QUEEN ELIZABETH II had a very good sense of humour, according to one royal insider. Her former Royal Protection Officer recalled a practical joke she pulled on an unsuspecting couple.

As the country mourns Queen Elizabeth II, many Britons will reminisce on the monarch’s fine character, including her humour.

During the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, former Royal Protection Officer Richard Griffin told Sky News about a prank the Queen played at Balmoral.

The royal insider revealed that he could think of “101 examples” of the Queen’s “wit and charm” when he worked as the Queen’s Police Officer.

However, he recalled one of his “favourite stories” of the Queen’s fabulous sense of humour.

Richard revealed that the Queen used to visit Craigowan house in Balmoral for a weekend in May.

Royal insider recalls the Queen’s best practical joke – ‘as quick as a flash’ (Image: Sky News / Getty)

She used to like to have picnics in the area, which were typically uneventful.

Usually, it would just be the Queen and Richard on these outings, and the pair would “meet nobody”.

But there was one particular outing when they ran into two tourists.

These were Americans who happened to be on a walking holiday in the area.

It was immediately obvious that the visitors “did not recognise the Queen” and they spoke to her as if she was a regular commoner.

The tourists asked the Queen where she lived, to which she replied: “I live in London, but I’ve got a holiday home on the other side of the hills.”

The Queen revealed she had been coming up to the area for about 80 years, ever since she was a little girl.

One of the tourists, oblivious, suggested that if she had been to the area so many times, perhaps she had met the Queen.

Craigowan house on the Balmoral Estate (Image: Getty)

The modest monarch didn’t let on to who she was at all, and proceeded to fool the travellers.

Richard recalled that “as quick as a flash” the Queen responded: “Well I haven’t, but Dick here meets her regularly.”

The tourists then focussed their attention on Richard, who asked him what the Queen was really like.

He joked that the monarch could be a little bit “cantankerous” but a “lovely sense of humour”.

Richard Griffin revealed that the Queen was full of ‘wit and charm’ (Image: Getty)

One of the tourists gave his camera to the Queen and asked her if she could take a picture with Richard.

Richard concluded: “Then we swapped places and I took a picture of them with the Queen and I never let on.”

Later, HRH joked to Richard that she would love to be “a fly on the wall” when she penny finally drops for the travellers.

They joked that the travellers would show their friends pictures of the Queen and Richard – only to be told who they really were.