A comical anecdote about Queen Elizabeth II popped back up online Thursday following the passing of the 96-year-old monarch.
In video that resurfaced online, former royal bodyguard Richard Griffin told Sky News in June, at the queen’s Platinum Jubilee, about a time near Balmoral Castle where the pair ran into two American tourists who did not recognize Her Majesty.
“It was clear from the moment we stopped they hadn’t recognized the queen, which is fine,” Griffin said of the American tourists.
Engaging in small talk, the queen told the tourists she lived in London, but had a “holiday home” in the area. “I’ve been coming up here since I was a little girl, so over 80 years,” she said.
“Well, if you’ve been coming up here for 80 years, you must have met the queen,” one of the tourists told her.
“Well, I haven’t. But Dick here meets her regularly,” the queen replied without missing a beat, the bodyguard recalled.
“And because I was with her a long time I knew I could pull her leg,” Griffin said. “So I said, ‘She can be very cantankerous at times, but she’s got a lovely sense of humor.’”
“Anyway, next thing I knew, this guy comes ’round, puts his arm around my shoulder and … gets his camera, gives it to the queen, and says ‘Can you take a picture of the two of us?’” the former body guard said.
Griffin said they took photos, including the tourists with the queen they did not recognize.
“We waved goodbye and Her Majesty said to me, ‘I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he shows those photographs to his friends in America and hopefully someone tells him who I am,’” she quipped.
Queen Elizabeth II passed peacefully while surrounded by family, Buckingham Palace confirmed Thursday. She was the longest reigning monarch in British history.
Figures across the globe offered condolences and thoughts about the queen following her passing, including President Joe Biden and his wife, first lady Jill Biden.
The queen “was more than a monarch,” the joint statement from the Bidens said. “She defined an era.”
“In a world of constant change, she was a steadying presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons, including many who have never known their country without her,” the Bidens said. “An enduring admiration for Queen Elizabeth II united people across the Commonwealth. The seven decades of her history-making reign bore witness to an age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity.”
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Related: ‘She Defined An Era’: White House Releases President Biden’s Statement On Queen Elizabeth’s Passing