Royal author Sally Bedell Smith shared how different Queen Elizabeth II is in private and said she’s much “livelier” than her public image.
The 94-year-old monarch “is much livelier in private than what the public sees,” royal biographer Smith of “Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch” told People magazine in a piece published Thursday. (RELATED: Celebrate Prince William’s Birthday With Unforgettable Shots Of Kate Middleton [SLIDESHOW])
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The biographer quotes a source from the Queen’s private estate in Norfolk, Sandringham who shared that, “‘You can hear her laugh throughout that big house.’ She has a big laugh!” (RELATED: Report: Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Plan To Have At Least One More Child)
Smith then recalled a story that she said revealed how the royal is self-deprecating. It happened during a TV rerun of the 1981 wedding ceremony of Prince Charles to Princess Diana when the Queen was at a party in London and spotted herself on the screen.
“The Queen said, ‘Oh, there’s my Miss Piggy face,'” the royal biographer explained. “She has the ability to laugh at herself.”
The author also revealed how the monarch showed her less stoic side during a photo shoot for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 when she told photographer Barry Jeffrey to “just keep the camera rolling!”
She then struck a “series of poses, slipping her hands in and out of her pockets and placing them onto her hips, mimicking the stances of a professional model,” dress maker and close confidante Angela Kelly shared.
Those who were there just stood “in disbelief. The Queen was a natural,” Kelly added. “Barry and I felt we were experiencing something really special: a moment never to be repeated.”
The Queen is pictured riding Fern – a 14 year old Fell Pony – in Windsor Home Park this weekend. pic.twitter.com/z9DUnW9yB3
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 31, 2020
And when the royal wants to unwind and get away from everything she spends time with her animals, her last living dorgi (a crossbred corgi and dachshund), Candy, and her stable of Fell ponies, a distinct English breed.
“She goes into a peaceful mode when she is with horses,” close friend and equine adviser Monty Roberts shared.