The late Queen Elizabeth’s most famous lookalike banned her daughter-in-law from her funeral, the Mail can reveal.
Known to millions as the instantly recognisable face of Her Majesty, Jeannette Charles made a living for 40 years from her uncanny resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II by playing her in personal appearances, TV shows and Hollywood films including Naked Gun.
But while the late Monarch’s relationship with her daughter-in-law Diana Princess of Wales was said to be ‘complicated’ with many ups and downs, it seems that Mrs Charles also had difficulties with her own daughter-in-law.
The widowed actress who died aged 96 in June last year left what seemed to be a barbed comment about her son Peter’s wife Cindy in her will, probate records show.
In it she said she wished to be cremated, and her ashes interred with those of her husband Kenneth Charles who died in 1997.
But the third sentence stated firmly: ‘I declare that my daughter-in-law Cindy Charles shall not attend my funeral.’
The will, which was drawn up in February 2020, did not disclose why she was making the request about the wife of her son Peter, 64, who lived at the time in Garland, Texas, in the United States.
Whatever the reason for the snub, Cindy still spoke fondly of Mrs Charles after her death.
Jeannette Charles made a living for 40 years from her uncanny resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II
The widowed actress who died aged 96 in June last year left what seemed to be a barbed comment about her son Peter’s wife Cindy in her will, probate records show
Mrs Charles played Queen Elizabeth II in personal appearances, TV shows and Hollywood films including Naked Gun (pictured)
Pictured: Mrs Charles appearing in 1988 comedy The Naked Gun as the late Queen
Her husband made a Facebook post last October on what would have been his late mother’s birthday, saying ‘Thinking of Mum on her birthday. We all miss you xx’, and Cindy replied: ‘Such a beautiful tribute and a very nice picture of the three of you. Happy heavenly birthday Jeannette (love heart emoji)’.
Mrs Charles lived in Danbury near Chelmsford, Essex, before she died in a care home when she was the same age as the Queen on her death at Balmoral ten months previously in September 2022
Records reveal she left an estate of £647,865 reduced to a net figure of £412,952 after liabilities.
The actress admitted in her will that she was making ‘greater provision’ for her daughter Carol Christophi over her two sons due to her ‘unequivocal and unwavering care of me to the detriment of her own marriage and family life.’
She also insisted that she and her husband had already given ‘considerable lifetime provision’ to her two sons.
Her family expressed their love for her in a funeral notice in her local newspaper, describing her as ‘an amazing woman who led a full and incredible life’.
The notice added: ‘Credited as being the first and most famous lookalike in the world, having a career that spanned decades. To us she was just Mum or Grandma. We miss her humour and thirst for life. Now at peace with her husband Kenneth.’
Mrs Charles lived in Danbury near Chelmsford, Essex, before she died in a care home when she was the same age as the Queen
Jeannette Charles A Queen Elizabeth II Lookalike With Walt Hanna A President Jimmy Carter Lookalike Outside Buckingham Palace
Mrs Charles began her career as a Queen lookalike after commissioning the artist Jane Thornhill to paint a portrait of her as a birthday present for her husband in 1972
Mrs Charles began her career as a Queen lookalike after commissioning the artist Jane Thornhill to paint a portrait of her as a birthday present for her husband in 1972.
The artist later submitted the portrait to the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition, but officials who assumed it was a portrait of the Queen rejected it on the grounds that it must have been painted from a photograph rather than a personal Royal sitting.
When it emerged that the picture was really of Mrs Charles, there was a flurry of newspaper stories which led to her being offered work, posing as the Queen.
Mrs Charles went on to make constant personal appearances, often opening shops, appearing in adverts, and evened handed out gifts with the flamboyant piano virtuoso Liberace.
She also appeared with Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson in the 1988 film The Parent Trap, and in the James Bond spoof Goldmember in 2002, when she mistook Austin Powers star Mike Myers for a crew electrician on first meeting him.
She achieved so much fame in her own life that she had her autobiography, The Queen & I, published in 1986.
