Queen's 'fabulously wry' humour, from a 'fake dead bird' to mimicry and a model pose
ok.co.ukHer 70-year reign was often characterised by servitude and a stiff upper lip, but the Queen still found great joy in the lighter side of life.
Many of those who knew her best have paid tribute to her mischievous streak and sharp wit. As royal biographer Robert Lacey said, “She had a wonderful wry and dry sense of humour, and it was a very important ingredient of her identity.” Figures from all walks of life have recalled her comic timing and love of a joke, with Sir David Attenborough saying, “If there was something funny she laughed in a genuine way.” The 96-year-old broadcaster last worked with the late monarch in 2018 on The Queen’s Green Planet documentary, and he recalled her laugh as “the most precious thing.
She wasn’t putting it on and that made it very easy.” Sir Paul McCartney, who met her many times over the years also hailed her “fabulous sense of humour”.
Reflecting on the time he received a Companion of Honour medal in 2018, the former Beatle said: “I shook her hand, leaned in and said, ‘We must stop meeting like this,’ to which she giggled and got on with the ceremony. "I did wonder if I’d been a bit cheeky, but I have a feeling she didn’t mind.” Baroness Floella Benjamin – who met the Queen many times – described the “twinkle” in her eyes whenever her face lit up with laughter, and ex-prime minister Theresa May had the House of Commons in fits of laughter when she shared a memory of attending a royal picnic at Balmoral.
Read more on ok.co.uk