Brilliant story of Queen’s prank on American tourists has people blown away

As the nation begins a period of mourning to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II, many are reflecting on how quick-witted she was.

And nothing exemplifies her sense of humour more than Her Majesty's prank on a couple of American tourists.

Former royal protection officer Richard Griffin went viral after his recollection of events from spending time with the Queen.

Griffin recalled the one time he went on a walk with the former Monarch on the grounds of Balmoral Castle. Quite unusually, the pair happened to bump into a couple of American hikers, who clearly hadn't recognised the Queen.

this remains an all-time story about the queen pic.twitter.com/hI2yNUac0H

— David Mack (@davidmackau) September 8, 2022

Griffin recalled: "It was clear from the moment we first stopped that they hadn't recognised the Queen – which is fine – and the American gent was telling the Queen where they came from, where they were going to next, and where they'd been to in Britain. And I could see it coming.

"And sure enough, he said to Her Majesty, 'And where do you live?' And she said, 'Well, I live in London but I have a holiday home just the other side of the hills'."

One of the tourists opted to crack open a game of small talk and asked the Queen how often she had visited Balmoral.

Her Majesty said she had been coming for more than 80 years, since she was a little girl.

Griffin continued: "And you can see the cogs ticking. He said: 'Well if you've been coming up here for 80 years, you must've met the Queen'.

"And as quick as a flash, she says, 'Well I haven't, but Dicky here meets her regularly.'"

Griffin explained he 'knew [he] could pull her leg' as he had been working with Her Majesty for a long time, and so responded: "Oh, she can be very cantankerous at times, but she's got a lovely sense of humour."

The hiker then asked the Queen to take a photograph of him and Griffin.

Notably, they also got a pic with Her Majesty.

Griffin concluded: "We never let on and we waved goodbye and then Her Majesty said, 'I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows those photos to his friends in America and hopefully someone tells him who I am'."

Taking to social media one person commented: "I'm laughing so hard at my laptop! What a delightful story of the Queen's humility."

"How brilliant is this," another added.

"Please find that American and find out what happened when he got the photos developed," someone joked.

The Queen passed away on Thursday (8 September) at the age of 96.