Elvis died of a heart attack at his home on August 16, 1977, hours before he was due to fly out of Memphis to start a new tour. Photo: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Priscilla Presley has opened up about her final conversation with her former husband Elvis, days before his untimely death, when he reassured her he was fine.

Elvis died of a heart attack at his home on August 16, 1977, hours before he was due to fly out of Memphis to start a new tour, which Priscilla revealed the 42-year-old had been excited about.

His former wife told The Jonathan Ross Show: “We talked, in fact we talked a few days before he passed, which was very hard. (I was) asking if he was OK and if he was excited about going on tour and he was. He loved work, but he was dealing with a lot of issues, decisions that he had to make, so it wasn’t easy.”

Asked if she had concerns for him, she replied: “I did but Elvis was, he felt he was OK. He wasn’t someone to whom you could just say, ‘You need to really take care of yourself ...’ It was hard for anyone to do anything because ultimately it was his decision and he felt he was fine.”

The pair met in 1959 when Priscilla was only 14 years old and Elvis was 24, and wed nearly eight years later. The couple divorced four years before Elvis’ death, but she revealed that hearing about his death was “absolutely devastating. I mean still to this day it’s hard to believe.”

Priscilla admitted that she felt defined by her husband’s fame during their marriage.

It was hard for anyone to do anything because ultimately it was his decision and he felt he was fine

“I was kind of lost really in who I was earlier in my life, I really didn’t have teenage years. I learned so much about him and was with him so much that I thought the way he did, I knew what he liked, what he didn’t like, I knew his thoughts, I knew everything as far as you could possibly do when you live together at such a young age.

“I’m much more comfortable with it now because I am my own person in my own right now, so I’m able to share that,” she said.

Priscilla was joined on the show by Elvis Costello, who played a special rendition of The King’s hit Don’t on Presley’s personal guitar .