This Celebrity Once Snubbed Queen Elizabeth

For most people, meeting Queen Elizabeth would be something almost impossible to turn down. One of the most famous people in the world, Her Majesty has rubbed shoulders with everyone from American presidents and former Beatles to Marilyn Monroe and Miley Cyrus (via The Independent), and is never far from the public eye. She's been on the throne for almost 70 years, becoming a true global figure in that time, and has long been held in high regard. 

However, it might surprise you to know that not every famous person has jumped at the chance to meet the queen. Indeed, one celebrity went as far as to reject her offer to meet for lunch, inadvertently causing a media storm at the time. Her Majesty requested a lunch meeting with the star who was touring in the U.K., but he turned her down, as he later revealed in his memoir. Surely not a decision to be taken lightly, he explained his reasoning and how the situation came about (via Cheat Sheet). 

Singer and actor David Cassidy, known for his role in 1970s musical sitcom "The Partridge Family" (via Biography), once snubbed Queen Elizabeth, deciding against meeting her while in the United Kingdom.

The Manhattan-born former teen idol embarked on a European tour in 1973, which included back-to-back shows in London, meaning that Cassidy would be spending some time in the U.K. Popular in the country at the time, his visit didn't go unnoticed by Her Majesty. David Cassidy, who died in 2017, revealed in his memoir — "C'mon, Get Happy: Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus" – that Queen Elizabeth invited him to lunch, sending the British media into a frenzy. According to Cheat Sheet, he wrote in his book, "I don't care about the Queen. The Queen means nothing to me ... I'd much rather meet Eric Clapton."

In hindsight, did the star make the right decision? The day he would have met Her Majesty, he instead met future wife Sue Shifrin. They went on to have a brief fling and stayed friends, before going on to marry and having a child over 10 years later (via People). Of course, had he decided to take the queen up on her offer, he might have never bumped into Shifrin.