Jeannette Dorothea Louise Charles (née Clark; 15 October 1927 – 2 June 2024) was a British actress noted for her portrayals of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, branding her "the Queen's most famous lookalike".

Background

Jeannette Clark was born in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

, London, in 1927. Her father, Alfred, was a restaurateur, and her mother, who was born Yetta Wonsoff, was a Dutch immigrant originally from Poland. Clark was noted for her resemblance to then-Princess Elizabeth as early as age eleven. She had always aspired to an acting career, but could not afford the cost of attending

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

. When appearing in theatrical plays, she had trouble getting audiences to overlook her similarity to Elizabeth. She instead became an

au pair An au pair (; : au pairs) is a person working for, and living as part of, a homestay, host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family’s responsibility for child care as well as some homemaking, housework, and receive a monetary ...

in the United States, living in

Midland, Texas Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Midland County with small portions extending into Martin County. The population was 132,524 as of the 2020 census. Located in the Permian Basin in West Texas, Midland is a ...

, in the early 1950s. 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 Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

in 1969.

Career

Charles and her family settled in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. 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 The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

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. 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. Charles played the role of Queen Elizabeth II in many films including '' Secrets of a Superstud'' (1976), '' Queen Kong'' (1976),

The Rutles The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series '' Rutland W ...

' 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 ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' is a 2002 American spy comedy film directed by Jay Roach. It is the third and final installment in the ''Austin Powers'' film series and stars Mike Myers in four different roles: Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Goldme ...

'' (2002). Foreign governments hired her to stand in for the Queen during preparations for state visits, to allow officials to rehearse protocol. Charles was a

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

and refused offers she felt would be disreputable to the Queen as well as herself, such as declining to pose for a ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' centrefold. Once, when invited to an event in which

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

would also be present, she did not agree to appear until she received confirmation from

Clarence House Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the royal Duke of Clarence, the future King William IV. The four-storey house is faced in ...

that the Queen Mother would not be offended. Charles also appeared as a semi-regular in

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

's '' Q'' series on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

and appeared on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's '' Big Brother 10'' to surprise the Brazilian contestant Rodrigo Lopes (who thought he was meeting the real Queen Elizabeth II for a task). Charles also appeared in ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' episode Season 2, Episode 20 in 1977 and '' Mind Your Language'' episode Season 2, Episode 2, "Queen for a Day", in 1978. She published a memoir in 1986.

Later life and death

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

Partial filmography

*''Leos Leiden'' (1976) – The Queen *'' Secrets of a Superstud'' (1976) – The Lady *'' Queen Kong'' (1977) – HM The Queen (uncredited) * Mind Your Language (1977) – Mrs. Baxter *'' All You Need Is Cash'' (or ''The Rutles'') (1978) – A Queen of England *'' National Lampoon's European Vacation'' (1985) – Queen Elizabeth *''Nipagesh Bachof'' (1987) – Queen of England *'' The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!'' (1988) – Queen Elizabeth II *'' The Parent Trap'' (1998) – Queen Elizabeth II (deleted scene) *''Tusenårsfesten'' (1999) – Queen Elizabeth II *''

'' (2002) – Queen Elizabeth II

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Jeannette 1927 births 2024 deaths 20th-century British actresses 21st-century British actresses Actors from the City of Westminster Actresses from London British film actresses British stage actresses English expatriates in Libya English expatriate actresses in the United States English impressionists (entertainers) English monarchists English people of Polish descent People from Marylebone