Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday (8), was Britain's longest-serving monarch. Her death left the world in mourning and amid the sad reactions, many users took the moment to recall the late queen's sense of humour.
Following her death, journalists and netizens have shared a clip of Richard Griffin, the queen's former royal protection officer, telling a funny story about the monarch while commemorating her Platinum Jubilee in June. The video has been credited to Sky News and many social media users called it their "favourite story".
In the video, Griffin is heard saying that once when he was accompanying Queen Elizabeth on a picnic in Aberdeenshire in Scotland, near the Balmoral Castle, they met some tourists who were on vacation. According to Griffin, they hadn't recognised the queen.
"The Queen would always stop and say hello... it was clear from the moment we first stopped they hadn't recognised (her)," he told Sky News.
The tourists told the queen where they came from and where were they heading to. They also asked her where she lives.
Queen Elizabeth did not reveal her identity and said she lived in London and got a holiday home there, on the other side of the hills, Griffin recalled.
"One tourist then asked the Queen how often had she been coming up here, and she replied, 'ever since I was a little girl, so over 80 years'," Griffin further said.
At this point, the tourists asked her since she had been coming up at the place for 80 years, she must have met the British queen, Griffin said.
"Well, I haven't, but Dickie here meets her regularly," she quickly replied, referring to Griffin by his nickname.
"The amazed tourists then turned towards me," Griffin said and added that they asked him, "what is she like?"
"I told them she can be very cantankerous at times, but she's got a lovely sense of humour," he said.
The tourists still had no idea that they were in the company of the British monarch, the former aide to the queen said. One of them even threw his arm around Griffin and put his camera into the queen's hand, requesting her to take a photo of the two of them. The queen obliged, Griffin said.
The tourists also took a photo with her as well and departed.
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows those photographs to friends in America. Hopefully, someone tells him who I am," Griffin told Sky News.






The couple during their visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra earlier this yearxx





SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 28: Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures, speaks onstage during day two of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 at Moscone Center on October 28, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch)Getty Images
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: AngelList Co-Founder and CEO Naval Ravikant speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 at Pier 48 on September 18, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)Getty Images
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 14: Managing Director of General Catalyst Hemant Taneja speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2016 at Pier 48 on September 14, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)Getty Images
CEO of Micron Technology Sanjay Mehrotra, listens to US President Joe Biden speak about manufacturing, at the SRC Arena and Events Center of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York on October 27, 2022. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)Getty Images
Google CEO Sundar Pichai looks on during the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on February 19, 2026. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP via Getty Images)Getty Images
Indian born Abhijit Banerjee, laureate of Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019, speaks during a press conference with the Nobel physics, chemistry and economics laureates at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on December 7, 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)Getty Images
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 12: Padma Lakshmi attends Gold House's Lunar New Year Gold Celebration at Chinese Tuxedo on February 12, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Gold House)Getty Images
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 10: Sanjit Biswas attends Day 2 of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013 at San Francisco Design Center on September 10, 2013 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch) Getty Images
Neerja Sethi (Photo credits: iMDB)
Jay Chaudhry(Photo credits:
Romesh T Wadhwani(Photo credits: www.csis.org)

