It was June 4, a huge crowd rushed, English flags in hand, to celebrate the platinum jubilee of Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday.
On giant screens in front of them, as on TV, the world discovers an unforgettable sequence, shot a few weeks earlier at Buckingham Palace, for his 70 years of reign.
Paddington Bear and the Queen share tea together, against a backdrop of British humour.
The bear offers him his favorite dish, a marmalade sandwich, which he takes out of his hat.
At that moment, Her Majesty extracts her own sandwich from her black Launer handbag: "I'm saving mine here, for later."
Paddington congratulates her on her jubilee and thanks her for everything.
The bear reiterated the same sentence of this sketch on its official tweeter account, at the announcement, Thursday evening, of the death of the sovereign: "Thank you Ma'am, for everything".
"She shone and made Paddington very comfortable"
In this unexpected sketch, the two end up tapping their cup of Chinese tea with their spoon on the mythical rhythm of "We will Rock You", by Queen.
At the same time, the tune is played live by Her Majesty's Royal Marine Corps outside the palace.
This tender and light bubble showed, once again, that the queen was not lacking in humor and audacity.
Even at 96.
Rosie Alison, from the production company Heyday Films who shot this sequence, recounted this unprecedented encounter in a press release.
“Filming Her Majesty's Tea Party with Paddington Bear was extremely emotional for the whole team.
We were all in awe of the Queen's wit, warmth and radiant aura as she patiently interacted with a polite, clumsy but very well-meaning bear.
She shone and made Paddington (and all of us) very comfortable.
“The shooting took place in March, without knowing the number of takes that the queen had to repeat to achieve this very successful result.
Prince Charles' 'nervous laugh'
Ten years earlier, Elizabeth II had already staged herself in a video, with another world-famous British character: James Bond, the secret agent in the service of Her Majesty.
An unexpected and offbeat sequence, directed by Danny Boyle and broadcast at the opening of the London Olympics in 2012, in front of millions of viewers.
Here again, the video was filmed beforehand and introduced into the ceremonies with perfect fluidity.
Read alsoDeath of Elizabeth II: she was also the queen of the small screen
We see Daniel Craig, the interpreter of James Bond, picking up the queen in her palace.
Busy writing in front of her wooden secretary, she gets up, follows the secret agent to a waiting helicopter nearby.
Above the Olympic stadium, the queen (or rather her double) parachutes in the colors of the United Kingdom, on the music of the credits of 007.
She then appears in the stadium as if by magic, just after the broadcast of the video, to the applause of 80,000 spectators.
The queen wears the same dress of a refined old pink, in lace, as that of the small film.
A spectacular arrival, perfectly synchronized.
But it is with her husband Prince Philip in the end, and not with Daniel Craig, that she enters the stadium.
The secret of the surprise had been well kept.
Even Prince Charles was unaware.
“He looked at me and started laughing a little nervously, wondering what was going on,” wrote Sebastian Coe, the former chairman of the Olympics organizing committee, in his book
Running My Life.
These humorous parentheses in very ceremonial events marked the spirits and contributed to maintaining the great popularity of Elizabeth II.
