The day the Queen joked she looked just like Miss Piggy in Gyles Brandreth's new biography - Daily Mail

Settling into an unfastened carriage for a day thrust done Windsor, the Queen had an unexpected surprise. On the spot laic a bouquet of flowers and, beside it, a paper successful an envelope.

First she smelled the flowers; past she opened the envelope and looked astatine the card, earlier bursting into laughter.

The card, which was signed by unit successful the Royal Mews astatine Buckingham Palace, wherever the carriages and horses are kept, pictured the Muppet quality Miss Piggy.

‘I thought: “Well, she can’t sack america all,” ’ said palace coachman Alfred Oates, who worked for the Queen for 57 years. ‘But determination she was, arsenic the crowds could see, laughing the full mode round.’

Some of the palace’s stuffier courtiers thought Oates and his squad presumptuous, to accidental the least.

The Queen, however, was successful connected the joke. Years earlier, watching a video of herself, she had called retired to her husband: ‘Oh Philip, bash look! I’ve got my Miss Piggy look on.’

As Gyles Brandreth’s sparkling caller biography of the precocious Queen reveals, this instinctive and self‑deprecating wit was arsenic important a portion of her property arsenic the apparel she wore and the grin that lit up her face.

And possibly thing was much cardinal to that than her quality not conscionable to marque a joke, but to instrumentality a joke, too.

Time and again, she demonstrated that she could find the comic broadside successful anything, nevertheless hard the circumstances.

Take, for example, the infamous 1982 break-in astatine Buckingham Palace, erstwhile intruder Michael Fagan scaled a drainpipe and made his mode to the Queen’s bedroom, wherever she laic successful bed.

While the satellite was convulsed by the peril successful which the monarch had been put, the Queen herself was preoccupied with perfecting the absorption of her chambermaid, Lizzie, erstwhile she saw Fagan.

For weeks afterwards, the Queen regaled her friends and household by imitating Lizzie’s wide Yorkshire accent. ‘Bloody hell, ma’am,’ she would say. ‘What’s ’ee doing ’ere…?’

She’d agelong known that humour was a priceless regal skill, not lone during her nationalist duties to enactment the overwhelmed and the mislaid for words astatine ease, but besides successful private.

On 1 occasion, exasperated by the behaviour of Prince Andrew, she sighed to her past daughter-in-law, Sarah Ferguson: ‘I americium truthful gladsome you person taken Andrew disconnected our hands, but wherefore connected world did you bash it?’ The laughter that followed the remark hid the shadiness that was already stealing crossed the marriage.

The science of specified comments is illuminating, of course. What past should we marque of her reflection to Andrew — arsenic reported by Brandreth — aft helium had explained the atrocious saga of his agelong narration with the enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein, and which led to him being stripped of his nationalist roles?

‘Intriguing,’ was her one-word reply. Certainly, it illustrates her mastery of the understatement and besides her liking for brevity. The Queen ne'er ever said much than was perfectly necessary.

Dry and sardonic, yes, but besides mysterious. It is tempting to wonderment what Andrew made of it. Did he, arsenic immoderate person suggested, presumption his mother’s remark arsenic a motion she had forgiven him, oregon was helium arsenic perplexed arsenic the remainder of us?

For years, the Queen’s quality to accidental nothing, portion speaking volumes, was undoubtedly 1 of her top strengths.

When a authorities minister’s mobile telephone rang — successful contravention of the rules — arsenic she took a gathering of the Privy Council, she cuttingly opined: ‘I anticipation that wasn’t idiosyncratic important.’

With the Queen, work ever went hand-in-hand with laughter. Many of her friends person testified to however often she recovered things amusing and how, astatine times, they saw her laughter ‘till she cries’.

‘She had a marvellous consciousness of the ridiculous,’ 1 companion explained. ‘You lone person to deliberation of what happened the clip she mislaid her lipstick successful the loo.

‘It was astatine a backstage relation and she’d gone disconnected to the ladies’ accompanied by a lady-in-waiting. The lipstick rolled nether the doorway of a cubicle, which was occupied — truthful they had to hold until the different idiosyncratic had gone earlier they could retrieve it.

‘The Queen thought the full happening was highly comic and couldn’t halt laughing astir it.’

She would find humour successful the astir unexpected of places. Sir Michael Oswald, who was the Queen’s racing advisor, liked to archer the communicative of a equine she had successful grooming called Harvest Song.

He made a telephone to her page, Barry Mitford, astatine Buckingham Palace 1 greeting to accidental it was moving successful the 2.30 astatine Fontwell and that it was connected TV, successful lawsuit they wanted to ticker it oregon grounds it for her. ‘Barry got alternatively excited astatine this, asking volition it triumph and should helium person a flutter,’ Sir Michael recalled. ‘I told him nether nary circumstances should helium discarded immoderate wealth connected it: that I had much accidental of winning the 100m astatine the Olympics.’

Harvest Song started arsenic a 50-1 fertile outsider and won the contention by five-and-a-half lengths.

When Sir Michael aboriginal rang the Queen to inquire if she’d watched the race, she replied: ‘Oh yes, and whitethorn I accidental that Barry is lasting adjacent to me. If I was you, I would find immoderate acheronian glasses and a bully disguise adjacent clip you travel anyplace adjacent this place.’

So wherever did this consciousness of humour travel from and however important was it to the Queen?

Some of it was undoubtedly inherited. The Queen Mother could beryllium mischievous. ‘Have you been reigning today, Lilibet?’ she would inquire her girl successful mock seriousness, arsenic the Queen returned from an engagement.

Her quip when, aged 95, she learned that a masked intruder wielding a crossbow — intercepted successful the grounds of Windsor Castle — had announced helium had travel to termination the Queen, could person travel from her waggish mother. ‘Well, that would person enactment a dampener connected Christmas, wouldn’t it?’

But astatine the aforesaid time, the Queen’s vulnerability to the male-dominated royal satellite wherever waspish asides and ruthless put-downs are portion of the currency of palace beingness has besides been pivotal.

‘It’s quick, sardonic and it’s observed,’ says 1 palace figure. ‘And the Queen loved it.’

Irreverent impressions were her forte. Aides callback the clip a North Country politician was introduced to the Queen and insisted connected complimenting her by saying however overmuch prettier she was successful the soma than successful her pictures.

‘Later that day, the Queen did an content of the mediocre antheral telling her this successful a Northern accent, which had everyone holding their sides, including Prince Philip,’ says the retired courtier.

‘She wasn’t mocking him, conscionable having fun.’

Michael Noakes, the distinguished artist, was astatine Buckingham Palace coating her for the City of Manchester successful her Order of the Bath robes, and for the champion airy effect helium had her lasting adjacent a model successful the Yellow Drawing Room.

As helium aboriginal told me: ‘She was peering retired of the model and keeping up a moving commentary of people’s reactions to seeing her lasting determination — “Gee, Maud [in an American accent] it can’t be” . . . “Oh no, he’s decided it can’t be, he’s moved connected now.” And: “Ooh, a car has conscionable been deed by a taxi, I deliberation there’s going to beryllium a fight.” She was precise funny.’

Sir Antony Jay, co-author of Yes Minister and who besides wrote the publication of the ground-breaking 1969 TV documentary Royal Family, recalls uncovering the Queen to beryllium not arsenic helium expected erstwhile helium sat adjacent to her astatine a lunch. ‘She’d conscionable had her representation painted and was alternatively acerb astir the creator alternatively than the portrait,’ helium says. ‘She was assured and opinionated successful a mode you’d ne'er spot successful public.’

Head coachman Colin Henderson recalls being with the Queen astatine the Windsor Horse Show erstwhile 1 of her grandchildren came up to her successful the Royal Box. ‘The Queen said: “Did you person a bully lunch?” and the kid replied: “Yes, granny.” To which the Queen said: “I thought truthful — you’ve got it each down your front.” ’

One moving gag progressive Audrey Dellow, the organist for 40 years successful the Royal Chapel astatine Windsor, who, according to Canon John Ovenden, competed with Her Majesty each Sunday implicit who was wearing the champion hat.

‘She could spot the Queen successful her reflector due to the fact that the organ was astir other the royal pew,’ recalled Canon Ovenden. ‘Everyone was successful connected the joke.’

Hats besides featured erstwhile the Queen paid a sojourn to Washington successful 1991.

For the authoritative welcome, she’d been obscured by the tallness of a lectern, meaning lone her eyes and chapeau were disposable to spectators. So the pursuing day, she began her code to a associated league of Congress with the words: ‘I anticipation you tin each spot maine …’

Even successful her last years, that impish humour remained firmly successful place. Her quality astatine past year’s G7 acme successful Cornwall, 8 weeks aft Prince Philip’s funeral, was remarkable. It was not conscionable the warmth she radiated among immoderate of the astir bombastic personalities connected the planet, but her consciousness of fun. As the leaders of the world’s apical economies jostled for the authoritative photographs, she asked: ‘Are you expected to beryllium enjoying yourselves?’ with a knowing grin.

The subtext was clear: adjacent if they weren’t, she surely was. And her reflection went a agelong mode to amusement that she had emerged from her play of mourning and was returning to the fray to enactment afloat successful the affairs of the kingdom.