Paul McCartney Said Queen Elizabeth II Had a Witty Remark for The Beatles During a Line-Up
Paul McCartney said Queen Elizabeth II had a witty remark for The Beatles during a line-up in the 1960s. The “Maybe I’m Amazed” singer looked up to the queen since he was a boy. Later, during several of their various meetings, Paul gave her some of his jokes in return.
Paul McCartney won an essay contest with a paper on Queen Elizabeth II
Following the queen’s death on Sept. 8, 2022, Paul posted a lengthy tribute to the monarch on Facebook. He revealed that when he was 10 years old (the year of the queen’s coronation), he entered an essay competition and won his division for his essay about the queen. “So I have been a fan for a long time,” he wrote.
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he thinks part of the secret behind her popularity, at least for his generation, was that she was “quite a babe.” The queen was 27 when she ascended the throne, so “in our boyish ways, we rather fancied her,” Paul explained. “She was a good-looking woman, like a Hollywood film star.”
By the time of the coronation in 1953, everyone on Paul’s street had a TV and watched in fascination.
Paul said Queen Elizabeth II had a witty remark for The Beatles during a line-up
In The Lyrics, Paul said he and The Beatles first met Queen Elizabeth II “in a line-up somewhere.” He wrote that it must have been at the Royal Command Performance (Royal Variety Performance) in 1963. However, the queen didn’t attend that year. The Beatles performed for Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, and Princess Margaret.
The Beatles actually met the queen when she awarded them their MBEs in 1965. Paul remembers that a palace official took the band aside and showed them the correct protocol. The official told them how to approach the monarch and said they had to wait until she stopped to speak to her. “For four Liverpool lads, it was, ‘Wow, hey man,'” Paul wrote on Facebook.
In The Lyrics, Paul wrote that when she stopped in front of The Beatles, she said, “Where are you playing next?” Paul said, “Slough, ma’am.” The queen had a witty remark. “Oh, that’s just near us,'” she said. Paul wrote, “She made a little joke like that. It’s near Windsor Castle.”
Paul wrote on Facebook, “She impressed me with her great sense of humour and great dignity.”
The former Beatle gave the monarch a few witty remarks over the years
On Facebook, Paul said he met Queen Elizabeth II about eight or nine times. After meeting her in 1965, Paul met her again in 1982 at an event called An Evening for Conservation.
The evening included orchestral re-workings of some Beatles songs, and Paul chatted about them with her. She re-introduced him to Prince Philip, who remembered their previous meeting in the 1960s.
The pair met again in 1996 when the queen opened the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. A year later, Paul and the queen met again for a “very proud day” for him, “one of the best days ever,” the day she awarded him his knighthood.
Paul was extremely honored. On Facebook, he wrote, “I remember thinking I’d come a long way from a little terrace house in Liverpool!”
He said he felt like Harry Potter when the queen bestowed him with the award. Later, Paul admitted he had a witty remark for the monarch. When he stood before her, he said, “We have to stop meeting like this.” All the queen said was, “What?”
Paul had another joke for Queen Elizabeth the next time they met in the new millennium at her Golden Jubilee. Paul got to “rock out in her garden.” At the end of the show, Paul joked, “Well I suppose this will be happening next year then?” She replied, “Not in my garden it won’t!”
The pair met a couple more times. In The Lyrics, Paul wrote that she always asked him about the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. The “Yesterday” singer even got to play The Beatles’ “Her Majesty” for her.
“I don’t know how to break this to you, but she didn’t have a lot to say,” Paul wrote.
