GUYS,, SAVE THE QUEEN!
Three signs you’ve become a royal pain
Most people have a strategy for getting out of boring conversations at parties — but Queen Elizabeth II has a whole secret code and trained staff to help her escape from sticky social situations, according to reports.
When Her Majesty is done talking to a guest, she simply moves her iconic Launer London handbag from one arm to another, and her aides swoop in to end the conversation. If the company is really dire, she puts the bag on the ground or spins her wedding ring around to summon an emergency intervention.
“It would be very worrying if you were talking to the queen and saw the handbag move from one hand to the other,” royal historian Hugo Vickers told People magazine. “Someone would come along and say, ‘Sir, the archbishop of Canterbury would very much like to meet you.’ ” It’s all perfectly polite, of course. “Luckily, they’d let you down easy,” Vickers said.
The British monarch also whips out her handbag at dull dinner parties, placing it on the table to let her helpers know she wants to wrap things up, according to the Daily Mail.
And things get really under- handed when theh royall wants out of a meeting at Buckingham Palace — she presses a hidden buzzer that signals her staff to quickly usher the guests out of the room.
The queen isn’t the only one in the family with a literal bag of tricks — Kate Middleton carries a clutch in front of her to avoid awkward handshakes, etiquette expert Myka Meier told Good Housekeeping.
And the monarchical males have clandestine cold-shoulder techniques, too.
Prince Philip cruises past long lines of guests by making a special “sweeping motion” when taking their hands, swinging from left to right to propell himself forward along the line, Vickers said.
And Prince Charles is always ready with a quick quip to interrupt conversations so he can make a hasty retreat.
“Prince Charles has a quick ‘ha ha,’ and that enables him to break the conversation,” Vickers said.
The queen’s handbag isn’t just a distraction device. The royal matriarch always totes around a matching purse, a mirror, a glasses case, mints and a handkerchief.
The queen reportedly owns more than 200 custom bags from designer Sam Launer, which she has been collecting since 1968.