Queen Elizabeth II
Key stage directions for Paddington Bear sketch revealed
Queen Elizabeth II gratefully accepted help filming the Paddington Bear sketch.
© imago images/Starface
It has only now been revealed that sweet stage directions helped Queen Elizabeth II film the famous Paddington Bear sketch.
Sweet behind-the-scenes detail revealed: Queen Elizabeth II (1026-2022) brilliantly mastered her leading role in the Paddington Bear sketch on the occasion of her platinum anniversary. But this required a little trick, as Paddington author Simon Farnaby (50) now does revealed in the podcast “RHLSTP with Richard Herring”.
Grandmother’s trick helped the Queen
Farnaby, who also plays the role of the butler in the surprise sketch which premiered at the palace during the four-day celebrations of the Queen’s 70th reign in June 2022, said the monarch didn’t get the line “So do I” quite right during filming managed. The Queen gave this answer in the two-and-a-half minute pre-recorded sketch as Paddington Bear pulled a jam sandwich out of his hat and the monarch pulled the same out of her black handbag.
“The director came in, Adam, a nice guy: ‘Ma’am, couldn’t you be a little gentler?’ And she was so sweet and said, ‘I’m so sorry – yes, of course,'” Farnaby recalled on the podcast. “He said, ‘As if you were talking to your grandchildren.’ She said, ‘Oh, of course’. After that she managed it.
In addition to her duties as Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, Elizabeth was also “grandma” to eight grandchildren – Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex – and later also great-grandmother or “Gan-Gan” of Peter, Zara, William, Harry, Beatrice and Eugenie’s children.
Tea time with the children’s book character
In the sketch “Paddington Meets the Queen”, the monarch sat with the popular children’s book character over a cup of tea and a few jam sandwiches. The parody even surprised her family when it opened the concert celebrating her 70-year reign.
At the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in May, the sketch won the P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award for “Most Memorable TV Moment”. The award is the show’s only audience-voted award, the cruise company said.
Paddington bears as a symbol of mourning
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth on September 8, 2022, more than 1,000 Paddington Bear teddies were placed outside royal residences by mourners to honor the late monarch. A few days later, Buckingham Palace, the Royal Parks and children’s charity Barnado’s announced that the bears would be professionally cleaned and donated to children’s charity Barnado’s.