When we think of Queen Elizabeth II jokester may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But what a lot of people didn’t know about the late monarch is that she did like to joke around and was viewed as one of the funniest members of the royal family.
Body language expert says famously ‘stoic’ Queen Elizabeth had another side
The queen and other royal family members often appear as “stoic” and “unflappable,” but there are a few instances when the late sovereign did things that had others struggling to keep it together.
Body language expert Judi James spoke to Express about two occasions in which the gestures and behavior the queen displayed has others almost lose it.
According to James: “The late queen seems to have been the one royal almost never caught off-guard in public in terms of her body language behavior but that didn’t mean she couldn’t naughtily catch other royals’ unaware now and again.”
How the queen made Prince Harry lose it
One of those times involved Prince Harry as the queen inspected the soldiers at Sandhurst Military Academy which her grandson was attending at the time.
“Here she was inspecting the troops during the sovereign’s parade at Sandhurst,” James said. “The challenge for the troops is to stand rigidly to attention but there was one young man in the line-up she just couldn’t avoid trying to make break ranks and smile.”
James added that Harry couldn’t contain his giggles when his grandmother stepped in front of him noting: “Her body language here looks polite, regal, and impeccable as always but what exactly did she mutter to Harry to make him crack up like this?”
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The queen had another family member a bit rattled during an event
James also pointed to another instance in which one of the queen’s joke left her daughter-in-law (formerly Camilla Parker Bowles) a little rattled.
During an event at the G7 summit in 2021, the monarch startled Camilla when she insisted on cutting a cake with a large sword.
James explained: “The late queen was set to cut a cake at the Eden Project in Cornwall with Camilla and Kate watching. A knife had been provided but the queen showed her love of a playful prank when she instead asked to use a huge and very dangerous-looking ceremonial saber. The sight of her mother-in-law wielding the sword created a response of fear and panic in Camilla, who dithered slightly before nudging Kate to presumably disarm the monarch for fear she might cut herself or behead someone nearby. But Kate coolly ignored the nudge, aware the queen was totally on top of the moment.
“When told there was a knife the queen’s retort, ‘I know there is but this is more unusual,’ hinted she knew exactly what she was doing here and probably laughing about it inwardly.”
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