The queen was also known among her family and staff for her love of a good laugh.
Her former bagpiper recalled a delightful anecdote in a recent interview withPeople.
It was there that the monarch showed a playful side that few knew about.
“I never flickered an inch,” Methven bragged toPeople.
Then she asked her Pipes about his stoicism in the face of all the biting insects.
“I have a secret weapon,” he joked.
“I laced myself internally with gin.”
The queen reacted most unexpectedly.
“[S]he punched me in the arm!”
“With 22 members of the royal family sitting there!”
“She just started laughing, and then everyone else did too,” Methven said.
“There are not many people in the world who can say they were punched by the Queen!”
It was an unexpected bit of teasing from a revered monarch.
