Queen Elizabeth was "signing off" with 'Paddington' sketch.
Queen Elizabeth was signing off with her Paddington sketch
The late monarch - who passed away last Thursday (08.09.22) at the age of 96 following a reign of 70 years - took part in a sketch with the children's literary character as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations back in June and now writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce has explained that the idea actually came from the palace and aligned with Her Majesty's own morals.
He said: "I think the idea came from the palace. Paddington embodies so many of the values that she stood for. Paddington is all about kindness, tolerance, being kind to strangers and politeness. Things that are about character.
"Those are the values she's embodied throughout her life and it's why we're feeling so sad today. They're not values that are uncontested so it wasn't purely a cute thing to do. It was significant I think and that's why it's resonated so much."
In the sketch, Paddington offers Queen Elizabeth a marmalade sandwich before it is revealed that she already has one in her famous handbag and the pair closed out the sketch by tapping their teacups to the beat of Queen's 'We Will Rock You' as the legendary rock band opened the celebratory concert but Frank was unsure whether he would be able to get the Queen to "pull it off."
Frank added: "In those script meetings I was adamant we shouldn't have the Queen tapping her cup. I said 'she'll never pull that off, it's too much to ask', see if there's another line you can get out onShe pulled it off brilliantly. It's amazing. She's absolutely glowing in that moment. And you've got to remember that was real acting that's going on there, Paddington isn't really in the room."
Frank concluded by labelling the sketch as "true happiness" and claimed that the Queen saw the whole project as "signing off" because she "knew" she was coming to the end of her life.
He told BBC News: "I think that was true happiness. She was someone who was approaching the end of her life. She knew she was. And this is a sign off, isn't it?"
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