The Queen’s Secret To Acting Success With Paddington Revealed

Caroline Frost
·2 min read
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HM The Queen stunned the nation for her Platinum Jubilee with a surprise appearance on film with Paddington the Bear.

Now, the sketch’s writer Simon Farnaby has revealed that the Queen had trouble nailing her lines on the day, but battled on, despite her failing health.

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The Queen was aged 96 when she sat down to film the secret scene to be broadcast as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022, a few months before her death.

Farnaby, who also co-wrote the hit film Paddington 2 and appeared in the sketch as a Buckingham Palace footman, told the Richard Herring podcast that the Queen had been given the line about keeping her marmalade sandwich in her handbag, but initially delivered it too harshly and was having trouble remembering the lines.

The writer revealed on the podcast:
“The director would come in and say, ‘Ma’am, could you just be a bit gentler.’ And she’d be so sweet and she’d go, ‘I’m so sorry, yes of course.’

“He’d go, ‘Like you’re talking to your grandchildren.’ She’d say, ‘Oh, of course. I’m so sorry.’”

The Queen and her co-star managed to take the nation by surprise with the sketch, having filmed in the utmost secrecy. Members of her family, including the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles, and her grandson Prince William could be spotted in the crowd looking as surprised as everyone else when she appeared on screen alongside the beloved bear. Following the Queen’s death in September 2022, the police had to make a request that no more small Paddington Bears were left at the palace gates in tribute, as they were becoming difficult to clear up.

Farnaby added that when he complimented the Queen on her acting skills, she told him it was because she was, actually, the Queen.  “I do it all the time,” she said.

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