Platinum Jubilee: Dan Walker leads praise of ‘brilliant’ Paddington and Queen sketch

Dan Walker has led praise of the Queen for her starring role opposite Paddington Bear in a comedy sketch for the Platinum Jubilee.

Saturday (4 June) night’s Platinum Party at the Palace concert was kicked off with a skit in which Queen Elizabeth herself acted opposite Paddington, voiced by Ben Whishaw.

In the pre-recorded segment, the Queen – who missed the event – enjoyed a lunch of marmalade sandwiches with the CGI bear.

The clip was celebrated on social media, with viewers praising the royal’s acting skills in the “cute” sketch.

London mayor Sadiq Khan wrote: “Her Majesty. Paddington Bear. Marmalade sandwiches. Playing ‘We Will Rock You’ with spoons. Being British is brilliant.”

“This is just brilliant,” Dan Walker tweeted. “The queen is so cool.”

“Omg the Queen and Paddington,” Davina McCall commented.

Jenny Eclair commented: “Platinum Party at the Palace: The Queen meets Paddington -so sweet, so clever – this is so beautifully done.”

Elsewhere during the ceremony, comedian Lee Mack ad-libbed a joke about the Partygate scandal – in front of Boris Johnson himself – while Stephen Fry made a comment about prime ministers that drew gasps from the crowd.

Later in the ceremony, viewers noticed that George Ezra censored his own song lyric about death during a performance of one of his hit songs.

You can read The Independent’s review of the show here.