Queen Elizabeth visited the set of EastEnders more than two decades ago, taking a tour of Walford in 2001.
She was able to see some of the soap’s iconic landmarks whilst also meeting some of the nation’s much loved soap stars.
What happened when The Queen visited Albert Square?
The Queen visited the EastEnders set in 2001
Queen Elizabeth took a trip to Elstree Studios in November, 2001, to visit the set of EastEnders.
This was part of a tour of some of the biggest UK television studios, in which she also visited the ITN news studio and the studio of Blue Peter.
There was a secret battle between the EastEnders cast to decide on who would take The Queen around the set, but finally, the decision was made.
On her arrival she was greeted by soap stars Barbara Windsor, who played Peggy Mitchell, and Wendy Richard, who played Pauline Fowler.
She was then led on a tour of the set by the two actresses.
A report in The Guardian revealed the Queen couldn’t believe how deceiving the set looked on screen, with it being much smaller in real life.
The Queen admitted she didn’t watch EastEnders
Despite visiting the iconic studio set, The Queen had to admit that she didn’t usually watch the soap, although she had tried to get a feel for it before her visit.
She had no idea which days the soap aired, asking Barbara if EastEnders was on television that night.
Barbara Windsor replied: “That completely threw me because it’s Wednesday and we’re not on, so I said it’s Coronation Street tonight.”
EastEnders didn’t air on Wednesdays in 2001, although it does nowadays.
Even though she didn’t watch the soap, she enjoyed meeting some of the show’s cast members.
She even had a lovely chat with June Brown, who played Dot Cotton, behind the scenes in the make-up room.
The highlight of her trip, of course, was getting to stand behind the bar of The Queen Vic itself.
The Duke of Edinburgh also joined her
The Queen’s husband, The Duke of Edinburgh, also joined The Queen on the tour.
Much like the Queen, he had only watched the soap on occasion.
He had told Tony Caunter, who played Roy Evans, that the one time he did watch it he couldn’t understand what was going on because “everybody was shouting at each other.”
Prince Phillip also had no idea who was actually in the cast, asking Adam Woodyatt, who played Ian Beale, “Are you an actor or an operator?”
Hopefully they were more informed after their tour!
Read more: Who is in the cast of EastEnders 2022? Meet the full line-up
EastEnders usually airs Mondays to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
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