Jackie Kennedy was reportedly unimpressed by Queen Elizabeth II when they first met, leaving her with only two words to say about the British royal.
The former First Lady and her husband, John F. Kennedy, met the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, during a dinner at Buckingham Palace in 1961.
However, Jackie and the Queen didn’t become friends right away, according to journalist Caroline Hallemann, who wrote the new book, The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made.
“Jackie was very excited to go to Buckingham Palace and thrilled to meet the Queen,” she told People in a new interview. “But she was just slightly disappointed that the palace wasn’t grander.”
According to royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, who is quoted in the book, all Jackie had to privately say about the Queen was that her hairstyle was “too flat.”
British journalist Craig Brown reported on similar critiques Jackie made about the Queen’s style in his 2024 book, Q: A Voyage Around The Queen.
“To the blabbermouth [British photographer] Cecil Beaton, [Jackie] she declared that she ‘was not impressed by the flowers or the furnishings of the apartments at Buckingham Palace. Or by The Queen’s dark-blue tulle dress and shoulder straps, or her flat hair-style,’” he wrote.
“I think the Queen resented me,” Jackie told writer Gore Vidal after the Buckingham Palace dinner, according to Brown. “Philip was nice, but nervous. One felt absolutely no relationship between them.”
However, Jackie appeared to grow fonder of the Queen over time. The pair had a private luncheon at Buckingham Palace in 1962 and learned how much they had in common.
“They talked at length about horses,” Hallemann told People. “That is where they were able to really connect. That was a true passion for both of these women.”
“Many people have said when they were with horses, when they were riding — that was when they felt the most themselves,” she continued. “That second conversation at Buckingham Palace would have been when they really connected on that topic and found common ground.”
In 1965, two years after John’s death, Jackie met the Queen at Runnymede, Surrey, for the opening of a commemorative monument in honor of the late president. During the interaction, the Queen and her husband greeted John and Jackie’s children, Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr.
In The Kennedys and the Windsors, which came out June 2, Hallemann explores the surprising parallels, ambitions and challenges between the American Kennedys and the British royal family.