The Queen once played a prank on two American tourists who didn’t recognise her

As Queen Elizabeth is laid to rest today, the country is coming together to remember her best moments from her seventy-year-reign on the throne.

Yet while many reflect on her many achievements while serving as head of state – modernising the monarchy, spearheading and bringing equality to Commonwealth states, and maintaining an unwavering loyalty to the British public – those closest to her have been recalling a somewhat different side to the beloved monarch.

While she was a reassuring and unwavering leader to most of us, those who knew her best are quick to recall her love of animals, the great outdoors and, perhaps most poignantly, her wicked sense of humour.

And one of the best examples of this wit comes courtesy of Her Majesty’s former protection officer Richard Griffin, who recently spoke of an encounter with two unsuspecting American tourists.

Speaking to Sky News shortly after the Queen’s passing, Griffin said he and the monarch had been hiking near the grounds of her estate in Balmoral, Scotland, when they came came across a pair of American tourists.

According to Griffin, these tourists were unaware they were in the presence of the Queen, who was wearing her tweeds and a headscarf instead of her signature colourful dresses and hats. 

He said: “Normally on these picnic sites you’ll meet nobody. But there were two hikers coming towards us and the Queen would always stop and say hello.

“And it was two Americans on a walking holiday. And it was clear from the moment we first stopped they hadn’t recognised the Queen, which is fine.”

Griffin went on to recall that the tourists stopped for a chat with the Queen, telling her where they were from, where they were going to next and where they’d visited in Britain as part of their holiday.

The tourist then asked Her Majesty where she comes from, to which she replied casually: “Well I live in London but I’ve got a holiday home just the other side of the hills.”

Griffin recalled: “And he said ‘how often have you been coming here?’ Oh, she said, ‘I’ve been coming up here ever since I was a little girl, so over eighty years.

“He then said, ‘well if you’ve been coming up here for eighty years you must have met the Queen’.”

At this, the Queen hilariously replied: “Well I haven’t, but Dickie here meets her regularly.”

Griffin added: “The guy says to me, ‘you’ve met the Queen? What’s she like?’. I said, well she can be very cantankerous at times but she’s got a lovely sense of humour.

“The next thing I knew this guy comes around put his arm around my shoulder and before I see what was happening he gets his camera, gives it to the Queen and says can you take a picture?”

After the Queen took a photo of the tourists with Griffin, they then swapped places and got a photo with Her Majesty too. 

Griffin added: “We never let on, and we waved goodbye and Her Majesty said to me ”I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he shows that [photograph] to his friends in America.'”

People were of course blown away by the story, with many taking to Twitter to express their amusement and, more importantly, their curiosity regarding the unsuspecting tourists. 

One person wrote: “I would love to hear the other side from those tourists!! That’s a story you tell your grandkids!”, while another commented: “Love this story. I bet the Americans got the shock of their lives when they realised how she pulled their legs!!!”

A third noted: “What a great story, and it only points out what a wonderful lady she was. May she rest in peace”.