Last weekend marked the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a celebration of her 70 years on the throne.
From Trooping the Colour to the Platinum Party at the Palace, the jam-packed party programme lasted four days, spanning from Thursday to Sunday.
The Mall saw tribute after tribute – performances by Diana Ross and Alicia Keys, speeches by Prince William and Prince Charles, and party buses of A-listers celebrating each decade Her Majesty has been on the throne.
There was however one moment that eclipsed them all.
The most talked-about moment of the Bank Holiday weekend was undoubtedly the Queen’s tea with Paddington Bear, an iconic video that was aired during the Platinum Party at the Palace concert.
The video in question sees Paddington Bear and The Queen taking tea together, and after Paddington offers Queen Elizabeth a marmalade sandwich from under his hat, she sweetly takes one out of her handbag and admits to keeping one on her at all times “for later”.
The video concludes with the iconic bear telling the Queen: “Happy Jubilee, Ma’am. And thank you, for everything.” The Queen then replies, “That’s very kind”, before the pair tap their spoons along with the start of the music at the concert.
The video unsurprisingly went viral, hailed as the perfect meeting of two icons, and has already gone on to rake in millions of views.
Since its release, it has been reported that the video was actually a secret, with Her Majesty even keeping her closest royal family members in the dark.
On closer inspection, the photographs of the Cambridges and their reactions during the video airing make that clear, with the royals visibly amazed by the surprise skit.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s reactions went the most viral, with the Queen’s great-grandchildren caught staring open-mouthed at the screen.
Royal photographer Chris Jackson opened up about the moment on Instagram, posting: “That moment The Queen retrieved a marmalade sandwich from her handbag….what an evening, a privilege to be there.”
He went on to explain that it was Prince George who loved the video in particular, spotted laughing with Prince William in the audience. “Prince George absolutely loving the Paddington Bear moment last night….”, Jackson captioned a snap of the Cambridges laughing along.
Well, this is lovely.