May 2023 marks the 56-year anniversary of Elvis Presley marrying his wife, Priscilla Presley, on May 1, 1967.
The pair had been together for years, but it wasn’t until Christmas, 1966 that Elvis finally popped the question. Five months later, they jetted off to Las Vegas with their closest friends and family to get hitched.
A few days later, they went to a Palm Springs, California, where they leased out a spaceship-styled mansion for an entire year.
The 4,695-square-foot love den became their home for the next few days – but it didn’t take long before Elvis’ fast-paced life took over once again. (Via Daily Mail)
After a reported four or five days in Palm Springs, Elvis and Priscilla went back to their home in Graceland as production on the King’s latest movie started up.
READ MORE: ‘Trapped’ Elvis wept night before eight-minute wedding to Priscilla
Elvis, at the time, was working on what would become his 1968 movie Speedway.
The picture, which hit cinemas on June 12, 1968, was a musical action movie where the King played Steve Grayson, a race car driver, opposite Nancy Sinatra – the daughter of Old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra.
Although Speedway’s filming proper did not begin until a few weeks later in June 1967, the star’s schedule in May was filled up with lots of pre-production work and recording the soundtrack.
This meant Elvis was likely away from home at recording studios with film executives a lot of the time, as well as Nancy.
Elvis and Nancy had a complicated relationship. She once swore in her memoir that nothing sexual ever happened between them, but Priscilla believed otherwise.
She once opined about the star: “Elvis was lovely. What a great guy. What a sweet, polite, wonderful man… He treated me as a good friend.”
Despite their incredible connection, she insisted that their relationship was nothing but platonic – despite how flirtatious they were.
“His humour was silly and self-deprecating,” Nancy continued. “He made fun of himself which is a very endearing quality to have. We did have fun, that’s for sure…
“There was flirting, but just friendly flirting. Actually, we were like The Katzenjammer Kids.”
It’s easy to see why Priscilla didn’t trust Elvis, though. Elvis was renowned for his womanising (even after he and Priscilla had married), and Nancy was one of the hottest young actors around. Not to mention, she was the daughter of one of the greatest singers of all time.
In her memoir, Elvis and Me, Priscilla wrote of her worries about Elvis spending time with Nancy: “I became more and more resigned to the fact that Elvis was dating Nancy Sinatra and had completely forgotten about me.”
When Elvis finally started working on Speedway’s film sets with Nancy, some big news came out. It was announced that Priscilla was pregnant with Elvis’ child. And on February 1, 1968, Lisa Marie Presley was born – the couple’s only child.
