One of many extraordinary things about the Queen’s extraordinary life is the people she met, from Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe to Frank Sinatra and The Beatles. Here, in June 1961, she hosts the most glamorous of presidential couples at Buckingham Palace – holding her fashionable own against none other than Jackie Kennedy. The American wore an up-to-the-minute, boat-neck gown by Chez Ninon, a New York dressmaker licensed to replicate the latest Paris fashions. The Queen, never one to take undue notice of the latest trends, wore a fairytale ballgown in a millefeuille of blue tulle.
Photograph: Bettmann Archive