- Monday, March 03, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday (8), was Britain’s longest-serving monarch. Her death left the world in mourning and amid the sad reactions, many users took the moment to recall the late queen’s sense of humour.
Following her death, journalists and netizens have shared a clip of Richard Griffin, the queen’s former royal protection officer, telling a funny story about the monarch while commemorating her Platinum Jubilee in June. The video has been credited to Sky News and many social media users called it their “favourite story”.
Former Royal protection officer Richard Griffin reminisces about a picnic he went on with the Queen at Balmoral and an encounter they had with two American tourists who did not realise they were in the company of the monarch.#PlatinumJubilee: https://t.co/orTd7551d3 pic.twitter.com/snTOgEoGu1
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 3, 2022
In the video, Griffin is heard saying that once when he was accompanying Queen Elizabeth on a picnic in Aberdeenshire in Scotland, near the Balmoral Castle, they met some tourists who were on vacation. According to Griffin, they hadn’t recognised the queen.
“The Queen would always stop and say hello… it was clear from the moment we first stopped they hadn’t recognised (her),” he told Sky News.
The tourists told the queen where they came from and where were they heading to. They also asked her where she lives.
Queen Elizabeth did not reveal her identity and said she lived in London and got a holiday home there, on the other side of the hills, Griffin recalled.
“One tourist then asked the Queen how often had she been coming up here, and she replied, ‘ever since I was a little girl, so over 80 years’,” Griffin further said.
At this point, the tourists asked her since she had been coming up at the place for 80 years, she must have met the British queen, Griffin said.
“Well, I haven’t, but Dickie here meets her regularly,” she quickly replied, referring to Griffin by his nickname.
“The amazed tourists then turned towards me,” Griffin said and added that they asked him, “what is she like?”
“I told them she can be very cantankerous at times, but she’s got a lovely sense of humour,” he said.
The tourists still had no idea that they were in the company of the British monarch, the former aide to the queen said. One of them even threw his arm around Griffin and put his camera into the queen’s hand, requesting her to take a photo of the two of them. The queen obliged, Griffin said.
The tourists also took a photo with her as well and departed.
“I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he shows those photographs to friends in America. Hopefully, someone tells him who I am,” Griffin told Sky News.
