Inside Queen Elizabeth II's Famous Dance With U.S. President: Late Royal Moved Like a 'Dream' With 'Perfect Grace'
Queen Elizabeth II and Gerald Ford celebrated the U.S. Bicentennial together.
Sept. 4 2026, Published 6:25 p.m. ET
President Gerald Ford and Queen Elizabeth II famously shared a dance in the East Room of the White House on July 7, 1976, as they commemorated the friendship between their two countries and celebrated the U.S. Bicentennial.
Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the queen's passing, RadarOnline.com revisits the memorable moment in history.
Inside President Ford and Queen Elizabeth's Dance
Gerald Ford and Queen Elizabeth II danced together at the White House in 1976.
Elizabeth and Ford elegantly waltzed together at the prestigious event.
Don Pallini, a top dancing teacher at the time, praised the pair for moving "like a dancing master's dream," in a resurfaced interview from 1976.
"Perfect posture, perfect rhythm, perfect grace," Pallini gushed.
Dance Teacher Shades Vice President's Technique
A dance teacher praised Queen Elizabeth and Gerald Ford's dancing skills.
"If Ford could speak with the grace with which he dances, he'd be elected in November," he said. "And the Queen made a perfect partner."
Ford took office in 1974 after Richard Nixon resigned following the Watergate scandal. He left the White House in 1977 after losing the election to Jimmy Carter.
During the event, then-Vice President Nelson Rockefeller cut in on Ford to snag a dance with the Queen, but Pallini was less impressed with his performance, calling his movements "heavy" and "mechanical."
White House Band's Embarrassing Song Gaffe
The band at the White House reportedly started to play the wrong song.
Despite their show of unity earning high marks from Pallini, there was still a bump in the festivities. The late queen's biographer, Robert Hardman, claimed the royal was left tickled by an embarrassing gaffe that occurred just before their dance.
As Ford and the Queen took the floor, the band mistakenly began playing the wrong song with some awkward implications – a move that Hardman claimed left Ford fuming.
"After the White House banquet, he led the Queen on to the floor for the first dance, at which point the band struck up: That's Why the Lady Is a Tramp," he wrote in an article for The Daily Mail. "Ford was incandescent afterwards. And the Queen? She thought it was hilarious."
Exhibit Honors Famous Dance Between President and Queen
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The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum opened an exhibit honoring their dance.
Earlier this year, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum announced they were opening an exhibit titled, "Waltzing with the Queen: President Ford and the Anglo-American Special Relationship" to honor the historic moment 50 years after it took place.
"When President Ford and Queen Elizabeth danced together in the East Room at the White House in July 1976, the gesture symbolized the enduring bonds between the two nations," the summary read.
The exhibit features "panels, photographs, artifacts such as Head of State gifts from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip to President Ford and his family, the pen used by President John F. Kennedy to sign the proclamation making Sir Winston Churchill an honorary U.S. citizen, the table gifted to President Eisenhower from Queen Elizabeth featuring detailed engraving of D-Day invasion and the gown worn by Queen Elizabeth to the State Dinner held in her honor!"
The exhibit is expected to be available to view until late October 2026.
