Inside the Queen’s unlikely friendship with Tom Cruise: ‘Really hit it off’

The Queen and Tom Cruise are said to have 'really hit it off' before her death. Photos / Getty Images

Tom Cruise and the late Queen are said to have “really hit it off” when the monarch invited him for tea in her final weeks.

The Top Gun: Maverick star, 60, was also allowed to land his helicopter on Her Majesty’s lawn, according to the Times.

The outlet reported on Sunday that the Queen had been disappointed she was unable to meet Cruise during an event for her Platinum Jubilee, which celebrated her history-making 70 years on the throne.

But an insider told the Times the Queen, who died aged 96 on September 8 at her home in Balmoral, “loved seeing him” when she invited him for tea over the summer. They added that Cruise was invited back for lunch, but the Queen died before it could happen.

The pair were said to have originally been due to meet in May at an equestrian event on the Windsor Castle grounds called “A Gallop Through History”. A source told the Times about his visit after they missed each other: ”The Queen let it be known she was really disappointed not to have met Tom at the pageant.

Tom Cruise among the royal revellers at Windsor Castle this evening for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration.@TomCruise #PlatinumJubilee pic.twitter.com/JCyDrbgPF1

— Michael Murphy (@michaelmurph_y) May 15, 2022

”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. She loved seeing him and they really hit it off, so much so that she invited him back for lunch.”

Tom, who filmed his latest Mission Impossible film in Britain, said earlier this year about 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. I just remember always as a kid seeing photos of her.”