Editing Priscilla Presley (section)

=== Marriage to Elvis Presley ===

Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu were married on May 1, 1967, at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, in a private ceremony arranged by [[Colonel Tom Parker]]. Priscilla was twenty-one; Elvis was thirty-two. The ceremony was brief and the guest list deliberately small. A breakfast reception followed, after which the couple flew to Palm Springs for a short honeymoon before returning to their professional commitments.

Their daughter, [[Lisa Marie Presley]], was born exactly nine months later on February 1, 1968, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis.

The marriage was under strain for much of its duration. Elvis's film and performance commitments kept him frequently away from home. His dependency on prescription medications, which had been developing through the 1960s, was intensifying. His relationship with Priscilla, which had begun when he held an overwhelming degree of social and financial power over a teenage girl, struggled to evolve into something more equal as she grew into adulthood and sought greater independence.

Priscilla has spoken in interviews and in her memoir about the isolation of her years at Graceland, about Elvis's controlling behavior, and about his infidelities — including a sustained relationship with actress Ann-Margret during the filming of ''Viva Las Vegas'' in 1963. By the early 1970s she had begun a relationship of her own with karate instructor Mike Stone, whom she had met through Elvis's own interest in martial arts.

The couple separated in early 1972. Priscilla moved to Los Angeles with [[Lisa Marie Presley|Lisa Marie]]. The divorce was finalized in October 1973 in Santa Monica. By the standards of celebrity divorces it was relatively uncomplicated — Priscilla received a settlement of $1.5 million, $4,200 per month in alimony, $4,000 per month in child support, and half the proceeds from the sale of their jointly owned Holmby Hills home. She and Elvis maintained a civil relationship after the divorce, speaking regularly by phone until his death.