JJ Chalmers, who took part in Strictly Come Dancing 2020, has revealed that the Queen once wrote his father a letter in which she said that she had enjoyed watching him on the show.
As part of the coverage for the vigil held in Scotland today following Queen Elizabeth II’s death last week, presenter Huw Edwards spoke with Chalmers, who is a former Royal Marine and Invictus Games medallist who is a close friend of Prince Harry. He was also one of the BBC’s presenting team covering the funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh in 2021.
Speaking with Edwards, Chalmers revealed that his father was also previously the Queen’s chaplain, and went on to tell a story regarding a letter the Queen sent his father.
Chalmers said: “One of the most lovely things I’d ever seen is following the death of [the Queen’s] husband, my father had obviously written to her, and she returned a letter which was typed and had all the sort of expected notes within it.”
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He continued: “But at the bottom was a hand-written message that said, ‘I’ve just realised that the JJ Chalmers who I’ve been watching on the coverage of my husband’s funeral is the same JJ Chalmers that you told me of being injured all those years ago’, and also a line that said ‘and the same JJ Chalmers I enjoyed watching on Strictly Dancing’.
“That’s the great thing, it tells you two things – she has an incredible memory, but also she watches Strictly.”
Edwards added that he thought that was “the revelation of the day”, although he admitted that he was not “entirely surprised” that Her Majesty enjoyed watching the programme.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced on Thursday 8th September 2022, in a statement from Buckingham Palace.
The statement said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
She was the UK’s longest-reigning monarch, with her Platinum Jubilee marked earlier this year after she had been on the throne for 70 years, since 1952.
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