Queen Elizabeth II on one side, Paddington bear on the other, in the sketch that was shown at the Jubilee. Photo: AP
At 96, Queen Elizabeth II is still drawn to sketches. In 2012 she was involved in the promotion of a James Bond film and now, ten years later, she stars in a comedy video along with the animated version of the bear. Paddington.
The celebrity had tea with the queen at the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. In the short video they meet at Buckingham Palace and exchange a funny dialogue, even the bear offers Isabel a jam sandwich and she tells him that she already has one in her bag.
On this, the palace said in a statement: “Her Majesty is well known for her sense of humor, so it shouldn’t be surprising that she has decided to participate in tonight’s sketch.”
The sketch was shown Saturday night outside the London palace, in front of a crowd that was there for the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the queen on the throne.
Although Isabel was not present at the celebration, Prince Charles made it clear that he was seeing everything inside and he also joked with the play the queen made with the bear.
Carlos said Isabel had “immense regret” for not being there, but that she was “watching these celebrations with great emotion, having finished, I hope, her jam sandwich.”
People react when Queen Elizabeth II appears on the palace balcony on Sunday 5 June 2022, the last of four days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Photo: AP
A much (re) loved bear
Although oddly born in “the most remote Peru”, Paddington is a representative of Great Britain in the world. In England, for example, he is as popular as Winnie the Pooh. It has existed since 1958 and has distinguished itself in both children’s literature and on TV and movies.
The first record of him is in the book “A Bear Called Paddington”, by Michele Bondwhich bears illustrations by the cartoonist Peggy Fortnum.
The first edition of “A Bear Called Paddington” by Michael Bond.
Legend has it that Bond created the character after seeing a teddy bear on a shelf in a London store near Paddington Station in 1956. He liked the doll so much that he gave it to his wife for Christmas.
Following the success of the books, which were sold in more than 30 languages to more than 30 million people, the BBC produced in 1975 the character’s TV series.
In the production, which had Bond behind it, Paddington recreates the incidents that mistreated him in the books. Because his story is about this, about little problems that the character accidentally gets into.
The bear is a real puppet, while the rest of the characters are 2D animations.
The most striking feature of the series is that the bear is represented with a real animated stop-motion puppet, while the rest of the characters are in 2D, like any cartoon of the era.
The Bear at Paddington 2.
The Paddington who met Elizabeth II, however, is that of the films of 2014 and 2017. There the bear appears in 3D as seen in the sketch shown at the Jubilee.
Both are managed by Paolo Re and played by high caliber actors and actresses. It is worth clarifying that the only animated characters in these stories are the bear and his relatives, that the protagonist’s voice is that of Ben Whitshaw and that as people of flesh and blood appear, among others, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters Y Brendan Gleeson.
The first film tells how Paddington arrives in the UK from Peru and is adopted by the Brown family. In this story, the bad guy is Thousandth (Kidman), a taxidermist who wants to take possession of the animal to dissect it.
The second, however, sees the bear trying to get a book to give to his aunt for her 100th birthday, but everything gets complicated when the object he so desired is stolen.
Sally Hawkins’ character meets the bear at the station that bears her name.
The two productions were very well received by critics and achieved excellent box office results.. The warm welcome of these films probably contributed a lot to the character having a prestigious place in the queen’s celebrations.
Source: Clarin
