Priscilla Presley Remembers Elvis on the 47th Anniversary of His Death 

It’s been nearly 50 years since Elvis Presley’s death. But his memory still looms large for his ex-wife, Priscilla Presley. 

Priscilla Presley shares tribute to Elvis Presley 

On August 16, Priscilla took to social media to post a touching remembrance of her former husband on the 47th anniversary of his death. 

“47 years and not a day goes by that I don’t think of you,” she captioned the Instagram post, which also included a short video clip featuring a black-and-white photo of the late King of Rock ‘n’ Roll accompanied by the song “Always On My Mind.”

A few days earlier, Priscilla also paid tribute to Elvis’ mother, Gladys Presley. Priscilla never met Gladys, who died in 1958, a year before she met Elvis. But she knew how much she meant to her husband. 

“Today, August 14th, Elvis’ mother Gladys passed,” Priscilla wrote in the Instagram post. “She meant the world to him. He shared so many stories about how protective she was… one being, she would walk with him to school in fear he would get beat up by the schools bad boys. He would ask her to stop before they were near the school. I never met Gladys but I felt I knew her through all his stories.”

Elvis died on August 16, 1977

Elvis died on August 16, 1977, from a heart attack. He was 42 years old. 

Priscilla and Elvis met in 1959 when he was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army. She was 14 at the time; he was 24. A few years later, Priscilla’s parents allowed her to visit the “Hound Dog” singer in the U.S. They began a relationship and married in 1967. Their daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, was born in 1968. Elvis and Priscilla divorced in 1973, but they remained friendly after their split. 

In a 2023 interview with Piers Morgan for Sky News Australia, Priscilla recalled the “devastating” moment when she learned her ex-husband had died.   

“I had just talked to him two nights before and to get that call, Joe Esposito called me and said ‘Cilla, Elvis is dead,’” she said. “I just yelled. I thought he was kidding … and then when I found out it was true, I went to my bedroom and just stayed … and cried.”

In addition to dealing with her own grief, Priscilla had to break the news to Lisa Marie, then nine years old, that her father was dead.

“My big fear was Lisa,” she said. “How do I tell her?”

“I just told her we were going to Graceland, we were going to go see daddy, but daddy won’t be you know, daddy will be resting,” Priscilla recalled. 

“I’ve never actually told this before because it’s been hard. I said, ‘Look, he’s going to go to sleep for a while.’ And she goes ‘Will I be able to see him?’ and I said, ‘Yes you’ll be able to see him.’”

Even decades after his death, Priscilla says her love for Elvis hasn’t diminished. 

“[I] still love [him] today,” she said. “He was unique. His personality was unreal. He was caring. He cared for people. He wondered, why him?”

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