Paul McCartney Recalls Each Time He Met Queen Elizabeth II
On Thursday, September 8, Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96.
The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.
The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/VfxpXro22W
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 8, 2022
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” read a statement released by The Royal Family at 1:30 PM on Thursday. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
Many celebrities and famous faces in Hollywood took to social media to mourn the loss of Her Majesty the Queen, including “The Beatles” star Paul McCartney, who shared a touching tribute recalling some of his greatest memories with Her Majesty.
Paul McCartney Remembers Queen Elizabeth II For Her ‘Dignity’ and ‘Humour’
On Friday afternoon, shortly before King Charles III gave his first public address after his mother’s death, the 80-year-old musician from Liverpool took to Instagram to remember the times that he met Queen Elizabeth II.
“On the sad occasion of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, my memories came flooding back and I would like to share these with you,” he began.
“I feel privileged to have been alive during the whole of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. When I was 10 years old I entered an essay competition in Liverpool and won my division for my essay about the British Monarchy so I have been a fan for a long time,” he continued.
“In 1953 when the Queen was crowned everyone on our street in Speke, Liverpool finally got a television set and we settled down to watch the Coronation in glorious black and white,” he added.
“Looking back I am honoured and amazed to see that I met Her Majesty eight or nine times and each time she impressed me with her great sense of humour combined with great dignity,” he concluded. “God bless you. You will be missed.”
On his website, he went into further detail on each of their encounters.
Paul McCartney Recalls Each And Every Time That He Met The Queen
He said the first time he met the Queen was when he was with The Beatles in October 1965. “I remember us being taken aside and shown what the correct protocol was,” he recalled. “We were told how to approach Her Majesty and not to talk to her unless she talks to us. For four Liverpool lads, it was, ‘Wow, hey man.’”
They next met again in December 1982 at Royal Albert Hall. “Part of the evening included some orchestral re-workings of some Beatles songs and I remember chatting with Her Majesty about them,” he recalled. “She also re-introduced me to Prince Philip who said he remembered our previous meeting in the sixties!”
They next met again in June 1996. “The Queen graciously agreed to open the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts on the site of my old school that George Harrison and myself attended,” he wrote. “She also had previously given a donation which the school was very honoured to receive.”
One year later, on one of his “best days ever,” Paul recalled how “very honoured” he was to receive a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. “I remember it was in the springtime and the skies were blue,” he recalled. “It was a wonderful day and I remember thinking I’d come a long way from a little terrace house in Liverpool!
The next time they met was in a new millennium. He wrote, “Celebrating her Golden Jubilee, we got to rock out in her garden. As Her Majesty was on stage receiving applause at the end of the show I joked, ‘Well I suppose this will be happening next year then?’ to which she replied, ‘Not in my garden it won’t!’”
Shortly afterwards, Paul was honoured to be given a painting exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, which John Lennon and he had visited on many occasions as students. “It was my extreme privilege to be able to show Her Majesty around the gallery,” he added.
A decade later, he spoke with her again at a special event titled Celebration of the Arts at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. They met again in June 2012, when she celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. “It was so special in many ways,” he recalled. “This was the first time I performed in front of her since her last Jubilee, and seeing all the people stretching down Pall Mall was great, as was meeting other members of the Royal Family afterwards. It was a great weekend to be British.”
“Our last meeting came in 2018,” he recalled. “Because of my respect and love for the Queen and her fabulous sense of humour when I was given the Companion of Honour medal I shook her hand, leaned in and said, ‘We have got to stop meeting like this,’ to which she giggled slightly and got on with the ceremony.”
“I did wonder if I was a bit too cheeky after saying this, after all this was The Queen, but I have a feeling she didn’t mind,” he added.
He concluded his statement, writing, “God bless you. You will be missed.”
More Hollywood tributes to Queen Elizabeth II can be read here.
