Queen Charlotte from Bridgerton might have Lady Whistledown by her side to provide her with gossip about the ton, but Queen Elizabeth II had wine and unlimited refills. The late Queen Elizabeth was known for her signature dry brand of humor. While the late monarch loved a good laugh, she also ‘loved to gossip,’ if former butler Julius Smith is to be believed. She had even come up with a rather amusing way to extract information from her guests during state banquets. And considering the royal circuit, there is no doubt the queen would have had ample gossip to sieve through at the end of every event.
Smith revealed, via Woman and Home, that the queen would ensure that the guests’ wine glasses were regularly topped up, and if any guest refused, “she would say to pour it in through their fingers!” It’s an extremely funny scenario to imagine the late sovereign inciting her guests to spill gossip with the help of wine. She herself was a huge connoisseur of gin and Dubonnet. And while earlier reports had claimed that she would regularly have a glass of her favorite drink, Smith categorically denied it. He said that she “certainly wouldn’t be drinking” as a part of her “routine”.
While the late Queen may not have had a taste for cocktails, she definitely loved herself some unfiltered accounts, especially when they came from the political world. Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon had earlier testified the same during a podcast, saying, “She liked to hear what was happening in the political world. She would ask me about things she had read in the papers and what was the real story here.”
It is no secret that the royal family’s life and schedule are manicured and trimmed to perfection. The royals rarely have a hair out of place. In a situation like that, it is rather understandable that the late queen had carved a little bubble of normalcy for herself through gossiping with her guests. But that was not all. While the late monarch had been a steadfast loyalist of the crown, her grandson, Prince William, revealed in a BBC documentary that both she and Prince Philip “loved it” when something went sideways.
His younger brother, Prince Harry, had shared similar sentiments. “There’s that imbalance of everyone doing their absolute best to make sure, ‘The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are coming, let’s make sure everything is absolutely right. Remember every single year has gone right. While the two of them are going, ‘Well I wonder if something’s gonna go wrong this year? How exciting’,” he reportedly said.
It was during such awkward moments that the late sovereign would drop a humorous remark here and there, thus creating a legacy of iconic dialogues that will be remembered for ages to come.
