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Jeannette Charles

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Jeannette Charles
Born
Jeannette Dorothea Louise Clark

(1927-10-15)15 October 1927
London, England
Died2 June 2024(2024-06-02) (aged 96)
Great Baddow, Essex, England
OccupationActress
Years active1972–2014
Known forResemblance to Queen Elizabeth II
Spouse
Ken Charles
​
​
(m. 1957; died 1997)​
Children3

Jeannette Dorothea Louise Charles (née Clark; 15 October 1927 – 2 June 2024) was a British actress noted for her portrayals of Queen Elizabeth II, with The Guardian branding her "the Queen's most famous lookalike".[1][2]

Background

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Jeannette Clark was born in Marylebone, London, in 1927.[2][3] Her father, Alfred, was a restaurateur, and her mother, who was born Yetta Wonsoff, was a Dutch immigrant originally from Poland.[2] Clark was noted for her resemblance to then-Princess Elizabeth as early as age eleven.[2]

She had always aspired to an acting career, but could not afford the cost of attending Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. When appearing in theatrical plays, she had trouble getting audiences to overlook her similarity to Elizabeth.[4] She instead became an au pair in the United States, living in Midland, Texas, in the early 1950s.[2][5] While there, she met Ken Charles, a fellow British expat who was working as an oil engineer; they married in 1957 and lived across North America, South America, and Africa as part of his job, before returning to the United Kingdom from Libya in 1969.[2]

Career

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Charles and her family settled in Essex.[2] In 1972, a painting she commissioned of herself in her forties (as a present for her husband) was displayed by the artist at the Royal Academy in London, where it was taken to be a portrait of the Queen. On the assumption the painting was of the Queen, it was disqualified as portraits displayed in the Academy had to be painted from life and it was assumed Elizabeth had not sat for the portrait. When it was revealed the portrait was of Charles and not Elizabeth, Charles (as the actual subject of the painting) received a great deal of press attention. She started receiving offers to portray the Queen in print advertisements.[4]

After studying the Queen's voice, as well as her appearance, Charles began making in-character personal appearances at trade shows and corporate events, and soon broadened into film.[6] Charles played the role of Queen Elizabeth II in many films including Secrets of a Superstud (1976), Queen Kong (1976), The Rutles' movie All You Need Is Cash (1978), National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).[6] Foreign governments hired her to stand in for the Queen during preparations for state visits, to allow officials to rehearse protocol.[6]

Charles was a monarchist and refused offers she felt would be disreputable to the Queen as well as herself, such as declining to pose for a Playboy centrefold.[4][6] Once, when invited to an event in which Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother would also be present, she did not agree to appear until she received confirmation from Clarence House that the Queen Mother would not be offended.[6]

Charles also appeared as a semi-regular in Spike Milligan's Q series on BBC Television[6] and appeared on Channel 4's Big Brother 10 to surprise the Brazilian contestant Rodrigo Lopes (who thought he was meeting the real Queen Elizabeth II for a task).[citation needed]

Charles also appeared in Saturday Night Live episode Season 2, Episode 20 in 1977[7] and Mind Your Language episode Season 2, Episode 2, "Queen for a Day", in 1978.[8] She published a memoir in 1986.[6]

Later life and death

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Charles retired in 2014,[4] and lived in Danbury, Essex.[9] She died in a Great Baddow care home on 2 June 2024, at the age of 96.[10] Her husband Ken, with whom she had three children, had died in 1997.[2][11]

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "Long Live The Pretender, Jeannette Charles". Beaver County Times. 1 March 1979. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hayward, Anthony (6 June 2024). "Jeannette Charles obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Charles, Jeannette (27 May 2022). "Experience: I've been a Queen lookalike for 50 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Jeannette Charles, former au pair who forged a career out of her resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II – obituary". The Telegraph. 5 June 2024. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Jeannette Charles obituary: Queen Elizabeth II lookalike". The Times. 8 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  7. ^ Nathan Rabin "Saturday Night Live (Classic)", AV Club, 15 May 2008
  8. ^ Allen, Stuart (14 October 1978), Queen for a Day, Mind Your Language, Barry Evans, Anna Bergman, George Camiller, retrieved 7 December 2023
  9. ^ "Famous Danbury Queen lookalike looks back over her career on her 90th birthday". EssexLive. 18 October 2017.
  10. ^ Heren, Kit (5 June 2024). "Queen Elizabeth lookalike and actress Jeanette Charles dies aged 96". LBC. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  11. ^ Barnes, Mike (5 June 2024). "Jeannette Charles, Famed Queen Elizabeth II Look-Alike, Dies at 96". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
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