The Queen was known for her stately manner and grace. But since the tragic passing of Her Majesty, many stories have been shared that highlight her incredible sense of humour - including a new tale shared by former royal protection officer Richard Griffin.
Richard knew HRH better than many, as for years he worked alongside her and kept her safe - so it should come as no surprise that when he retired from duty the Queen wanted to pay tribute to him in some way. Unperturbed by not getting an invite, Queen Elizabeth II joked that she would 'gatecrash' Richard's retirement party - and then she did exactly that, alongside senior royals.
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Appearing on Sky News, Richard said: "It was when I was retiring and the Queens' private secretary said Her Majesty the Queen would like me to have my retirement party in the state department. I can invite 200 people.
"I said, 'well I don't know 200 people' but of course when word got out when my retirement party was I soon did.
"Anyway, I turned up with my family on the night and one of my colleagues, Colin, said 'there's a little old lady coming to your party tonight'. I said, 'what little old lady?' He said, 'The Queen'.
"I said, 'don't be silly she doesn't do anything like that, if she does it for one person she's got to do it for everyone'. 'He said, 'well she definitely wants to come to yours, I was out with her in the car this afternoon and she said, (she calls me dick), she said 'it's Dick's farewell party tonight, I'd love to have gone, but he hasn't invited me'.
"So Colin said, 'your Majesty, of course you can go, it's your party, and what an honour that would be if you turn up. '
"And she said, 'so it would be ok if I just gatecrash it?' and lovely it was, her Majesty, Prince Philip, and the Wessexs all turned up to my retirement party which I must admit was probably one of the thrills of my career.
"It was wonderful to be able to introduce the Queen, I mean my children and my wife had obviously met her previously but none of my wider family had, so that was a fantastic way to finish off my career working with her."
Sky News presenter Kay Burley shared the story on Twitter, and wrote: "The day Her Majesty gate crashed my leaving do."
Soon, Royal fans began commenting on the post, as one said: "That's fantastic, what an honour." Another simply wrote: "Wonderful."
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