{"id":203035,"date":"2026-04-20T07:21:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T07:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203035\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T07:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T07:21:28","slug":"the-late-queens-lesser-known-funny-side-revealed-by-friend-and-author-gyles-brandreth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203035\/","title":{"rendered":"The late Queen’s lesser-known ‘funny’ side revealed by friend and author Gyles Brandreth"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last part of her life, Queen Elizabeth II<\/a> was determined to keep riding her beloved horses for as long as she possibly could. Special measures needed to be taken to ensure that she could carry on with this precious hobby, from extra steps to help her mount the horse to being physically carried.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Gyles Brandreth<\/a>, a royal expert and broadcaster, the late monarch\u2019s stud groom Terry Pendry<\/a> \u2013 who so memorably brought the Queen\u2019s fell pony Emma<\/a> to the grounds of Windsor Castle<\/a> for the monarch\u2019s funeral procession in 2022 \u2013 took it upon himself to help her in any way he could.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A helping hand<\/p>\n

\u201cBless him, Terry would go out for these rides with her,\u201d Gyles told\u00a0HELLO!\u2019s Emily Nash\u00a0<\/a>and Andrea Caamano<\/a> during a recording of our A Right Royal Podcast<\/a> last week. \u201cEvery year, he had to add an extra tier to the steps [up to the horse] because she became smaller and more frail. She was able to climb on, but right at the end he would have to lift her off as she had become so small and frail.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of her life, she said to him, \u2018You won’t retire will you? Please stay here, because I need you to look after my pony.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

LISTEN: Gyles Brandreth shared an unseen side of the late Queen in our latest podcast episode<\/p>\n

Gyles, who has just re-released the biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait in honour of what would have been the late monarch\u2019s 100th birthday on 21 April<\/a>, also recalled how \u201camusing\u201d she could be. One time, while talking to her about the entertainers she had enjoyed in the past, she demonstrated a perfect impression of the performer George Formby.<\/p>\n

\"Queen\u00a9 GettyThe late Queen riding with Princess Margaret and the Duke of Kent at Ascot Racecourse in 1968
\nMaking a good impression<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the Queen now in her eighties,\u201d he recalled. \u201cShe picked up an imaginary banjo and began to sing When I’m Cleaning Windows. She could do a scene from Grange Hill with all the child actors. She didn’t often do people, she did more characters and different regional accents.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only that, she could also do things like horses, dogs and aeroplanes, because she lived at Windsor Castle, which is so close to Heathrow Airport. She did a very effective Concorde landing, with the change of gear and the wheels coming down with all the noises.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GylesGyles has met the royals many times, including the Queen
\nLeaders of a blended family<\/p>\n

She also took to waving to Concorde passengers when the plane was flying overhead. \u201cTerry Pendry told me they would go for rides in the afternoon when Concorde was coming in, and the Queen would always wave,\u201d Gyles said. \u201cOn certain days, Concorde dipped its wings as it flew past. She rather liked that.\u201d Her relationship with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh<\/a>, was \u201cfascinating\u201d, the author said. \u201cTo live with the same person for so long and to get along so well was extraordinary. They were an amazing double act. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Charles\u00a9 GettyCharles pictured with Gyles in 2022<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I think was good is that they were going to be the leaders of a blended family\u2026 three of their children’s marriages ended in separation and divorce, but they accepted that and moved on. Camilla<\/a> became the Duchess of Cornwall and then became the Queen and the family accepted that. All these things blended brilliantly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the last part of her life, Queen Elizabeth II was determined to keep riding her beloved horses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1432,9,24,63,122,124,123,67301,1431,1245],"class_list":{"0":"post-203035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-british-royals","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-queens","13":"tag-queens-headlines","14":"tag-queens-news","15":"tag-right-royal-podcast","16":"tag-royalty","17":"tag-the-queen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}