During her 70 years of service to the nation and Commonwealth, the Queen earned an unrivalled reputation for her forbearance, dignity and wisdom - but behind it all was a wonderful sense of humour and mischief.
The country's longest-serving monarch didn't always have the opportunity to show off her humour - particularly her eye for the ridiculous and her gentle teasing nature. However, there were occasions - sometimes in public and frequently in private - when it came to the fore to the delight of those who experienced it.
In her Christmas speech of 1991, she told the country, "Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.” That was, of course, the year before her “annus horribilis” when she needed a sense of humour to help her through the trials of her children’s marriage breakdowns and the fire at Windsor Castle.
As children, her younger sister, Princess Margaret, got away more often with being impish, but the Queen's jocular character was evident even as she was being groomed for the top job. Here are just a few occasions when she raised a laugh.
'Riding her horses' at bedtime
Each evening, the young Princess Elizabeth tied her dressing gown around her bedpost to serve as reins, telling her governess, Marion “Crawfie” Crawford: “I mostly go once or twice around the park before I go to sleep, you know. It exercises my horses.”
Pantomime roles
She took on male roles in several of the Christmas pantomimes held at Windsor during the war, including Prince Florizel in Cinderella, Prince Salvador in Sleeping Beauty and the titular role in Aladdin. However, there were times when she felt she should set an example and once warned her little sister, “If you see someone in a silly hat, you must not point at it and laugh.”
A marriage built on laughter
The Duke of Edinburgh helped the Queen to unwind from her demanding duties. Immediately following the Coronation in 1953, the newly ennobled Queen, cloaked in heavy gown and crown, was asked by her husband, “Where did you get that hat?”
On other occasions, the Queen played him at his own game. In 1965, when Philip returned from a five-month tour of the Commonwealth away from his wife and grew a beard, she greeted him on the Portuguese airfield wearing fake whiskers.
Impressions and a Liverpudlian accent
Those closest to her talked about her talent for impressions, and the Queen’s Liverpudlian accent was said to be especially strong. Angela Kelly, the Queen's designer and confidant for 25 years, revealed in 2007: "The Queen has a wicked sense of humour and is a great mimic. She can do all accents—including mine.”
Family fun
It was with her family that she could really be herself. She once asked a grandchild who suddenly appeared in her box at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, “Did you have a good lunch?” “Yes, Granny," was the reply. “I thought so,” said the Queen, “because you’ve got it all down your front.”
Behind the public face
A sense of humour was often required to help break the ice when meeting members of the public. At a Buckingham Palace garden party, a guest's mobile phone in her bag started to ring just as she was introduced to the Queen. The woman became flustered but the Queen smiled, "You’d better answer that. It might be somebody important.”
A cheeky sense of humour
On an appearance at an art gallery, while inspecting a Lucian Freud nude, the young curator gamely attempted small talk and asked the Queen “Have you been painted by Lucian Freud, ma’am?” Quick as a flash came a regal smile and the sharp reply, “Yes, but not like that.”
Inadvertent humour
There were also moments when the Queen was unintentionally funny. When she meet the musician Eric Clapton in 2005 - one of the leading British acts of the previous 40 years - she asked him, “Have you been playing for long?”
Fun until the end
In her later years, she seemed happier to demonstrate her playful side. Daniel Craig, the actor, recalls the sketch he performed with the Queen at the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games. He said: "We were having our photograph taken, and she just went, ‘Oh no, he’s the one [James Bond] that doesn’t smile'."
And during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier this year, when meeting Paddington Bear for another sketch for TV, she prompted laughter when she produced a marmalade sandwich from her handbag. She clearly retained her ability to laugh until the very end.
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