Jeannette Charles was an actress in repertory theatre in her twenties but initially had difficulty obtaining Equity membership due to her resemblance to the Queen She has since played the role in numerous films including Secrets of a Superstud 1976 Queen Kong 1976 The Rutles movie All You Need Is Cash 1978 National Lampoons European Vacation 1985 The Naked Gun From the Files of Police Squad 1988 and Austin Powers in Goldmember 2002 She also appeared as a semiregular in Spike Milligans Q series on BBC Television and appeared on Channel 4s Big Brother 10 to surprise the Brazilian contestant Rodrigo Lopes who thought he was meeting the real Queen Elizabeth II for a task She also appeared in Saturday Night Live episode Season 2 Episode 20 in 1977 and Mind Your Language episode Season 2 Episode 2 Queen For a Day in 1978 She retired in 2014 and resided in Chelmsford Essex