MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Hundreds of mourners gathered at Graceland on Sunday to pay their last respects to American singer Lisa Marie Presley in a memorial service at the Memphis, Tennessee mansion she inherited from her father, rock legend Elvis Presley.
Lisa Marie Presley died on Jan 12 at the age of 54. Earlier that day, she had been rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest at her home.
“Our heart is broken, Lisa, and we all love you,” her mother, Priscilla Presley, said at the service on the front lawn of Graceland.
“Lisa Marie Presley was an icon, a role model, a superhero to many people all over the world.”
Sarah Ferguson also spoke at the event, remembering her friend with a quote from her former mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth II.
“I stand here with great honour because we called each other ‘sissy’, and I’ve been with you all for all your lives really,” the Duchess of York said. “My late mother-in-law used to say that nothing (that) can be said can begin to take away the anguish and the pain of these moments, because grief is the price we pay for love. And how right she was.”
Singers Alanis Morissette, Billy Corgan and Axl Rose performed.
Lisa Marie Presley is survived by her daughters, actress Riley Keough, 33, who gave birth to a baby girl in 2022; and 14-year-old twins Finley and Harper Lockwood.
Keough’s husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, revealed that the pair are new parents while sharing a tribute on behalf of his wife, who was seated in the front row.
“I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me... Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humour, my manners, my temper, my wildness, my tenacity. I’m a product of your heart.”
Lisa Marie Presley was the only child of one of the greatest stars in American music, and was nine years old when Elvis Presley died of heart failure at age 42, in 1977, at Graceland.
The mansion is now a popular tourist attraction.
Elvis Presley and other members of his family are buried at Graceland’s Meditation Garden.
Lisa Marie Presley was buried there before the memorial service alongside the grave of her son Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020 at age 27, a death ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County coroner.
After the memorial service, friends, family and members of the public formed a procession past Lisa Marie Presley’s grave.
“Lisa was the last very, very close piece of Elvis that was left to us. It’s so sad she is not here with us on this Earth any more,” said Ms Kimberly Starbuck, a 59-year-old retired baker from Memphis. REUTERS
