Queen Elizabeth 'really hit it off' with actor Tom Cruise weeks before her death: Report

UK's Queen Elizabeth II reportedly made a new friend in the weeks before her death – actor Tom Cruise. The Top Gun and Mission Impossible star became an unlikely friend to the monarch, a source told The Sunday Times of London. The 60-year-old actor appeared during Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and the two “really hit it off” over the British summer, the report revealed. Around the 70th anniversary of the Queen on the throne, the ailing royal suffered mobility issues and was reportedly unable to meet him. However, they eventually met with Cruise also given the chance to fire a ceremonial gun.

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

“She loved seeing him [Tom Cruise] and they really hit it off, so much so that she invited him back for lunch. He was even allowed to fly in by helicopter,” the source furthermore added.

'A woman that I greatly admire..'

Tom Cruise and Queen Elizabeth's friendship was to be continued to a lunch date, but it could not be made possible as the monarch died on September 8, aged 96 before the two could meet. At the Platinum Jubilee’s Gallop Through History equine pageant in May, Cruise spoke at length about his admiration for 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,” he said during a television interview. 

UK's longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, was laid to rest at the St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle following a grand state funeral. The bearer party lifted the coffin from the hearse and carried it in procession into the chapel. Following the committal service, she was buried alongside her husband Prince Philip, who died last year at the age of 99. Nearly 800 guests attended the committee service for the Queen. Elizabeth's funereal procession was conducted at Westminster Abbey in London. Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926, in Mayfair, London. She was the first child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Her funeral was attended by Princes William, Prince Harry, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent.