Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s first tour of Australia

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip are often remembered for their sharp senses of humour, with many recounting tales of the royal couple’s quick wit. While meeting members of the Royal Family is often associated with propriety and protocol, it has often been said that the Windsors take amusement in plans going slightly awry. A former Palace staffer has pointed out a key reason for the royals’ relishing the occasional blunder.

Ailsa Anderson, Queen Elizabeth’s former press secretary, was a guest on last week’s episode of Hello! Magazine’s A Right Royal Podcast.

She explained the royals “absolutely” enjoyed it when engagements went slightly wrong “because they are used to people striving for perfection, when muck hits the fan, they take massive delight in it.”

Emily Nash, the publication’s royal editor, added: “As much as it’s stressful for everyone involved, I think there’s an element of interest that comes from things going wrong. And members of the Royal Family are used to things being presented to them in a perfect way, so the only thing that changes for them is when something goes a little bit wrong.”

Ms Anderson continued: “I didn’t go on this engagement but the Queen and Prince Philip were in Canada, and Canadians had arranged for them to go on a boat across the Winnipeg Lake and the boat broke. They were basically stranded in the middle of a lake in the freezing cold in Canada until a substitute boat could be brought out.”

The former aide, who served the late monarch from 2001 to 2013, referred to an incident in 2002, which saw the Queen and Philip get stuck in plummeting temperatures during a crossing of Winnipeg’s Red River.

The elderly royal couple were crossing the river in a water taxi when its engine failed. A second water taxi, travelling behind the royal boat, had to be tethered to the stricken vessel to tow it to safety.

Both the 76-year-old Queen and her husband, then 81, seemed to be suffering from the chilly temperatures.

As the monarch climbed ashore, she said: “That was interesting.”

Before boarding the boat, the couple had sat through a 30-minute outdoor cultural display. According to reports at the time, Philip looked frozen and furious, while the Queen was ashen-faced.

The couple were reportedly not offered rugs to keep them warm as officials appeared to be caught out by unseasonal, plummeting temperatures.

Yet, according to Ms Anderson, the royals “loved” the unfortunate incident which saw them stranded.

Andrea Caamaño, co-host of Hello!’s podcast, quipped: “They basically like to see people panic.”

DON’T MISS
Harry and Meghan branded ‘dumb’ in South Park parody [CLIP]
Only one female royal is exempt from curtsying to others [ANALYSIS]
King launches major shakeup as hundreds of patronages to be reassigned [REPORT]

Both Prince William and Prince Harry have spoken about their grandparents’ wicked senses of humour and once reminisced about how much the pair enjoyed it when things went wrong.

In the BBC documentary, Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remember, which aired in the UK in September 2021, members of the Royal Family shared their memories of the Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April of that year.

William said: “My grandpa has a very good sense of humour, and he enjoys playing practical jokes, he enjoys teasing, and he loved things going wrong.

“Both my grandparents love that, because you can imagine they live a life where everything has to go right the whole time, so when things go wrong, they both chuckle an awful lot. Everyone else gets mortally embarrassed, but they love it.”

In a separate interview, Harry agreed with his older brother’s assessment, explaining: “There’s just that imbalance of, there’s everybody doing their absolute best because ‘oh, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are coming, let’s make sure we get everything absolutely right’.

“Yet the two of them are going, ‘I wonder if something’s going to go wrong this year! How exciting!’”

Following the Queen’s death in September 2022, Ms Anderson reflected on her experiences with Her Majesty.

She shared how throughout the monarch’s 70-year reign “she found something interesting and amusing or fascinating about every visit”, describing it as “one of the most remarkable things that the Queen did”.

Source: Read Full Article