Featured Image Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Topics: The Queen, Royal Family
Emma Guinness
Queen Elizabeth II had many nifty little secret signals during her reign, including one that involved her lipstick.
The late monarch, who sadly died in September 2022 at the age of 96, ruled for an impressive seven decades, meaning she had to come up with some tricky ways to signal how she was feeling.
But it needed to be secretive.
That's because all eyes were on her constantly, and you can't have the Queen just saying whatever she wants, to whoever she wants.
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So, there had to be cues.
One of these signals involved the use of lipstick, which her former royal footman, Ian Scott Hunter, revealed the very important reason as to why.
If you didn't look out for it, you'd probably miss that what she did with her lippy would then change the course of events immediately afterwards.
Hunter shared this secret signal when he appeared on Antiques Roadshow, which celebrated 'the reign and long life of Her Majesty the Queen' in the wake of her death.
The footman explained that when the Queen was seen applying lipstick in public, it had nothing to do with beauty or fixing her makeup.
No, it meant something else entirely and it's not always a good thing to those in her presence.
He said: "I believe there’s etiquette that ladies do not make their faces up in public. But, she had her bag over the side and she would take her lipstick out and put it on with no mirror or anything, and that was a signal to the ladies that she was ready to leave.
"So, of course, they would all get their bits and bobs together and Her Majesty stands up, so they're all ready and prepared."
Even though it was an important signal, it wasn't the only one she used.
In fact, her handbag became a good signal too.
Apparently, when Her Majesty wanted to end a conversation with someone, she'd move her bag from her left hand side to her right hand side so her aides would know that the conversation should wrap up.
These revelations were only known when the world looked back on the life of the Queen ahead of her funeral, which was held on 19 September, 2022.
At the moment of her death, Prince Charles became King Charles III, and he said his mother 'set an example of selfless duty which, with God's help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow'.
In his first speech as King, he said of his late mother: "Her dedication and devotion as Sovereign never waivered, through times of change and progress, through times of joy and celebration, and through times of sadness and loss."
The King went on to pay tribute to his family, including Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle, who stepped down as senior royals in 2020, before thanking his mother for her service.
"And to my darling Mama, as you begin your last great journey to join my dear late Papa, I want simply to say this: thank you.
"Thank you for your love and devotion to our family and to the family of nations you have served so diligently all these years.
"May 'flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest'."