Late Queen was Grange Hill fan – and did impressions of the cast

ELIZABETH II was known to be a great mimic and was particularly good at accents.

But few would have guessed that the late monarch was a fan of the classic children’s television drama Grange Hill

– and once performed a flawless 10-minute routine as the various characters.

The long-running show, set in a gritty London comprehensive, was shown on the BBC from 1978 until 2008.

Gyles Brandreth, the broadcaster and writer, revealed this week that “not many years before her death”, the late Queen entertained dinner guests at Windsor Castle with an impromptu performance “with the accents, as a complete set piece”.

The author revealed on his podcast, Rosebud, that he had discovered the monarch’s unlikely love of Grange Hill while researching his 2022 biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait.

Chatting to Rob Brydon, the comedian and impressionist, who admitted that he used to watch the drama, Brandreth said: “It wasn’t just you who was enjoying Grange Hill. Elizabeth II was watching, too.”

He added: “One of the people who was an admirer of yours was the late Elizabeth II. I wrote a biography recently of the Queen and she was very much into impressionists, and she loved impressions.

“And I was told only recently by proper friends of the Queen that they were – not many years before her death – at a dinner at Windsor Castle with the Queen, Prince Edward and his wife

‘Not everyone appreciates how funny she can be … Who is quite prepared to tease and to be teased’

Sophie, and just two other people.

“And Grange Hill came up. And the Queen did a routine lasting 10 minutes on Grange Hill. She played all the characters, with the accents, as a complete set piece. Isn’t that extraordinary?”

Speaking in 2012, Rowan Williams, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, said: “I found, in the Queen, someone who can be friendly, who can be informal, who can be extremely funny in private.

“Not everybody appreciates just how funny she can be … Who is quite prepared to tease and to be teased.”

Karen Dolby, the royal author, shared an anecdote in her book The Wicked Wit

of the Royal Family, in which she revealed the late Queen had once surprised the then Prince Charles by perfectly mimicking a south London twang. “Once, when Prince Charles and the Queen were driving to the Ascot races in an open carriage, there was a shout from the crowd,” she wrote.

“Charles did not hear what was said and asked his mother.

“‘Gizza wave Liz!’ the Queen replied in her best south London accent, waving obligingly at the spectators.”

Ms Dolby revealed that the late monarch’s repertoire was said to include politicians such as Tony Benn and Tony Blair, familiar TV characters and a “very convincing Boris Yeltsin.