It was the meeting of two icons: Jackie Kennedy, the glamorous First Lady and wife of JFK, and Queen Elizabeth II, the young monarch. There has been much speculation about what might have gone down between The Queen and Jackie Kennedy - but what really happened?
When did The Queen meet Jackie Kennedy?
In June 1961, just months after Kennedy began his presidential term, he and Jackie visited Buckingham Palace, where a black tie banquet was hosted in the President's honour. There was already tension in the run up to the event: there was some initial hesitation about inviting Jackie's sister Princess Lee Radziwill and her brother-in-law Polish Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł as traditionally, divorcées were not invited to State Dinners at Buckingham Palace but the royals eventually relented, as it was only a banquet and not an official State Dinner. Apparently, Princess Margaret and Princess Marina - two attendees Jackie had specifically requested - were not invited to the party.
Jackie wore a pale blue silk Chez Ninon gown for the occasion. As a gift, JFK presented the Queen with a signed picture in a silver Tiffany's frame, with the message: 'To Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, with appreciation and the highest esteem, John F. Kennedy.'
Did Jackie Kennedy insult the Queen?
In Netflix's The Crown, Jackie badmouths The Queen after their meeting, calling her 'a middle-aged woman so incurious, unintelligent and unremarkable that Britain’s new reduced place in the world was not a surprise but an inevitability'. But did she really say this?
Rumor has it that she may have made some less than flattering remarks about the Queen. According to the TheTelegraph, the American writer Gore Vidal remembers Jackie Kennedy saying Elizabeth was 'pretty heavy going' and that she felt the Queen 'resented' her. Society photographer Cecil Beaton allegedly wrote in his diary that Jackie said she was unimpressed by the monarch and the palace.
So it seems The Crown may have taken some creative licence when writing that specific line of dialogue.
Did The Queen ever meet Jackie Kennedy again?
The queen invited Jackie to lunch on 21 March 1962 as she was visiting the UK this time without her husband. Which would suggest Jackie did not hurt the monarch's feelings in any significant way. After the lunch Jackie was notably discreet speaking to the press: 'I don’t think I should say anything about it except how grateful I am and how charming she was.'
In 1965, two years after JFK was assassinated, the Queen Elizabeth met Jackie again in more tragic circumstances, as she opened a memorial in his honour at Runnymede, Berkshire. The dedication was attended by Jackie, and her two children Caroline and John.