star's untimely death in August 1962.
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Fox News reported on Morgan's book.
