Secrets of the Royal handbag code
A SECRET handbag code is used by the Queen to send signals to her staff when she is on official duties, a distinguished royal historian and biographer has revealed.
Her Launer handbags are as familiar a symbol of the 90-year-old monarch as her corgis, castles or horses and their contents have provoked endless discussion and even a book by royal author Phil Dampier.
But it seems that over the years this most vital of accessories has also performed another set of vital functions.
Those who watch her closely believe she uses them to signal when she has had enough and needs to move on to speak to somebody else or just wants to go home.
Royal biographer Hugo Vickers said that shifting her bag from one hand to the other is an indication that she is ready to end a conversation.
It is also claimed that the Queen will place her bag on a table at events to signal that she is ready to leave. There is a third secret signal in which the Queen discreetly twists her wedding ring to indicate she would like to meet someone else as soon as possible.
Mr Vickers said the handbag switch to summon aides to rescue the monarch from a conversation with an unfortunate guest is done to avoid any embarrassment for whoever she is talking to.
He said: “Luckily, they’d let you down easy. It would be done very nicely.
“Someone would come along and say, ‘Ma’am, the Archbishop of Canterbury would very much like to meet you’.”
Though renowned for her patience, a discreet twist of her wedding ring is used by the Queen to emphasise that she’d like to be moved on from a conversation at speed. When the Queen places her bag on a table at an event it is a five minute warning that she is ready to leave either for another engagement or perhaps home to the Palace.
The Queen has each of her Launer handbags customised with longer handles so they do not get in the way when she is shaking hands.
Each of the English handmade leather bags comes with a mirror, a matching purse and a glasses case.
She usually also packs mints, a handkerchief and a fountain pen.
The bag also contains a portable hook so she can hang it underneath tables.
Her open-top state review Range Rover comes complete with a heated handrail and somewhere for her handbag to hang while she waves to the crowds.
She began using Launer when she was sent a bag in 1968 and the company has the Royal Warrant.
IF THE Queen moves her handbag from hand to hand or places it on a table then it is a secret signal to her people that she wants to talk to someone else or is preparing to make her exit.
Mrs Thatcher was accused of handbagging but this is far more subtle.