Fans of the king of rock n’ roll have descended on his Memphis mansion over the weekend to say goodbye to his daughter.
Thousands are expected to attend Lisa Marie Presley‘s public funeral on Sunday, with fans already lining up outside her father’s famed Graceland estate.
She will be buried at the Memphis estate on Sunday next to her father, Elvis, and her son Benjamin, who died by suicide aged 27 in July 2020.
Presley’s body will be on display to the public during the celebration of life at the family’s Graceland estate, which will be livestreamed at 9am central time.
A procession is planned for fans to view her headstone, where they could leave flowers or other offerings, according to the New York Times.
Among those who will be in attendance, sitting right in the front, are Lisa Marie’s daughter, actress Riley Keough, and her mother, Priscilla Presley.
Thousands of mourners have descended on Graceland Sunday morning for Lisa Marie Presley’s funeral
Lisa Marie Presley’s resting place has been unveiled at Graceland ahead of her funeral as her family prepares to lay her to rest next to her son and her famous father
Lisa Marie Presley suffered a cardiac arrest at her Calabasas home, and died at a hospital in Los Angeles on January 12.
Her mother Priscilla, 77, was by her side and the family, on being told she was brain dead, made the decision to sign a Do Not Resuscitate order.
The LA County Coroner announced on Tuesday that it would be deferring the results of her official cause of death pending the results of a toxicology test – which could take years.
Lisa Marie’s gray marble sarcophagus is now sitting next to her burial spot and is the exact same as her son’s. Photos of the pair together have been placed in front of their monuments.
Benjamin’s resting place had to be moved slightly to accommodate his mother’s.
The plaque that will cover the gravesite is currently covered with a tarp for protection as the fans begin to take their seats for the service — which will include performances by Alanis Morissette and Axl Rose.
Duchess Sarah Ferguson will also provide a Tribute to the Children, and both Priscilla and Riley will provide eulogies.
Graceland’s 450-room hotel is now sold-out for the event, Kevin Kane, the chief executive of Memphis Tourism told the Times, and hotels near the museum and Beale Street ‘seeing an uptick in last minute reservations for the weekend.’
A stage has been constructed for the public service on the front lawn with a podium. Hundreds of seats have been set out around it and screens have been put up around the burial site.
The memorial service will take place at the Graceland estate in Memphis, where a 450-room hotel has sold out
A schedule of events for the public memorial service shows there will be performances by Alanis Morissette and Axl Rose, with eulogies from mother Priscilla and daughter, Riley
Fans started lining up at 5am for the memorial service on Sunday
Lisa Marie will be laid to rest next to Benjamin, who took his own life in 2020
Photos of the two of them together have been laid by their resting places
The pair’s plots are across from her famous father Elvis
Riley Keough landed in Memphis for the event Saturday night.
Keough, 33, arrived in a private jet shortly after her grandmother Priscilla Presley and her former stepfather Michael Lockwood landed.
Lisa Marie Presley, 54, was last seen in public on January 10 (above) at the Golden Globes
Lockwood was Lisa Marie’s fourth and final husband, and the father of her 14-year-old twin daughters Harper and Finley.
Keough’s father is Lisa Marie’s first husband, actor Danny Keough, who remained close to the troubled star and was living with her at the time of her death, performing CPR until paramedics arrived.
She was accompanied by her husband, Australian stuntman Ben Smith-Peterson.
Dressed down in sweatpants, with her hair loose, Keough lit a cigarette outside the airport.
She also appeared to be carrying a baby, although she herself does not have children.
It was the first time she had been seen since her mother’s sudden death.
Keough had earlier posted a touching tribute post on Instagram for her mother – the first time she’s acknowledged her death.
She posted a photo of her mother looking adoringly down at her as a small child while she gazed back with a soft smile on her face.
Presley’s oldest child simply captioned the heartbreaking post with a red heart.
An airplane parked at Graceland bears Lisa Marie Presley’s name
Fans at the memorial service were handed a booklet featuring a picture of the late singer-songwriter
A tent was pitched for family and friends, with a stage for speeches and performances
Fans are pictured visiting Graceland ahead of the memorial service Sunday
Several fans of the king of rock n’ roll left flowers on rocks outside the estate
Presley grew up fearing her own mortality after she found her father dead at the age of nine, traumatizing her.
She often spoke of her own death and even referred to the backyard at the Graceland estate as a ‘graveyard.’
‘How many people have a family grave in the backyard? How many people are reminded of their fate, of their mortality, every f**king day? All the graves are lined up and there’s a spot there, waiting for me, right next to my grandmother,’ she told Playboy in 2003.
Despite her fear, the singer believed she had many more years to live.
Last Sunday she told her friend David Kessler, who works as a grief counselor, that she had ‘so much to do.’
The pair were at the Graceland estate to celebrate what would have been Elvis’ 88th birthday.
Presley, who rarely made public appearances since her son’s death, told the adoring crowd: ‘You are the only people who can bring me out of the house.’
She added: ‘I’m not kidding. I love you back and that’s why I’m here.’
Presley’s daughter, actress Riley Keough, is pictured arriving at Graceland on Saturday
She arrived shortly after her grandmother, Priscilla, right, got off the plan with some friends
Keough, left, and Priscilla, right, are seen deplaning. Keough was carrying an unknown baby
Back on August 30, Lisa revealed she makes a conscious choice every single day to stay alive for her 33-year-old daughter and 14-year-old fraternal twin daughters Harper Vivienne Ann and Finley Aaron Love (pictured in 2021)
Lisa Marie is seen with her four children: twins Harper and Finley, now 14; Riley, 33; and Benjamin, who killed himself in July 2020 aged 27
Several of the Presleys also died from heart conditions, including her own father, who died in 1977 at the age of 42 from cardiac arrhythmia with ventricular fibrillation – a condition where the heart beats abnormally and then stops.
Her grandmother, Gladys Love Presley, died at the age of 46 from heart failure, and her grandfather, Vernon Elvis Presley, died at 63 from cardiac arrest.
