Jackie Kennedy has done many notable things in her life, including attending some of the celebrations during Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. Back in the ’50s, when Kennedy was known as Jacqueline Bouvier, she was a young reporter working in London. She ended up crashing one of the celebratory balls for the Queen, spending the evening alongside some of the era’s most notorious figures.
As reported by InStyle, Caroline Hallemann explained that, at the time, Jackie worked as a photographer-reporter for The Washington Times-Herald and was covering the coronation. While she didn’t attend the coronation itself, she attended a ball hosted by the American Socialite Perle Mesta. She secured access by telling Mesta that she was the daughter of some of his old friends in America.
The tale is explored in her book, “The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made,” which claims that she attended the party alongside figures like Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and Prince Jean of Luxembourg.
© Bettmann ArchiveThe party was hosted in Mayfair’s 400 Club. She also attended a performance of Guys and Dolls at the Coliseum Theatre, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret.
“The whole country is concerned with the coronation, the whole coronation and nothing but the coronation,” wrote Jackie in a dispatch published in The Times. “Every home one could see through the windows of the boat train between Southampton and London bore a picture of Queen Elizabeth pasted on the outside of the house or in a window.”
Jackie’s real meeting with Queen Elizabeth
© Bettmann ArchiveShortly after her trip, Jackie got engaged to John F. Kennedy, then the senator of Massachusetts. Eight years later, she met the Queen as the First Lady of the United States.
According to Hallemann, their relationship didn’t start in the best place. “Jackie was very excited to go to Buckingham Palace and thrilled to meet the Queen,” she said to PEOPLE. “But she was just slightly disappointed that the palace wasn’t grander.”
The following year, Jackie returned to Buckingham Palace and appeared to have a better experience overall, with her and the Queen growing to respect each other with them bonding over their love of horses.
“They had a great lunch, in part because they talked at length about horses,” Hallemann said. “That is where they were able to really connect. That was a true passion for both of these women.”
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