Queen's funny quip when hapless tourists failed to recognise her at Balmoral
A hapless group of tourists once bumped into the Queen walking around her Balmoral estate - but didn't recognise her. The late monarch was out for a low-key walk in tweeds and a headscarf, something she liked to do when she got the chance.
One of her former protection officers previously revealed that the Queen liked to slip under the radar when possible. Richard Griffin claimed that once a group of American tourists failed to recognise her. Speaking to The Times, Richard said the Queen didn't want to blow her cover at the time.
She went along with the tourists as they questioned whether she lived in the area, replying that she had a house nearby. When they asked her if she'd ever met the Queen, she quipped that she hadn't, but that her protection officer Richard had.
The monarch often dressed down at her beloved Balmoral estate (Getty Images)Richard - who worked closely with the monarch for more than 30 years - said the group then moved on, having no idea who they'd just met. Recalling the event during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, he said: "There were two hikers coming towards us and the Queen would always stop and say hello. It was two Americans on a walking holiday and it was clear they hadn't recognised her, which was fine."
"She said that she lived in London but had a house just over the hill, and he asked how often she had been coming up here. She said she'd been coming up for more than 80 years and you could see the cogs were ticking. He said: 'Well if you've been coming up here for 80 years, you must have met the Queen?' As quick as a flash, she said 'Well I haven't but Dick here meets her regularly.' So the guy asked me what she was like.
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"And because I was with her a long time, I could pull her leg, so I said she could be very cantankerous at times, but she's got a lovely sense of humour. Anyway the next thing I knew, this guy comes round, puts his arm around my shoulder, and before I could see what is happening, he gives his camera to the Queen and asks her to take a photo of us. Anyway, we swapped places, I took a photo of them with the Queen, we never let on and we waved goodbye. Then Her Majesty said to me that she'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows these photos to his American friends and hopefully someone tells him who I am."
During her trips to Balmoral in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the Queen famously enjoyed a low-profile lifestyle. She chose to wear pared-back clothes and wellies, as opposed to the brightly-coloured outfits she was so well known for. According to biographer Robert Hardman, Her Majesty purposefully dressed in eye-catching shades during royal engagements.
In his 2011 biography Our Queen, the author described the late Queen as "engagingly modest". He wrote: "My favourite remark she ever said was: 'I can't ever wear beige because nobody will know who I am.'"
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