Woman Keeps Pretending To Be Queen Elizabeth For One Bizarre 'Purpose'
If you were to pass by Ella Slack in the grocery store, chances are you wouldn’t look twice. With her proper white hair and down-to-earth personality, she seems like your everyday, average older lady. But with her hair curled, her glasses polished, and her casual clothing swapped for a smart pastel suit? Well, you’d probably find yourself curtseying in her presence...
Why Curtsey?
Why curtsey for Ella Slack? Because she’s about as close to royalty as someone can get without actually having royal blood. You see, Ella has a seemingly small responsibility that actually has a huge impact on the royals: from afar, she looks a lot like Queen Elizabeth.
Ella's "Services"
To an outsider, it may seem strange — maybe even downright bizarre — that Ella has made her vague resemblance to Queen Elizabeth into a decades-long career. “Career” isn’t even the right word, since Ella hasn’t once received payment for her strange services. And what exactly is this “service?”
A Message From The Queen
Well, according to Ella herself, it all started more than 30 years ago, back when she worked for the BBC. “The producer who was doing The Cenotaph came to see me and said that the Queen had sent a message,” Ella remembered. She had no clue that this message would change her life.
A Pesky Problem
Back then, the Queen was getting ready to shoot a BBC special at the famous war memorial when she ran into a pesky problem. Ella said that the Queen’s message to the BBC was “when she stood at the Cenotaph, the sun was in her eyes, and so could we do anything about it?”
The Queen's Request
It wasn’t unusual for the Queen to have understandable requests like this, but this particular request was harder to solve than it may seem. You see, the producers couldn’t know if the re-positioning of the Queen’s spot during the program was successful without her there to test it out...right?
Ella's Idea
Ella, ever resourceful, had a better idea. Why not get someone to stand in for the Queen during rehearsal? Normally, one of the stage managers would have done the job, but as Ella put it, “All the stage managers were six-foot men.” And the Queen is famously of small stature — much like Ella herself!
Ella's Career Beginnings
“Well, I said to [the producer], would you like me to come and stand in the position for you?” Ella offered. It was a genius idea, one that took Ella down a path she had never even dreamed of. From then on, whenever the Queen needed someone to stand in her place during event rehearsals, she knew who to call…
Similar Statures
To be clear, Ella knows she doesn’t really look much like Queen Elizabeth up close. “A stand-in is not a lookalike,” she explained. “I don’t look like the Queen. But I’m the same sort of stature and height. I’m about virtually 5’. The Queen is about 5’2”.”
Word Spread
After that fateful day when Ella made sure the Queen didn't have sun in her eyes, word spread that the BBC had someone to stand in for the Queen during rehearsals. With that, Ella’s career as a Queen Elizabeth stand-in took off — and has taken her to some high and mighty places.
Queen Ella
Ella has been able to experience things that were once thought to be royal luxuries only. “I went in her royal carriage and rode on the boat up to the Tower of London,” she said. “And then there will be the State Opening of Parliament.” There are some royal rules for Ella to follow, however.
Never Touch The Throne
There’s one place that’s absolutely forbidden to Ella. “I’ve never been allowed to sit on the throne in the House of Lords,” she said. “I have to lurk above it — it’s a very strict rule.” Even so, Ella has been able to live out her royal fantasies in other ways when she stands in for the Queen.
Is That Ella Or Elizabeth?
“If I’m in a carriage or a car, I will wave,” Ella admitted. If you saw the Queen’s carriage from afar, chances are you wouldn’t think twice when you saw the short, white-haired older woman sitting in a place of honor and waving to the crowds! That said, Ella does a lot more than simply wave.
More Than A Stand-In
“The events that I’ve been helping with are events that are transmitted worldwide,” Ella explained. “Millions of people are going to watch.” That’s why Ella’s job is so important at a practical level — someone has to map out the Queen’s every move. But to Ella, her job is more than that of a stand-in.
Devoted To The Job
To the 74-year-old who grew up with Queen Elizabeth II, her position means more to her than you may think. “I look afterward, and watch the programmes going out, and I’ll see [the Queen] there, and think, ‘I did it for you,’” Ella said. She’s so dedicated to her job that she long ago made a big decision.
Zero Paychecks
Not once has Ella Slack accepted any kind of payment for her services — not even after 50 events and 30 years have passed. For her, her stand-in role is a “pleasure and an honor," even when she occasionally has to shell out some money of her own in order to get the job done.
Mimicking The Queen's Style
As Ella recalled to the BBC, when she stands in for the Queen, she goes all out — especially with the clothes. “When I practiced the Millennium, I went into Woolworth’s and got a fake diamond necklace,” she said. Thankfully, most of her purchases didn’t rival those of the Queen’s.
Have They Met?
“Then I didn’t have a handbag, so I went into the Save the Children shop...and got my handbag for £2,” she added. Ella has to “act out” everything, from the Queen’s seating in a carriage to her placement on a stage and even to her handshakes. But has Ella ever interacted with her royal doppelganger?
"Your Majesty"
Not yet, according to Ella, but that doesn’t mean other people haven’t mistakenly thought that they had! “People call me ‘Your Majesty,’” she said. “People come up and they curtsey. It’s almost like living two lives, really.” And according to Ella herself, she and the Queen couldn’t live more different lives outside of their royal duties.
Vastly Different Lives
Ella hails from Ramsey on the Isle of Man, a coastal town with a population of just under 8,000. Queen Elizabeth, of course, lives in historic Buckingham Palace in London. And according to Ella, they get around in very different vehicles. Ella drives a Ford, while the Queen drives Range Rovers when she isn’t in a carriage or chauffeur-driven car.
For The Love Of Their Country
Despite their differences, Ella and the Queen have one very important thing in common: a love for their country. Because of this, you’ll only ever be able to spot Ella during rehearsals, not during the actual live event. Queen Elizabeth herself has a full plate since the entire royal family attends over 2,000 engagements every year.
Secretive Private Lives
Though Ella may look like the Queen, she knows as much as we do about what goes on behind Buckingham Palace's ornate walls. We really only see the Queen and the rest of the royal family during their public engagements, so when word got out of a "secret" documentary that showed the royals in their day-to-day life, people's interests were piqued.
Royal Documentary
Of all the great and enduring mysteries in this world, it sounds silly to count one of them as the 1969 documentary The Royal Family. But to the millions of people who watched the film when it first aired, the biggest mystery of all was this: Who in the world thought this would be a good idea?
Candid Camera
The least mysterious part of the documentary was why the Queen ended up banning it. Everyone knew why she put the doc under lock and key, and it’s not just because of the public's harsh reaction. Looking back, the documentary caught the family in some pretty unflattering situations.
A Different Time
The idea of a documentary about the British royal family may not seem very provocative in today’s uber-connected world, but in the ‘60s, the royals weren’t the smiling people we see every day on Instagram. In fact, the royals weren’t seen much at all.
Behind Closed Doors
Back then, the British royal family were seen at celebrity engagements, on national holidays, and in paparazzi photos. No one really knew what the inside of Buckingham palace looked like, or what the Queen ate for breakfast, or what Prince Charles and his siblings did for fun. The documentary promised to change that.
A Secret Purpose
It was a way to give the public a glimpse into royal life from the comfort of their own homes. And apart from quieting public curiosity, the documentary had another important purpose: to make the royals seem more integral to society overall.
Do We Need Them?
You see, one of the most controversial topics in the ‘60s was whether or not the British royal family really needed their opulent palaces, fancy yachts, and boundless fortune in general. In a modern-day time when the monarchy no longer has political power, are they really necessary at all?
Acting Natural
The royals argued that they were necessary, and the only way to prove it was to let a few cameras go where no camera had ever gone before. Over a period of a year and a half, cameramen followed the royal family as they worked, socialized, and tried to act natural.
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"Killing the Monarchy"
But not everyone thought it was a good idea. David Attenborough, who at the time worked at the BBC, warned the film’s director that the documentary could end up “killing the monarchy.” He wasn’t alone in his fear, and as it turned out, he had reason to worry. What the documentary showed left the public reeling, then and now.
Rare Footage
To be fair, some of what the documentary showed succeeded in demystifying the royals to the public. For example, in one scene, the Queen is seen on an outing with young Prince Edward, who asks for ice cream. In the scene, she does something no Queen has ever been seen doing before.
Never Before Seen
She reaches into her purse, pulls out some cash, and pays for Edward’s ice cream herself. Since the Queen never pays for her own meals, this was a never-before-seen moment captured by the cameras. It was a rare, sweet moment for the stoic royals, and it wasn’t the only heartwarming part of the documentary.
Unscripted
In another scene, Prince Charles is filmed teaching Edward how to play the cello. It’s all fun and games until a cello string suddenly snaps, hitting Edward right in the face. This rare moment of humor among the royals stands out as one of the few undoubtedly unscripted parts of the film.
On The Yacht
Although the whole point of the doc was to show the family in these moments of normalcy, there was no getting around the fact that the royals simply weren’t normal. This was highlighted in many scenes, such as when an outing on the Royal Yacht Britannia quickly got extravagant.
Out Of Touch?
As the film’s narrator insists that the royals are totally normal, the viewer watches as a helicopter delivers the day’s newspapers to the family onboard their yachts. “On the sea does not mean out of touch,” the narrator says, but the public watching the excessive lifestyle unfold didn’t exactly agree.
Awkward Moments
People watching the documentary also picked up on some awkward moments, especially between the royals and some of their high-ranking guests. In fact, one conversation between the Queen and President Richard Nixon became one of the most talked-about segments of the documentary.
A Bigger Problem
While making small talk with the president, the Queen says, “The world problems are so complex, aren’t they now?” Not everyone is adept at small talk, of course, but that didn’t stop the public from wondering if the odd statement was a mistake or simply the symptom of a bigger problem.
Banned
The “bigger problem” being the royals' existence themselves. Though the documentary succeeded in reminding the public of their existence, it also reminded them of how much money this unelected royal family had. The backlash was so bad that in 1977, Queen Elizabeth banned the film from being played on TV ever again…
Modern-Day Backlash
Until it resurfaced in 2021, that is. For the first time in decades, the public got to see the royal family — before their many controversies in the '80s and beyond — in their “natural habitats.” Though the film was only available for a brief time, that didn’t stop one scene from making the headlines for the first time.
An "Innocent" Story
Though the scene didn’t appear to make many waves when it first aired, that wasn't the case in 2021. In a moment towards the end of the film, Queen Elizabeth is seen telling a story about an unnamed visitor whom her home secretary refers to by a rude name.
Royal Gossip
“It’s extremely difficult to keep a straight face when the home secretary said to me, ‘There’s a gorilla coming in,’” the Queen says to her family in the scene. “So I said, you know, ‘What an extraordinary remark to make — very unkind — about anybody.’” But then, the queen relates what happened when she saw the visitor herself.
Not-So-Nice
“I stood in the middle of the room and pressed the bell, and the doors opened and there was a gorilla,” she said. “I had the most terrible trouble keeping — you know, he had a short body and long arms. And I had the most appalling trouble.” People had theories about who the Queen was referring to.
Who Was She Talking About?
Some people believe that she and her home secretary were referring to a former U.S. ambassador, though obviously, no one knows this for sure. Since Buckingham Palace and the BBC both declined to comment on the scene, we may never know who, exactly, was the butt of the joke…
The Modern Monarchy
Not that the uncomfortable moment has shifted the public’s feelings about the Queen all that much, of course. The documentary may have failed to reinvigorate the public’s support of the monarchy as a whole, but it did revitalize their love for its most popular member — Queen Elizabeth II.
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