Queen Elizabeth reportedly had secret signals she would send to her staff when she wanted to politely exit a conversation.These included moving her handbag from one arm to the other, placing it on the floor or a table, twisting her wedding ring, and applying lipstick without a mirror.Other royals allegedly have their own tricks\u2014like Princess Kate, who\u2019s said to use a clutch bag to avoid endless handshakes.<\/p>\n
Queen Elizabeth II may have had more in common with James Bond than she let on. Her Late Majesty reportedly had a set of secret signals<\/a> she used to communicate with staff. The key to her code? Primarily, her handbag.\n<\/p>\n While she fraternized with celebrities, aristocrats, and heads of state, the monarch would make subtle adjustments to her signature arm candy indicating she was done with the conversation. That\u2019s according to royal historian Hugo Vickers, who spilled on Elizabeth\u2019s secret messages in a 2011 People<\/a> interview.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be very worrying if you were talking to the Queen and saw the handbag move from one hand to the other,\u201d he noted. Yet she would try to be tactful so her conversation partner wasn\u2019t offended. \u201cIt would be done very nicely,\u201d Vickers said. \u201cSomeone would come along and say, \u2018Sir, the Archbishop of Canterbury would very much like to meet you,\u2019\u201d ushering you away from Elizabeth.\n<\/p>\n The handbag wasn\u2019t the only part of her surprisingly complex code. The queen\u2019s lipstick<\/a>, ring, and a secret button also allowed her to make polite escapes from awkward or dull interactions. Below, find out what each of her seemingly innocent adjustments meant to her staff, who were attuned to her secret signals.\n<\/p>\n Switching her handbag to the other arm meant she was ready to wrap up. <\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth wears her handbag on her left arm in October 2021.<\/p>\n Max Mumby\/Indigo\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth typically wore her purse on her left arm. During an overlong or uncomfortable conversation, however, she would switch it to her right arm so a staff member could swoop in and escort her or the other person away, Vickers told People. The guest would ideally be none the wiser to the signal, simply assuming Elizabeth\u2019s signature Launer London bag was making one of her arms tired.\n<\/p>\n Putting her bag on the floor signaled a more urgent need to escape. <\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth II attends her birthday parade in June 2021.<\/p>\n Max Mumby\/Indigo – Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n To really catch her ladies-in-waitings\u2019 attention, the queen would resort to more drastic measures\u2014like placing her beloved handbag on (gasp) the floor. Vickers said this move would show, \u201cHer Majesty is truly keen on making her escape\u2026indicating that her staff should move her along, pronto.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The move was especially telling given that Elizabeth kept a portable hook in her bag, per Sally Bedell Smith, author of Elizabeth the Queen: The Woman Behind The Throne (via The Telegraph<\/a>). This hook allowed her to easily hang her purse on the edge of a table\u2014avoiding the dirt<\/a> and germs of the floor, as well as the poor etiquette of placing it directly on the eating area. (A bag on the table would, for the queen, be another way to communicate she needed a rescue.)\n<\/p>\n The queen would also spin her wedding ring to ask for a prompt exit. <\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles laugh during the 2012 Braemar Highland Gathering.<\/p>\n Indigo\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Beyond the bag signals, the monarch also made use of another staple accessory: her Welsh gold wedding ring<\/a>. Vickers highlighted \u201cthe more dramatic gesture of spinning her ring\u201d as one of her secret requests for help in his 2011 People interview. Should a nearby staffer pick up on the message, they could rush her on to the next conversation or to the exit.\n<\/p>\n Applying lipstick without using a mirror was a sign Elizabeth was over an event. <\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth II applies her lipstick during a visit to Fiji in February 1977.<\/p>\n Tim Graham\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/p>\n It\u2019s technically a faux pas to touch up one\u2019s makeup in public, as it could be considered unhygienic and rude to one\u2019s company. Yet the stuffiest etiquette experts would surely make an exception for the queen of England. Per biographer Smith (quoted in The Telegraph), the practice was a habit for Elizabeth.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen First Lady Laura Bush made a similar cosmetic fix during a Washington ladies\u2019 luncheon, she cheerily commented, \u2018The Queen told me it was all right to do it,\u2019\u201d the author wrote in Elizabeth the Queen.\n<\/p>\n Seems innocent enough\u2014when she used her compact mirror. When she didn\u2019t, the move became a secret signal, per one of the queen\u2019s former staffers of eight years. Former royal footman Ian Scott Hunter spilled on the hidden meaning behind the makeup in a 2022 special episode<\/a> of Antiques Roadshow.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI believe there\u2019s etiquette that ladies do not make their faces up in public,\u201d he began, \u201cbut she [Elizabeth] 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.\u201d\n<\/p>\n She had a hidden buzzer to ask for an interruption during meetings at the palace. <\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth II sits at a desk in Buckingham Palace after recording her 2017 Christmas broadcast.<\/p>\n John Stillwell\/PA Wire<\/p>\n The queen\u2019s staffers couldn\u2019t always be on hand to watch for her signals. When she had private meetings at Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth and her team had to coordinate a different way for her to invite an interruption. The solution? A \u2018panic button\u2019 of sorts, discreetly placed where Her Majesty could press it while leaving her guests unaware. Per People, the button \u201csignals the staff outside to open the doors and escort the guest out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Kate Middleton may have her own handbag maneuvers. <\/p>\n Kate Middleton holding a black clutch bag in December 2025.<\/p>\n Toby Melville – Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n While nothing\u2019s been confirmed, royal watchers have speculated that Elizabeth\u2019s granddaughter-in-law Kate Middleton<\/a> has her own intentional moves involving her bag placement. The Princess of Wales regularly brings a clutch<\/a> to events, and it may be more than a fashion choice.\n<\/p>\n “When the Duchess [now princess] is at an event, she holds her bag in front of her in both hands when shaking hands might be awkward,” etiquette expert Myka Meier told Good Housekeeping<\/a> in 2017.<\/p>\n