Elvis’ amazing generosity towards his widowed aunt who lived at Graceland even after tours

When Elvis Presley shot to fame in 1956 he became wealthier and wealthier and began hiring members of his family to work for him as a security team and entourage known as the Memphis Mafia. A year later, The King bought Graceland and gave his extended family free range of the house except for his private upstairs area. And when Elvis’ Aunt Delta (the sister of his father Vernon Presley) was widowed in 1966, the star generously invited her to come and live at Graceland.

After all, Aunt Delta’s mother Minnie Mae was already living at Graceland having taken over the bedroom of Gladys, Elvis’ mother, who had died in 1958.

Once she moved in, one of her responsibilities was making sure that The King’s daughter Lisa Marie had her bath and dinner each night.

However, the star’s little girl did not like being told what to do, admitting years later that she was a “terror”.

According to Lisa Marie’s childhood friend and cousin Danny Smith, the Memphis Mafia kids would run amok around Graceland.

READ MORE: Elvis: Graceland unseen – Inside bedroom Delta used when tours began

But when tours were over for the day, the guides would signal to her that she could come out and use the rest of Graceland’s downstairs in the evening.

Archivist Angie Marchese remembered: “She would often change stuff on the dining room table.

“So you would come in one day and the placemats would be blue, the next day they could be red. You didn’t know what colour the dining room table was going to be decorated.”

While Edmund, Delta’s Pomeranian, sometimes would run out into the Jungle Room in the middle of the day.