Queen Elizabeth II and First Lady Jackie Kennedy met on June 5, 1961, during a high-profile visit by President John F. Kennedy to London. The meeting took place at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen and Prince Philip hosted a formal black-tie dinner in the President’s honor. The dinner followed the Kennedys’ successful trip to Paris. While not an official State Banquet, it was a highly formal event intended to celebrate the burgeoning “Camelot” era of American politics.
Tensions began before the meal over the guest list. Traditionally, the Palace did not invite divorcees to such events. Jackie had requested her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill, and brother-in-law, Prince Stanislaw Radziwill, both of whom were on their second or third marriages. The Queen eventually relented, though reportedly retaliated by excluding Princess Margaret and Princess Marina, whom Jackie had also specifically asked to meet.
Both women famously wore shades of blue. Jackie wore an ice-blue silk gown by Chez Ninon, while the Queen wore a royal blue tulle ballgown by Norman Hartnell. The Queen reportedly gave Jackie a private tour of the Palace’s art gallery. Despite this, Jackie later described the Queen as “pretty heavy going” and felt the monarch “resented” her presence.
Years before their official meeting, a young Jackie Bouvier had actually reported on the Queen’s 1953 coronation while working as an “Inquiring Camera Girl” for the Washington Times-Herald. Any initial tension seemed to fade by March 1962, when the Queen invited Jackie for a more intimate lunch at the Palace. Afterward, Jackie told the press she found the Queen “charming.” Following JFK’s assassination, the two met again in May 1965 at Runnymede, where the Queen dedicated a memorial to the late President.
The Crown dramatized the 1961 meeting, depicting a deep rivalry and harsh insults from Jackie. While historical accounts confirm some “awkwardness” and Jackie’s private remarks that the conversation was “heavy going,” many of the show’s more scathing lines (such as calling the Queen “unintelligent”) are considered fictional inventions.
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