Elvis Had a Fiancé When He Died — Who Is Ginger Alden?

Priscilla Presley is regarded as the love of Elvis Presley’s life, but the King was engaged to another woman at the time of his death: Ginger Alden.

Who was this mysterious fiancé?

Elvis Presley’s Many Girlfriends

The main woman in Elvis Presley’s life was, always, his mother. The relationship between Gladys Presley and her son has fascinated fans for years. Famously, Elvis threw his body over the coffin at her funeral. Gladys was just 46 when she passed in 1958, due to alcoholism.

Shortly after, Elvis met the 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu while he was stationed in Germany. Priscilla lived there at the American army base with her mother and stepfather, an Air Force officer. And despite her parents’ disapproval, Priscilla began spending every moment with the famous rock star. After Elvis left Germany, they kept in touch over the phone for years and, in 1962, she was whisked off to Graceland. She became the official Mrs. Presley at age 22.

Both parties insist they waited until marriage to have sex. But once their daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, was born in 1968, Elvis had no physical interest in his wife. “My physical and emotional needs were unfulfilled,” Priscilla wrote in her 1985 autobiography.

Meanwhile, Elvis took up with different women. Among them, allegedly: Ann-Marget and Cybill Shepherd. However, others who appeared to sleep with Elvis claimed that once in the bedroom, he wasn’t interested in sex. Actresses Peggy Lipton, Dolores Hart, and Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a. “Elvira,” share in those claims. There are similar reports about Elvis and various underage girls, with whom he preferred pillow fights to real affairs.

Priscilla decided to leave Elvis in 1972, as his reliance on prescription drugs worsened. They officially divorced the following year, agreeing to split custody of Lisa Marie.

In 1976, he began dating Ginger Alden.

Ginger Alden

Little was known about Elvis Presley‘s final partner, Ginger Alden, until the publication of her memoir Elvis and Ginger in 2014. In it, Ginger said she first attended an Elvis concert when she was just five years old. And 15 years later, their paths crossed again.

When Ginger’s sister Terry Alden won Miss Tennessee in 1976, and Presley invited the pageant queen — along with her two sisters — to visit his Graceland estate. Ginger was 20 at that time, and Elvis was 41.

When it became clear that Elvis was interested in her, Ginger described her shock. “I’d had this feeling of a powerful presence and energy the minute Elvis entered the room, and he continued to hold my focus completely throughout the night,” she later wrote. They kissed that night and she continued to visit Graceland.

Ginger eventually went on tour with Elvis and got to know the Presley family. However, not all members of the Memphis Mafia approved. Elvis’ friend Marty Lacker has spoken out publicly, criticizing Ginger’s personality and her decision not to move into Graceland.

But Elvis didn’t care. He proposed to his young girlfriend — with a $70,000 diamond ring. Even still, Ginger would not move into his home. “As much as I had come to love Elvis and think of him as part of my life – and my future – to just move into Graceland without being married first was something I didn’t believe in or feel was appropriate to do at the time,” she said, citing her conservative upbringing.

Despite their separate living arrangements, they remained together until Elvis’ death in 1977. He was 42 years old.

Alden is still alive. She lives, privately, in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.