When London hosted the Olympic Games in 2012, the opening ceremony paid homage to the UK’s colourful history and distinct culture.
But there was one particular cameo which couldn’t get anymore British – and that was a special appearance by Her Majesty, the Queen.
The scene, which involved a very dapper Daniel Craig as his titular character James Bond, saw the monarch being rescued from Buckingham Palace by the secret agent, before “parachuting” into the Olympic Stadium in a sequence performed by a stunt double.
Now, seven years later, it has been revealed that the Queen agreed to the cameo with one stipulation – that she could deliver the line: “Good evening, Mr Bond!”.
Angela Kelly, the Queen’s dresser of 25 years, wrote the anecdote in her new book called: The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe, exclusively serialised by the UK’s HELLO! magazine.
And according to the dresser, it took only “five minutes” to persuade Her Majesty to appear alongside the actor.
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The Queen played herself during a James Bond themed scene at the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony.
(Source: BBC)Kelly also revealed she was called to a meeting to meet with the director of the Bond film franchise Danny Boyle and the Queen’s Private Secretary Edward Young to discuss the idea, a year earlier.
“Having listened to Danny’s plan, I asked him and Edward to give me five minutes so that I could ask the Queen,” she recalled.
“I remember the look of shock on Danny’s face that I would be asking Her Majesty straight away, but there’s no point in waiting around with these things: if she said no, that would be the end of it.
“I ran upstairs and luckily the Queen was free. She was very amused by the idea and agreed immediately. I asked then if she would like a speaking part. Without hesitation, Her Majesty replied: ‘Of course I must say something. After all, he is coming to rescue me.'”
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The author then recalled that she had the choice of saying “Good Evening, James,” or “Good Evening, Mr Bond”, with the Queen choosing the latter.
“Within minutes, I was back in Edward’s office delivering the good news to Danny. I think he almost fell off his chair when I said that the Queen’s only stipulation was that she could deliver that iconic line: ‘Good evening, Mr Bond’.”
Angela then created two outfits, one for the Queen and one for her stunt-double Gary Connery.
And as we know, the rest is history!
