Platinum Jubilee of
Elizabeth II - to mark the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen
Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952
“On Her Majesty's
Service”
Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and his
wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York. As the child of a younger son of King
George V, the young Elizabeth had little prospect of acceding to the
throne until her uncle, Edward VIII (1894-1972) [afterward Duke of Windsor], abdicated
on December 11, 1936, at which time her father became King George VI and
she became heir presumptive. In the summer of 1951 the health of King
George VI entered into a serious decline and Princess Elizabeth
represented him at the Trooping the Colour and on various other state
occasions. On October 7, 1951 Princess Elizabeth and her husband (Philip Mountbatten,
later The Duke of Edinburgh) set out on a highly successful tour of Canada
and Washington, D.C. After Christmas in England they set out in January
1952 for a tour of Australia and New Zealand, but en route, at Sagana,
Kenya, news reached them of the King’s death on February 6, 1952 at the
age of 56.
Elizabeth then aged just 25, now Queen, at once flew back to England. Her
Coronation was
held at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953 - two months after the
publication of Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel CASINO ROYALE.
Author Ian Fleming first mentions Queen Elizabeth
II in his third novel MOONRAKER published in 1955. The passage was
illustrated by John McLusky in the 1959 Daily Express
newspaper comic strip adaptation of the novel (composite of strips #234 &
#235
above).
The author's first
mention of Queen Elizabeth II appears in chapter two of his third novel MOONRAKER,
published in 1955. Hugo Drax is Knighted by The Queen after the country
accepts his astonishing offer to build an intercontinental atomic rocket
that could defend London. Ian Fleming's references to Queen Elizabeth II
in his novels firmly established their timeline and contemporary setting.
His final mention of Her Majesty is in the last chapter of what turned out
to be his final novel, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, in 1965, when James Bond
receives a telegram informing him that the Prime Minister proposes to
recommend to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth that he be offered a Knighthood
for services to the Allied cause. James Bond respectfully declines the
offer. In an alternate universe, the cinematic James Bond had clearly
accepted the honour by the time the spoof version of Ian Fleming's debut
novel had reached the screen in 1967; in Casino Royale, David Niven
plays Sir James Bond, who is reluctantly returned to active service after
receiving a letter from Windsor Castle!
ABOVE: Silent colour
footage from the first Royal James Bond Charity Premiere You
Only Live Twice (1967), held in the gracious presence of Her
Majesty The Queen at the ODEON Leicester Square on the evening of
Monday June 12, 1967. Sean Connery together with his first
wife, actress Diane Cilento; You Only Live Twice screenwriter Roald
Dahl was accompanied by his actress wife Patricia Neal and the
late Ian Fleming’s close friend Ivar Bryce. Also attending were
Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes and Lionel Jeffries, who were then
filming Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Pinewood Studios in the
UK. Actor
Laurence Harvey, singer Tony Bennett and journalist & broadcaster
Alan Whicker (whose TV series Whicker's World had featured
a one-hour programme on the making of the You Only Live Twice
broadcast on BBC2 on March 25, 1967) also attended the
premiere. American actor-comedians Jerry Lewis and Phil Silvers
(then filming [Carry On] Follow That Camel (1967) at
Pinewood Studios) both clown for the cameras recording the event.
BELOW: (left) Sean Connery presents his actress wife Diane Cilento to Her Majesty The Queen at the
premiere of You Only Live Twice, watched by Director Lewis
Gilbert and his wife Hilda. (right) Her Majesty is also presented
to Producers Harry Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli, and his wife
Dana.
In 1967 Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II attended the London opening of You Only Live Twice and
began the tradition of the Bond Royal Premiere, which continues to this day. In
2002 Die Another Day was selected as the Royal Film Performance,
and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II attended the spectacular premiere at
the Royal Albert Hall (together with HRH Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh) to celebrate
James Bond's 40th anniversary in the cinema. Daniel Craig's debut as James
Bond in Casino Royale (2006) was also chosen as the 60th Royal Film
Performance and Her Majesty attended the premiere at the ODEON Leicester
Square in London's West End, once again accompanied by HRH Prince
Philip The Duke of Edinburgh
(1921-2021).
ABOVE: ‘Bonding with The Queen’ (top left) Pierce
Brosnan is presented to Her Majesty The Queen by Michael G. Wilson
at the World Premiere of Die Another Day, held at The Royal
Albert Hall on Monday November 18, 2002 [pictured in the
background are Barbara & Dana Broccoli together with actor Toby
Stephens (Sir Gustav Graves in Die Another Day) and
Rosamund Pike (Miranda Frost in Die Another Day)]. (top
right) Also invited to the Premiere and presented to Her Majesty
were former James Bond actors George Lazenby, Roger Moore and Timothy
Dalton. (bottom left) Producer Michael G. Wilson presents Daniel
Craig to Her Majesty at the World Premiere of Casino Royale,
held at the ODEON Leicester Square on Friday November 14, 2006.
(bottom right) Playing M for the fifth time in Casino Royale
was Dame Judi Dench, who had won the Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in
Shakespeare in Love (1998) and would also play Queen Victoria
in Mrs Brown (1997), and again in Victoria & Abdul
in 2017. Queen Victoria was the great-great-grandmother of Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and until 2015 was the
longest-reigning British Monarch to date.
Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II would also appear together with James Bond in person in the guise
of Daniel Craig in 2012, to make a spectacular entrance at the
Opening Ceremony
of the Olympic Games in London. The ‘Happy & Glorious’ segment of the BBC coverage
titled ‘Isles of Wonder’ was directed
by Danny Boyle, who was originally slated to helm Craig's swansong as 007
in No Time To Die (2021).
Boyle approached Buckingham Palace with an unbelievable request that Her
Majesty should join James Bond as they ‘both skydive’ into the Olympic
Stadium with Union Jack parachutes in a nod to The Spy Who Loved Me
(1977)! Much to his surprise, Her Majesty agreed to the idea (even adding
her own dialogue in the sequence) which was kept secret even from members
of the Royal household until it was
broadcast on July 27, 2012.
One must not forget that
1977 was the year of The Queen's Silver Jubilee, and by the time The
Spy Who Loved Me was released the country was already in the grip of
national patriotism on a scale not seen since the end of the World War II.
The same feeling was captured again 35 years later with the release of Skyfall,
which coincided with The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
007
Celebrates The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
007 celebrated The Queen
and 70 years of exceptional service to her country by taking part in the
Platinum Jubilee Pageant on Sunday 5th June. Ten iconic Bond vehicles
joined Act II of the People’s Pageant in a once-in-a-lifetime procession.
The vehicles appeared amidst a collection of 500 vintage cars and
motorbikes which covered a 3km route taking in the Mall and Buckingham
Palace to echo the Coronation journey 70 years ago.
The beloved Aston Martin DB5 which starred in eight films: Goldfinger,
Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, Skyfall,
Spectre and No Time To Die was driven by special effects
supremo Chris Corbould. The Triumph Scrambler motorbike seen recently in
No Time To Die was ridden by world champion bike rider Paul
Edmondson, who completed the film’s spectacular stunt jump. Moneypenny’s
Land Rover Defender from Skyfall was driven by one of the world’s
leading female stunt drivers Jess Hawkins, and the Rolls-Royce Silver
Cloud from A View To A Kill was driven by Academy Award winning
director Vic Armstrong.
Other vehicles featured included the Aston Martin DB10 seen in Spectre,
with three-time British World Rally Champion Mark Higgins behind the
wheel, and the Jaguar XKR from Die Another Day driven by Stunt
Coordinator Gary Powell.
Completing the array of iconic cars in the 007 line-up was the Aston
Martin V12 Vanquish from Die Another Day, a Land Rover Series III
from No Time To Die, the Rolls-Royce Phantom III from Goldfinger,
a Lotus Esprit S1 seen in The Spy Who Loved Me and the Aston Martin
V8 from both The Living Daylights and, more recently, No Time To
Die.
