The Queen’s playful sense of humour and excellent comic timing
The monarch was a fan of the Billy Bass singing fish.
Being head of state was a serious business, but the Queen had a lighter side and a playful sense of humour.
She was a talented mimic, as was her mother and, in private, was known to turn her skill on the rich and famous.
Royal biographer Ben Pimlott observed that the Queen was witty with good comic timing.
On duty she sometimes found it hard to keep a straight face when ceremonial turned to near-comedy.
But her professionalism overcame the urge to giggle.
In Aladdin in 1943 she appeared, dressed in a sackcloth apron, as a charlady and greatly amused the audience, which included the King and Queen.
The following year she took the role of a Victorian seaside belle.
Later in life, the Queen became hooked by Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-operated singing fish.
Not to be outdone by a million of her subjects, who each owned one of the £25 wall-mounted fishes, the Queen kept Billy Bass on her highly polished piano at Balmoral.
She also took delivery of Rocky Lobster, a crooning crustacean, which added Do Wah Diddy Diddy and Rock The Boat to the royal repertoire.
Balmoral, in the Scottish Highlands, was the Queen’s favourite refuge where, according to friends, she behaved quite differently – “rushing around in tatty clothes, laughing, joking, joining in, singing dirty songs”.
James Bond, played by 007 actor Daniel Craig, called on the palace, where the monarch, who was sitting at her writing desk, made him wait before greeting him with the words “Good evening, Mr Bond.”
They walked together, corgis beside them, towards a helicopter and set off, flying over London to the Olympic stadium.
The scene concluded with a stunt double of the Queen parachuting into the arena.
Seconds later the real Queen, wearing the same peach dress as the stunt double, entered the stadium to rapturous applause.
In a BBC documentary in 2018 examining her coronation, the sovereign amused viewers with her dry wit.
Told that precious gems from the Crown Jewels were hidden in a biscuit tin during the Second World War by a courtier, the unimpressed monarch quipped: “Hmm, did he remember where he put them? He might have died in the middle.”
She manhandled the heavy, priceless Imperial State Crown, pulling it towards her, turning it round and declaring: “This is what I do when I wear it.”
She chuckled when describing how you could not look down with it on because “your neck would break or it would fall off”.
Her interaction with another celebrity of sorts delighted millions when she appeared in a surprise comic sketch with Paddington Bear, as part of the celebrations earlier this year honouring her 70-year reign.
The duffle-coat wearing bear from Michael Bond’s books told the Queen how he made sure he always had his favourite treat on him, just in case, lifting up his red hat to reveal a marmalade sandwich.
The Queen delighted him in turn by saying she shared his love of the snack, as she opened her handbag to reveal a stash.