The late actor, Betty White won over million hearts with her stunning performance in The Golden Girls and she once received a royal invitation to stage a live performance along with her co-stars in front of Queen Elizabeth.
According to Mental Floss, there was one line that was “surprisingly left intact” despite the censorship. It was “Sophia’s interjection to Dorothy’s question to Blanche about how long she had waited to have sex again after her husband died.”
Reflecting on the memorable stage, White once gave an insight into the semi-private event. During her appearance on Reddit AMA in 2014, the legendary star got candid about her experience of performing for Her Majesty.
“It was very exciting,” she started expressing. “The Queen was lovely. We were told not to address her unless we were addressed.” “She was up in a box and she came down on stage after with Princess Anne,” White recalled.
The event held a special place in White’s heart as she also mentioned it in her 2010 memoir Here We Go Again: My Life in Television.
She wrote, “The ladies all dropped a small curtsy as she approached. I happened to be the last one in our foursome, and after she greeted Bea and Rue and Estelle, as she got to me, she indicated the scantily clad Rockettes behind us and said to me, ‘Aren’t they beautiful girls?’”
“I curtsied, and replied, ‘Yes, and such lovely bodies.’ She lit up with a radiant smile that belied her eighty-six years and replied, ‘Oh, yes. Lovely bodies.’” White remembered.
Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother weren’t the only members of the royal family who were big fans of The Golden Girls. According to British comedy actress Cleo Rocos in her book The Power of Positive Drinking, she watched reruns with Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury in the late 1980s.
The trio would turn down the volume, drink champagne, and improvise show dialogue with “much naughtier” storylines. All seven seasons of The Golden Girls are available on Hulu. Betty White: A Celebration is in theaters for a special one-night-only event tonight, Monday, January 17.