Queen Elizabeth and Tom Cruise Became Secret Friends Before Her Death

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In the weeks before her death, Queen Elizabeth, 96, proved it’s never too late to make a new friend—except her new friend was none other than Tom Cruise, who Her late Majesty “really hit it off” with over the summer, according to Page Six.

The Top Gun actor was in the U.K. as a part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, but, because of ongoing mobility issues, Her late Majesty was unable to meet him at the festivities.

“The Queen let it be known that she was really disappointed to not have met Tom at the pageant, so he was invited to have a special tour of Windsor Castle with everything laid on for him,” a source says. “Afterwards, just the two of them had tea together.”

The Mission Impossible star was such a huge hit that he got to fire a ceremonial gun. “She loved seeing him and they really hit it off, so much so that she invited him back for lunch,” the source says. “He was even allowed to fly in by helicopter.”

The twosome’s friendship was set to continue on with another lunch date, but the Queen died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle before they could reunite.

In a television interview earlier this year, Cruise said of the Queen “she’s just a woman that I greatly admire. I think she is someone who has tremendous dignity and I admire her devotion. What she has accomplished has been historic.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.