Queen Elizabeth II lived an extraordinary life during her 96 years and many brilliant memories from her reign have been shared by mourners since her death on September 8. Royal fans have recalled their favourite encounters with Britain's longest-serving monarch and there have been some cracking tales.
One story dates back to the 1950s, just after the Queen took to the throne, following the death of her father King George VI. Her Majesty was invited to a private dinner party in Knightsbridge as the guest of honour. Also in attendance was a French singer named Maurice Chevalier, who was entertaining fellow partygoers by crooning in one corner.
Chevalier had more songs to sing, but after realising the Queen was in attendance, he reportedly became concerned that some of his lyrics were inappropriate for the monarch to hear.
The host of the dinner party is said to have had no choice but to approach the young Queen Elizabeth and ask her outright if she minded him playing the fruity songs.
Her response was rather cheeky, as she fixed him with a steely gaze and simply replied: "I’m married to a sailor. Tell him to sing on!"
Chevalier later notably went on to perform at the Royal Variety Show in 1961, where he broke protocol by singing his final song, You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby, directly to the Queen Mother who was in the royal box. The lyrics included "you must have been a beautiful baby, 'cause baby look at you now." This is said to have "irritated" the Queen.
The Queen's cheeky comment is just another example of her wicked sense of humour, which she is thought to have shared with her daughter Princess Anne.
Another instance that highlights this is a prank Her Majesty once played on two unsuspecting American tourists.
Former protection officer Richard Griffin previously recounted what happened when two hikers from the US failed to recognise the Queen after they met her walking on her Scottish estate of Balmoral. The footage of this story has since gone viral once more following the Queen's passing, with many in stitches over her antics.
At the time, Queen Elizabeth II had been dressed down and wearing a headscarf, so the tourists didn't recognise her.
Griffin said: "There were two hikers coming towards us and the Queen would always stop and say hello. It was two Americans on a walking holiday and it was clear they hadn't recognised her, which was fine.
"The American man asked her if she lived in the area to which she replied that she did indeed have a house nearby.
"She said that she lived in London but had a house just over the hill, and he asked how often she had been coming up here.
"She said she'd been coming up for more than 80 years and you could see the cogs were ticking. He said: 'Well if you've been coming up here for 80 years, you must have met the Queen?'
"As quick as a flash, she said 'Well I haven't but Dick here meets her regularly.' So the guy asked me what she was like.
"And because I was with her a long time, I could pull her leg, so I said she could be very cantankerous at times, but she's got a lovely sense of humour.
"Anyway the next thing I knew, this guy comes round, puts his arm around my shoulder, and before I could see what is happening, he gives his camera to the Queen and asks her to take a photo of us.
"Anyway, we swapped places, I took a photo of them with the Queen, we never let on and we waved goodbye. Then Her Majesty said to me that she'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows these photos to his American friends and hopefully someone tells him who I am."
