{"id":566871,"date":"2026-08-12T16:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566871\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T16:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:26:14","slug":"jackie-kennedy-crashed-queen-elizabeths-coronation-ball-as-a-23-year-old-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566871\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackie Kennedy crashed Queen Elizabeth’s coronation ball as a 23-year-old reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jackie Kennedy has done many notable things in her life, including attending some of the celebrations during Queen Elizabeth’s\u00a0coronation. Back in the ’50s, when Kennedy was known as Jacqueline Bouvier, \u00a0she was a young reporter working in London. She ended up crashing one of the celebratory balls for the Queen, spending the evening alongside some of the era’s most notorious figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Queen\u00a9 PA ImagesQueen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1952<\/p>\n

As reported by InStyle, Caroline Hallemann explained that, at the time, Jackie<\/a> worked as a photographer-reporter for The Washington Times-Herald and was covering the coronation. While she didn’t attend the coronation itself, she attended a ball hosted by the American Socialite Perle Mesta. She secured access by telling Mesta that she was the daughter of some of his old friends in America.<\/p>\n

The tale is explored in her book, “The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made,” which claims that she attended the party alongside figures like Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and Prince Jean of Luxembourg. <\/p>\n

\"Jackie\u2019s\u00a9 Bettmann ArchiveJohn F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier cutting their wedding cake after their marriage in Newport, Rhode Island<\/p>\n

The party was hosted in Mayfair’s 400 Club. She also attended a performance of Guys and Dolls at the Coliseum Theatre, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth<\/a>‘s sister, Princess Margaret<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole country is concerned with the coronation, the whole coronation and nothing but the coronation,\u201d wrote Jackie in a dispatch published in The Times. \u201cEvery home one could see through the windows of the boat train between Southampton and London bore a picture of\u00a0Queen Elizabeth<\/a> pasted on the outside of the house or in a window.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Jackie’s real meeting with Queen Elizabeth
\n \"Jackie\u00a9 Bettmann ArchiveKennedy and the Queen met officially in 1961<\/p>\n

Shortly after her trip, Jackie<\/a> got engaged to John F. Kennedy, then the senator of Massachusetts. Eight years later, she met the Queen as the First Lady of the United States.<\/p>\n

According to Hallemann, their relationship didn’t start in the best place. \u201cJackie was very excited to go to Buckingham Palace and thrilled to meet the Queen,\u201d she said to PEOPLE. \u201cBut she was just slightly disappointed that the palace wasn\u2019t grander.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following year, Jackie returned to Buckingham Palace and appeared to have a better experience overall, with her and the Queen growing to respect each other with them bonding over their love of horses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a great lunch, in part because they talked at length about horses,\u201d Hallemann said. \u201cThat is where they were able to really connect. That was a true passion for both of these women.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"John\u00a9 Bettmann ArchiveJohn F. Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth II, Jackie Kennedy, and Prince Philip on the Kennedys visit to the UK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jackie Kennedy has done many notable things in her life, including attending some of the celebrations during Queen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[40164,156,80004,279078,111,139,69,81717,16196],"class_list":["post-566871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-british-royals","tag-entertainment","tag-jackie-kennedy","tag-kennedys","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-queen-elizabeth","tag-royals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}