The Prince and the Showgirl

3/8/2026

Luckily Queen Elizabeth II allowed some of her own Coronation footage from 1953 to double up for her grandfather’s forty-odd years earlier and so provide a backdrop for this unlikely romance between a visiting prince regent and a theatrical type who might well have piqued the interest of Edward VII. The fastidious prince (Laurence Olivier) is attending the ceremonies with his mother-in-law, the deaf as a post Queen dowager (Dame Sybil Thorndike) and his teenage son, the king (Jeremy Spenser) and staying at their embassy under the watchful eyes of the Foreign Office’s finest “Northbrook” (Richard Wattis). It’s the latter man who has to arrange entertainments for his guest so organises a visit to the theatre where he takes a liking to the plain speaking American “Elsie” (Marilyn Monroe). Whe