Queen Elizabeth II gave Jackie Kennedy a piece of advice that helped ease any awkwardness between the two iconic women.
The claim was made by Caroline Hallemann, author of “The Kennedys & the Windsors,” which explores the two dynasties and how their paths crossed over the years. Hallemann noted that although the two women were hardly kindred spirits when they met, the monarch’s words left a lasting mark on the first lady.
“There’s a great quote that Queen Elizabeth allegedly said to Jackie during their 1961 meeting at Buckingham Palace,” Hallemann told Fox News Digital. “Jackie had been talking about how she struggled a bit on a recent visit to Canada being in the public eye, being in the spotlight all the time.”
“The queen said, ‘You learn to save yourself,'” said Hallemann. “And I think that interaction between them is quite telling because, at that moment, Jackie was still a new first lady. She was shining brightly and was making such an impact on the global stage. By contrast, had not only been queen for several years but had known for many years that it would eventually be her future.”
“And so, you learn to save yourself â this is for the long haul,” Hallemann continued. “You cant expend all that energy at once because you have to manage it. And I think that helps illustrate how the royals have managed fame.”
According to Hallemann, the first lady accompanied her husband, President John F. Kennedy, to Buckingham Palace in June 1961. The visit was part of an overseas trip during which she spent time with her sister, Lee Radziwill, who lived in London with her husband, Prince StanisÅaw Albrecht RadziwiÅÅ of Poland, and their infant daughter.
WATCH: QUEEN ELIZABETH GAVE JACKIE KENNEDY A KEY LESSON: AUTHOR
While Kennedy was excited to meet the royals, she was reportedly disappointed that the palace wasn’t as grand as she had hoped. In the book, Kennedy was reportedly “unimpressed by the drafty, aging building.”
“You could almost imagine the wheels turning in her mind of how she would , so that it wouldnt disappoint visitors the way the palace had disappointed her,” Hallemann wrote.
Kennedys friend, photographer and legendary gossip Cecil Beaton, wrote in his diaries that the first lady found the royals “tremendously kind and nice.” However, “she was not impressed by the flowers, or the furnishings of the apartments at Buckingham Palace or by the queens and shoulder straps, or her flat hairstyle.”
Royal commentator Meredith Constant told Fox News Digital she was not surprised by the reported account.
“Like most Americans, Jackie had a much grander idea of the in her head than the reality that was presented to her,” said Constant.
“Interestingly, Jackie was at the D.C. welcome for then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1951. Jackie was an inquiring camera girl for the Washington Times-Herald. One of the questions she reportedly asked photographers was if Princess Elizabeth was as pretty as her picture. You have to imagine she had Elizabeth and her life built up in her mind that the reality was somewhat deflating.”
There could have been another reason Kennedy was initially unimpressed. Hallemann wrote that initially, the Radziwills were excluded from the intimate visit as the couple had both been previously divorced.
“As the head of the Church of England, which frowned upon divorce and remarriage, the queen saw it as inappropriate to host the couple,” Hallemann wrote. However, “eventually, after some back and forth, the queen relented.”
Hallemann also wrote that Kennedy “couldnt completely hide her disappointment with the selection of attendees present.” While she was hoping to meet Princess Margaret and Princess Marina of Kent, whom the president had met when he lived in London before the
