Mourners flock to Graceland for Lisa Marie Presley's memorial service

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Hundreds of mourners lined the front lawn of the iconic Graceland mansion Sunday to pay their respects at a celebrity-packed memorial for Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’ only child who died Jan. 12.
Presley, 54, suffered a deadly cardiac arrest, and will be buried on the Memphis, Tenn., mansion’s grounds — next to her revered father and beloved son Benjamin, who died by suicide in 2020.
The late singer’s service — packed with star-studded speeches and performances — opened with a singing of “Amazing Grace” by Jason Clark and the Tennessee Mass Choir, followed by a performance of “To Sheila” by Billy Corgan.
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, then read “A Tribute to the Children,” which was followed by Alanis Morrissette performing “Rest.”
Presle’s mother, Priscilla, spoke at the service, but a grieving Riley Keough, her oldest daughter, let husband Ben deliver the remarks.
Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose performed the band’s song “November Rain.”
Fans had waited patiently for hours ahead of the service, coming from all over the US and Canada — and heard a spiritual just before the memorial that Lisa Marie Presley had recorded as a duet with her dad’s vocals.
Photos of the site showed several bouquets of flowers, including a bunch of white roses sent by Oprah Winfrey.
“Elvis” star Austin Butler — who attended the 2023 Golden Globes with the family — sat behind grieving Presley kin and next to the film’s director Baz Luhrmann, his wife, and the film’s costume designer. Just minutes before the memorial started, Butler, 31, gave Presley’s 14-year-old daughter Finley a hug.
Jerry Schilling, a longtime Presley family associate and Lisa Marie’s escort at the Golden Globes, gave the first eulogy, recounting how he first met her shortly after her birth — and that the last thing she told him was that she loved him.
Lisa Marie Presley’s three daughters, Keough and 14-year-old twins Finley and Harper are expected to inherit Graceland through a trust in the wake of their mother’s death.
The mansion — worth an estimated half-billion dollars — is where Elvis died at 42; Lisa Marie received the estate on her 25th birthday, becoming its sole owner.
The mom of three spoke of being buried in Graceland in a Playboy interview, 20 years before her passing.
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“The back lawn of Graceland is a graveyard, basically. How many people have a family grave in the backyard? she said. “All the graves are lined up and there’s a spot there, waiting for me, right next to my grandmother.”
“I’m sure I’ll end up there,” she said. “Or I’ll shrink my head and put it in a glass box in the living room. I’ll get more tourists to Graceland that way.”
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