Queen Elizabeth's hilarious prank with unknowning hikers is pure comedy gold

Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for 70 years, was admired for her intellect, grace, and surprising sense of humor. Former Royal Protection Officer Richard Griffin recently recalled one humorous incident in an interview with Sky News. Griffin, who served for 30 years, shared how the event unfolded a few years ago.

As a protection officer for the Queen for 14 years, Griffin mentioned that the Queen had quite a charm and wit. He recalled having over 100 examples and shared one that came to mind. “One of my favorites is when we were in Balmoral. The Queen would go up there in May to stay privately for a weekend,” he mentioned. He added that she would also visit the place often for picnics by herself with the officer. “One evening we took a walk, just her highness and myself. Normally, you would meet nobody but there were these two hikers,” he said. He explained that the Queen would often stop to greet the visitors.

“It was two Americans walking for a holiday. It was clear from the beginning that they hadn’t recognized the Queen,” he amusingly said. The Queen began to have a casual conversation with the hikers and they shared details about their trips and so on, having no clue they were speaking with the Queen of Britain. “I could see it coming and sure enough, he said to Her Majesty, ‘And where do you live?’” The Queen, wanting to continue the adorable banter, replied, “I live in London but I have a holiday home just on the other side of the hill.”

The conversation continued with the hikers and they even asked how long her majesty had been visiting the area. After hearing she’d been up and down for 80 years, they hilariously exclaimed, “Oh! Then you must have met the Queen!” Staying in her humorous element, the Queen wittily said, “Well, I haven’t but Dickie here meets her regularly!” The hiker went over to Griffins to ask him what he liked about the Queen. “I had known her for a long time so I knew I could pull her leg. So I said, 'Well she can be very cantankerous at times but she's got a lovely sense of humor.’” Things could have hilariously ended there but there was more.

To everyone’s surprise, the man put his arm around Griffin's shoulder and asked the Queen to take a picture of them. After the photo, the Queen even stood for a picture with him, still without revealing her identity. “Anyway we swapped places and I took a picture of them with the Queen, we never let on, and we waved goodbye,” Griffin mentioned. The Queen reportedly later said to Griffin, ''I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows that to his friends in America and hopefully someone tells him who I am.”