Priscilla Presley chats ahead of the Elvis Presley in Concert tour in Birmingham

He was The King. And she was The Queen. For a while, Elvis and Priscilla were the most famous couple on the planet.

And though it’s been 40 years since Elvis’ death, their legend has endured. They remain an iconic couple – a pair of star-crossed lovers whose stories remain in the annuls of rock‘n’roll. They met on September 13, 1959, during a party at Elvis’ home, in Bad Nauheim, Germany, where he was serving in the US Army. Priscilla was 14, though looked much older, and Elvis became tongue-tied and shy, behaving awkwardly around her.

He managed to compose himself but their infatuation seemed doomed to fail after Priscilla’s parents got wind of their mutual attraction. The teen was late home from that first meeting, angering Priscilla’s mother and father. They pledged that she would never see him again.

Elvis was persistent, however, and after promising to return her home on time, Priscilla’s parents relented. Over the next year, they became inseparable and as the world got wind of their romance, Priscilla herself started to receive fan mail.

When Elvis returned to the USA in 1960, Priscilla imagined the relationship was over. Besides, there were also rumours that he’d started a relationship with Nancy Sinatra. However, the couple remained in touch by phone and in the summer of 1962, Priscilla’s parents agreed that she could visit him in the USA – provided he pay for a first-class round trip, write home each day and be chaperoned at all times. Elvis agreed – then promptly broke the rules, getting a member of his staff to mail a postcard each day.

Priscilla was instantly attracted. She took amphetamines and sleeping pills to keep up with Elvis’ lifestyle and within a year she moved to Graceland on a permanent basis. Though Elvis strayed, having relationships with Ann-Margret during the filming of Viva Las Vegas and numerous other leading ladies and co-stars, he denied his philandering to Priscilla. In 1967, they married at the Aladdin Hotel, in Las Vegas, and it was followed by a US $10,000 reception and a honeymoon in Palm Springs. Priscilla took to married life instantly, cooking, cleaning and washing for her husband. Soon after, she became pregnant with their daughter, Lisa Marie, who was born precisely nine months after their wedding, on February 1, 1968.

They remained happy for a while, despite Elvis’ infidelities, but the relationship eventually soured after Elvis’ career took off again.

Priscilla remembers him being under enormous pressure and is thrilled that he returned to the fore. “I was proud. And I’m still proud. It’s so heart warming that he is still so loved. Elvis was always concerned with keeping up with the times and in his life time that was difficult, particularly during the 1960s with The British Invasion. He was trying to find his way and there were many trials and tribulations. As an artist, he wanted to fulfil his own dreams. He was so unique in his own style, and he wanted to progress.”

The couple divorced not long after Priscilla took another lover, the karate instructor, Mike Stone. She had grown weary of Elvis’ long absences, his sexual dysfunction and his dalliances with other women. Elvis and Priscilla separated on February 23, 1972, and a year later The King filed for divorce. It was finalised on October 9, 1973. And yet the couple remained close. On the day of their divorce, she left the courthouse with Elvis hand-in-hand. Four years later, he was dead. And Priscilla acted as executor for his only heir, their nine-year-old daughter, Lisa Marie. Facing the prospect of huge bills, Priscilla turned Graceland into a tourist attraction and launched Elvis Presley Enterprises – earning a trust fund of more than US $100 million.

Graceland remains enormously important to her: “When we were there, I was surrounded by people he trusted and people he grew up with. Graceland was a place he always went back to. He never got Hollywood and Hollywood never got him. But life at Graceland was very protective and very private. We lived in a bubble. We lived in our own world. We had all the activities around Graceland like horses or shooting or go-kart riding – it was a lot of fun. We had Liberty Land, the fairground that he rented, and he would rent all the local theatres so that he could watch the latest movies. We were a tight group back then.”

Priscilla was devastated by Elvis’ death. Though she launched a series of new enterprises, including charities and community groups, and though she enjoyed a 22-year relationship with Marco Garibaldi, the movie mogul who made Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, not a day passes when her heart doesn’t go out to the man she met back in Germany.

“It’s been 40 years, but I’m still coping. He was such a big part of my life. He was there when I was 14. He was my mentor, my God, my confidant, my husband. To lose that, to lose that influence that he had on a younger girl’s life, was very difficult. It took a long time to adjust after his death. Even though we divorced we remained so close. He never left my life, he was always there.”

Though Priscilla moved on in her life, she starred with Leslie Nielsen in the three successful Naked Gun films and played Jenna Wade in TV’s Dallas, among other things, she found all roads led back to Elvis. There were new projects, new businesses and ways of commemorating significant anniversaries and dates. People remained fascinated with her – and they still do. That global love and affection is something that she has learned to embrace. It provides comfort, all these years on. “It makes me extremely proud. I knew what he liked and disliked and what he wanted to achieve. I try, or we try, to keep that DNA there. I am that person that will know right away what his DNA was and what he would have thought.”

One of the few unfulfilled ambitions of Elvis’ life was to play alongside an orchestra. The King loved the idea of his music taking flight with a battalion of strings beneath it. Though he achieved greatness during his life, selling an estimated one billion records, becoming one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century and winning three Grammys, the opportunity to play with an orchestra proved elusive.

In 2015, Priscilla made that dream come true posthumously. She was the executive producer of the 14-track album, If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It featured archival recordings of Elvis, accompanied by the RPO and featuring duets with Michael Buble and Il Volo. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, it gave Elvis a record-equalling 12th UK number one and sold 1.6 million copies.

The project was so successful that a tour followed, which reached more than 100,000 people. The singer’s voice, backed by the RPO, was played at arenas around the UK. It’s back this winter, with six UK arena dates, including a headline at Birmingham’s Genting Arena on November 27.

Featuring a very special personal appearance by Priscilla Presley, the shows will once again give fans a chance that many have never had before – to experience the man who changed the course of popular music. Up close live on screen, the biggest selling solo artist in history, alongside the RPCO live on stage performing the King of Rock and Roll’s most well-known rocking songs and his tender, heart-wrenching ballads.

Priscilla is overjoyed. “We are bringing forward something he wanted to do. That makes me extremely proud.

“The reason we are doing it this year is quite simple. The tour was so successful last year in the UK with sold out arenas and throughout Europe that we’re bringing it back. It was so successful, it’s popular demand.

“It’s been 40 years since his passing and to see he’s still so loved is overwhelming. People can’t get enough of Elvis. They are studying him, getting in his moods and enjoying his laughter. When we did the last tour, I went to every show. I went behind the scenes and watched the audience and my gosh it brought tears to my eyes.

“It came about because me and those in his group knew he wanted to perform with a full orchestra. He loved that richness of a big sound. So it’s making his dream come true. Having the opportunity to do that is remarkable. We started talking about it in 2014, when I was in the UK doing a panto. I was asked whether I would want to do it so I went to Sony and had a meeting with them in New York. It took a while but it’s what he would have wanted.”

Priscilla understands better than anyone the enduring love for Elvis. After all, it’s something she feels very deeply. She believes it was his authenticity that made him the world’s greatest ever rock’n’roll star.

“The fans, for some reason, were so connected to him. It was his story, his honestly, his lyrics and the fact that he was so authentic. People embraced him from all over the world. It all started with his voice. I talked to a girl from a small town in Africa who works with us in the USA. She adores Elvis. He never went to her country, or her town, but she told me that everybody there loves him. They fell in love with his voice. That’s the thing.

“Life with Elvis was different. I can’t compare it to anyone else.”

Though Elvis was a massive star when he met Priscilla – he’d enjoyed his commercial breakout prior to his military service, enjoying hits with Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, Don’t Be Cruel, Anyway You Want Me, Love Me Tender, All Shook Up and more – he remained insecure.

And as the couple spent increasingly long spells at Graceland, following his military service, he was determined to keep up with the times.

“He loved The Beatles and we met them and they came to our home in Bel Air in the early ‘60s. He liked them. After The Beatles had visited they all started coming: The Who, The Rolling Stones, it was one band after the other. He stood back from it because he was a solo artist and all solo artists were struggling.

“He wondered how he could fit into a category all on his own. It had all changed but he came out with the ‘68 Special and he knocked everybody out. After that, he was back and then he started Vegas and touring as well as playing Tahoe and Reno. He came in and changed it all again.”

Keeping the flame alive is a full-time occupation for Priscilla. And though it’s an enormous commercial success, she’s in it for love – rather than money.

“I think just keeping him alive does it for me. When we were looking at this project, we came up with things he wanted to do in his show. There are other projects. We have an HBO special that I executive produced. That explains our ongoing fascination with him. It humanises him. Fans will be drawn closer by it.

“By doing projects like this and doing things that fans are yearning for, it helps to keep him alive. It’s important to me that we show who he was as a human being.

“Elvis was somebody that I cared for and loved so much. I have to do this.”

We can’t help falling in love with Elvis (again)

This year has become another vintage one for fans of the King.

Following the sell-out British arena tour last year and the number one multi-platinum album The Wonder Of You, Elvis’ voice is returning to the UK for a live concert experience like no other, featuring the most recognisable voice of all time, backed by the legendary Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra

His six-date UK arena tour kicked off in Glasgow at the SSE Hydro on November 23, taking in Leeds First Direct Arena on November 24, Newcastle First Direct Arena on November 25, Birmingham Genting Arena on November 27, Manchester Arena on November 28, with the finale at London’s O2 Arena on November 30.

Last year’s run gained critical applause – the Yorkshire Evening Post commented: “Elvis may have left the building but his legacy very much goes marching on.” The Spectator stated: “The technical achievement was remarkable.”

The Lancashire Telegraph simply put it – “by the end, the show left no-one in any doubt. Elvis is and always will be the king of rock and roll – and so much more besides.”

The show will feature a very special personal appearance by Priscilla Presley and the shows will once again give fans a chance that many have never had before – to experience the man who changed the course of popular music.

The critically acclaimed albums, If I Can Dream and The Wonder Of You, used archive recordings of The King’s voice, featuring new orchestral arrangements of some of his biggest hits, to create an overwhelmingly encapsulating and enthralling album. The latter was Elvis’ 13th No.1 album in the UK.

If I Can Dream and The Wonder Of You were produced by Executive Producer, Don Reedman, Priscilla Presley and Elvis Presley Enterprises. The shows will be a musical celebration of the legend for whom superlatives weren’t enough and who continues to break records.

Priscilla Presley was spotted with Welsh singer Sir Tom Jones, following the death of his wife, Linda.

However, the couple were not starting a romance – she was simply helping a good friend to cope with bereavement.

She says: “Tom and I have been friends since ‘68. It is true. That’s not the first time we’ve been out obviously, but probably the first outing in public.

“But always friendship, always friends. He’s a great guy. Part of that was because he lost his wife, that was the love of his life. It was kind of friends getting together to support him.”

Though Priscilla was born in 1945 and is in her 70s, she is frequently mistaken for a woman in her 40s. She has undergone extensive plastic surgery and has inspired others to believe she is 30 years younger than her actual age.

During her marriage to Elvis, she never let him see her get dressed and admitted she always made sure she had ‘a little’ make-up on at all times so he would not see her bare-faced.

Priscilla still can’t believe Elvis is gone, even though it’s 40 years since his brutal lifestyle killed him.

“You never get it out of your mind. It’s still difficult to believe that Elvis is gone. He still exists, he is still here.” As well as her shows with the Royal Philharmonic, Priscilla has toured an exhibition of his clothing, microphones and other memorabilia.

“The exhibition keeps Elvis alive, keeps him within not just the family but for fans and people who being introduced to Elvis. His impact resonates.

“We have a new fan base that has come in and want to know more.”