The infamous crime boss really got the wrong of the stick and thought the EastEnders star was a fan paying tribute after she was snapped at his brother’s funeral procession.
Gangster Reggie Kray wrote to Celebrity Big Brother favourite Patsy Palmer and begged her to visit him. It happened after she mistakenly stumbled into his brother Ronnie’s funeral in 1995.
The infamous crimelord got the wrong of the stick and thought the EastEnders star was a fan paying tribute after she was snapped at the procession.
Patsy, 52, revealed: “There were some unusual and bizarre consequences to fame, too. One of the oddest happened about 18 months after I joined EastEnders, when I accidentally got caught up in Ronnie Kray’s funeral. “Ronnie was one of the notorious Kray twins, who with their older brother Charlie were among the East End’s most powerful and menacing villains.”
“I was on the way to a sunbed appointment in the snazzy little Jeep I’d bought when I turned into a road that was blocked by hundreds of people.
“I couldn’t see what was going on so I got out and sat on the roof of my car, waiting to find out.
“Suddenly a photographer snapped me, but I still had no idea what was going on. Eventually someone told me what it was all about. I had to wait ages to get through, and I missed my appointment by several hours.”
Patsy – real name Julie Merkell – had become a household name after arriving in Albert Square as Bianca Jackson in 1993.
She continued: “The next day the papers published a picture of me with the headline, ‘Patsy attends Ronnie Kray’s funeral.’ Totally untrue, but there was nothing I could do.
“It got worse when I received a message from Ronnie’s twin Reggie, who was still in prison, telling me how touched he was that I had attended his brother’s funeral and asking me to visit him.
“I was so embarrassed – and rather alarmed as well. I had to send him a message back saying my stepdad didn’t really like me going into prisons so I was very sorry but I couldn’t come.”
Meanwhile, in her memoir All Of Me, Patsy bragged about how she would never do reality TV and had turned offers in the past – but in recent years has showed up in Strictly, Dancing on Ice and now CBB.
She said: “I never agree to participate in reality TV shows – I’ve been asked to do just about all of them, from Big Brother to I’m a Celebrity, but I’ve never been interested.”
Patsy admitted at the time she thought her pal and EastEnders star Sid Owen – Ricky Butcher in the soap – was “so brave” for going in the jungle.
She added: “But it wasn’t for me, and neither was Big Brother. I’ve never liked the idea of being filmed sleeping for a start.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
