Queen Elizabeth Once Gave a Really Cheeky Response to American Tourists Who Didn't Recognise Her

Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-serving female monarch in British history before passing away on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96. Her reign lasted for 70 years and 214 days during which she ruled with grace and an iron hand. However, the late queen also enjoyed light moments throughout her monarchy and regaled everyone with her intelligent sense of humor. Her former protection officer Richard Griffin recounted a funny incident where the Queen responded cheekily to tourists passing by the Balmoral Castle. 

Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, Griffin narrated, “The Queen would go to Balmoral, which was definitely her favorite residence, in late July, and she'd stay there until early October. And police officers used to do two weeks there and two weeks back in London. And normally on my two weeks, every Thursday, when there wasn't a shooting day, the staff would make a little picnic, I'd put it in my backpack, and the two of us would go walking up in the Highlands, sometimes for two, or three hours." 

He shared further, “And it was the one day of the week, she got a bit of peace and quiet, she didn't have red boxes, and private secretaries chasing her, and we were walking along one sunny August day, and there's a couple of hikers walking towards us.” Then, he added, “And as it happened, it was an American couple on a walking holiday. And it was obvious from the moment we stopped that the American gentleman hadn't recognized the Queen, which is fair enough, because she had a Barbour jacket on and a headscarf. And he started telling Her Majesty where they'd come from America, where they were going to next." 

Griffin continued with the anecdote, “And I could see it coming. ‘Where do you live?’ Well, she said, ‘I live in London, but I've got a holiday home just the other side of the hills’.” The whole time, the visitor had remained clueless about the Queen even though the conversation continued, with the former asking the monarch. “How often do you come up here?" 

As per the guard, “Well, she said, ‘I've been coming up here ever since I was a little girl, so over 80 years.’ “And you could see him thinking, ‘If you've been coming up here for over 80 years, you must have met the Queen.’ “And as quick as a flash, she says, ‘well, I haven't, but Dick here meets her regularly.’” Reminiscing the funny moment, Griffin said: “And I couldn't resist it, because I knew she had a sense of humour. “Well, she's very cantankerous at times. “And then she gave me this look, and I said, ‘she's got a wonderful sense of humour.’” 

The protection officer concluded: “Anyway before I could stop him, he comes across, puts his arm around my shoulder, gives his camera to the Queen, and asks her to take a picture of the two of us. “And she duly does, and then we swap places, and I take a photograph of them with the Queen... And I remember the Queen saying to me, ‘I just hope when he gets back to America and he shows those photographs to his friends, someone will tell him who I am’.”