So how did the queen get her guests talking so openly? We\u2019ll give you a hint: It\u2019s a trick many of us are probably pretty familiar with too. Read on to see if you guessed right.<\/p>\n
Get\u00a0Reader\u2019s Digest\u2019s\u00a0Read Up newsletter<\/a> for more royals, humor, cleaning, travel, tech and fun facts all week long. <\/p>\n How many events did Queen Elizabeth host in any given month?<\/p>\n Before we get to her slightly naughty party strategy, we should note just how many events Queen Elizabeth both hosted and attended over the course of her 70 years on the throne. She was in charge of a couple regular royal events every year, including four royal garden parties in the summer, as well as state banquets and a handful of palace receptions. While it\u2019s hard to pinpoint exact numbers for all her soirees, we know that she welcomed guests to more than 150 state dinners in total during her reign.<\/p>\n When it came to attending events, those numbers balloon quickly. For example, her schedule peaked in 2016 with 332 engagements\u2014yes, just in that one year! After that, the numbers went down due to both the pandemic and her advancing age. In 2022, her final year<\/a>, she went to roughly 120 events.<\/p>\n What was her secret tactic for getting people to open up?<\/p>\n Her Majesty kept the drinks flowing! According to Julius Smith, her butler of 35 years, the queen made sure her guests\u2019 wine glasses were constantly topped off. And if someone put their hands over their glasses to discreetly prevent yet another refill, the queen would instruct her servers to keep pouring. \u201cShe would say to pour it in through their fingers,\u201d Smith recalled.<\/p>\n The only way out? Drinking very slowly, it seems. After all, telling the monarch a straightforward \u201cno\u201d would have been considered impolite (and certainly a breach of the strict royal etiquette rules<\/a>). We can only imagine how many people must have left the table tipsy at the end of the night, probably not remembering half of what had happened\u2014and what they had revealed to the queen\u2014the following day.<\/p>\n Why did she do this?<\/p>\n One could argue it might have been her way of making high-profile guests spill all their (state) secrets. But Smith says there was a much simpler, and more relatable, reason: \u201cShe used to love to gossip.\u201d<\/p>\n Her predilection for wanting all the tea was more or less confirmed by Scotland\u2019s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who claimed that the late monarch was obsessed with political gossip and always tried to get the \u201creal story\u201d behind the headlines. Of course, being curious about what was going on behind the scenes didn\u2019t mean that the queen spread gossip herself. In fact, she was considered exceptionally discreet and a woman who\u2019d keep her personal opinions to herself at all times.<\/p>\n In private, she had quite a mischievous side, though. According to Samantha Cohen, a royal aide who worked closely with the queen for nearly two decades, the monarch not only had a cheeky sense of humor but also secretly \u201cloved it when things went wrong\u201d during her many official engagements. \u201cIf a cake was not cutting or a plaque didn\u2019t unveil, because everything was so perfectly organized, it spiced her life up when things went wrong,\u201d Cohen revealed.<\/p>\n Behind closed doors, the queen didn\u2019t need to hide her giggles. She was reportedly a big fan of the joke gifts at the royal Christmas party<\/a> and was in stitches when Prince Harry pranked her<\/a> with a cheeky message on her phone.<\/p>\n Did Queen Elizabeth enjoy imbibing herself?<\/p>\n She certainly did. At some point, it was rumored that the queen enjoyed four drinks a day, one of them being her favorite two-ingredient cocktail<\/a>, which she drank before noon every day. That being said, those who knew her were quick to set the record straight and say that she did not actually lead a \u201cboozy\u201d lifestyle. Addressing the tabloid reports, her former chef Darren McGrady told CNN that \u201cshe\u2019d be pickled if she drank that much,\u201d while Smith phrased it slightly more diplomatically, saying, \u201cShe certainly wouldn\u2019t be drinking \u2026 as part of the routine.\u201d<\/p>\n The queen\u2019s ex-butler cheekily told the Daily Mail that it was the queen mother who was the heaviest drinker in the family. That Queen Elizabeth, who died at the age of 101 in 2002, drank 70 alcohol units a week, according to royal insiders. That equals roughly 35 single shots or 31 glasses of wine! She reportedly drank two glasses of Veuve Clicquot pink champagne per day, along with different wines and spirits.<\/p>\n Does King Charles drink?<\/p>\n The current monarch has been spotted having a drink occasionally, but he is not considered a heavy drinker. He likes wine as well as gin and tonic, but his favorite drink is reportedly a martini. His friend Count Tibor Kalnoky revealed that he had one every night before dinner when he visited him in Romania years ago. Fun fact: Charles apparently always drinks from his own cocktail glass, which he brings in his bag when traveling overseas.<\/p>\n Prince William, next in line to the throne<\/a>, also seems to enjoy a drink once in a while. When visiting the Prince of Peckham pub in London in June 2026, he declared that he \u201cloves pubs,\u201d adding, \u201cI want to do as much as I can to support them because I love the community. \u2026 We need to protect our pubs.\u201d Most commoners probably wouldn\u2019t argue with that.<\/p>\n RELATED:<\/p>\n Why trust us<\/p>\n Reader\u2019s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone\u2019s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth\u2019s daily snack to Prince William\u2019s confessions about his home life. We\u2019re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers\u2019 personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team<\/a>, our contributors and our editorial policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sources:<\/p>\n Daily Mail<\/a>: \u201cA former butler reveals exactly what the royal family REALLY eat and drink\u2026 and the late queen\u2019s \u2018tipsy\u2019 trick for getting guests gossiping\u201d![\"Britain's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Queen-Elizabeth-II-speaks-with-guests-in-Buckingham-Palace-_GettyImages-1186270723.jpg\")
YUI MOK\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"King](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2277718260-scaled.jpg\")
Jeff Spicer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\nThe Telegraph<\/a>: \u201cLate Queen liked political \u2018gossip,\u2019 says Nicola Sturgeon\u201d
\nThe Guardian<\/a>: \u201cElizabeth II: a constant queen whose failings were rare\u201d
\nThe Guardian<\/a>: \u201cBring back the magic hour\u201d
\nMarie Claire<\/a>: \u201cQueen Elizabeth\u2019s mischievous side came out when \u2018things went wrong\u2019 at royal engagements, longtime aide remembers\u201d
\nCNN<\/a>: \u201cRoyal chef sets record straight on what Queen Elizabeth eats and drinks\u201d
\nRoyal Collection Trust<\/a>: \u201cState banquets at Buckingham Palace\u201d
\nGBN<\/a>: \u201cKing Charles secret drinking habit revealed: \u2018Every night before dinner’\u201d
\nSky News<\/a>: \u201cPrince William:\u00a0I love pubs \u2013 we must protect them\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you ever wondered what it\u2019s really like to attend a fancy royal dinner? We certainly have. Yes,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,13256,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-257432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-not-set","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257432","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=257432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}