The loss of Queen Elizabeth II was felt across the entertainment industry as well, with Sir Elton John, Sir Michael ‘Mick’ Jagger, Sir Paul McCartney and Dame Helen Mirren leading the celebrities who mourned the loss, reports ‘Variety’.
Also expressing his loss was the beloved U.K. bear Paddington, who recently appeared in a sketch with the Queen to mark her 70th year as monarch. “Thank you Ma’am, for everything,” Paddington said, bidding goodbye to the Queen.
Sir Elton John, who has been very close to the British royal family, and was close associate of Princess Diana, articulated the sentiments of many when he wrote on Instagram: “She was an inspiring presence to be around and led the country through some of our greatest and darkest moments with grace, decency and a genuine caring warmth.”
The pop star, who’ll be remembered forever for the threnody ‘Candle in the Wind’ he performed at Princess Di’s funeral service, added: “Queen Elizabeth has been a huge part of my life from childhood to this day, and I will miss her dearly.”
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger tweeted: “For my whole life Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II has always been there. In my childhood I can recall watching her wedding highlights on TV. I remember her as a beautiful young lady, to the much beloved grandmother of the nation. My deepest sympathies are with the Royal family.”
In her short but heartfelt tribute, accompanying an official black-and-white official photograph of the late queen when she was very young, Helen Mirren wrote: “I am proud to be an Elizabethan. We mourn a woman, who, with or without the crown, was the epitome of nobility.”
Helen Mirren memorably played the monarch in the 2006 film ‘The Queen’, written by ‘The Crown’ creator Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Frears. The film was set in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death, a low point for the British royal family, and won Mirren a best actress Oscar for her performance. She went on to play Elizabeth again in the West End and on Broadway, in the stage hit ‘The Audience’, notes ‘Variety’.
Harry Potter’s creator J.K. Rowling put the outpouring of grief in her country in perspective, when she tweeted: “Some may find the outpouring of British shock and grief at this moment quaint or odd, but millions felt affection and respect for the woman who uncomplainingly filled her constitutional role for seventy years.”
Rowling added: “Most British people have never known another monarch, so she’s been a thread winding through all our lives. She did her duty by the country right up until her dying hours, and became an enduring, positive symbol of Britain all over the world. She’s earned her rest.”
Paul McCartney expressed his affection for the woman who made him an M.B.E. in 1965 and knighted him in 1997. “God bless Queen Elizabeth II. May she rest in peace,” McCartney wrote in a tweet, and in the age-old British tradition, added: “Long live The King.”
