Even Queen Elizabeth II Has Lost Her Temper in Public Before
When we think of Queen Elizabeth II, we don’t think of someone who is short-tempered. That’s because she has been Britain’s monarch for more than 65 years and has managed to keep her emotions in check during public outings, well at least most of the time. There have been a few instances where even she has lost her cool.
Read on to find out when the queen, and a couple of other royals, couldn’t hold their tempers.
When Queen Elizabeth has lost her cool in public
The queen is often seen as dignified and professional but she is human after all and has lost her temper on occasion.
One time she couldn’t keep her cool was during a photocall in 2007 with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. The Daily Mail reported that Queen Elizabeth wasn’t pleased with the attire she had to wear and stormed out of the shoot after Leibovitz asked her to remove her crown for an official portrait.
BBC cameras caught the exchange when Leibovitz told the monarch the photo would “look better without the crown because the garter robe is so–” But the queen cut her off and shot back, “Less dressy? What do you think this is? I’m not changing anything. I’ve had enough dressing like this, thank you very much.” The clip then shows her walking away.
The documentary H.M. The Queen: A Remarkable Life featured another instance where the royal family matriarch did not keep her composure at an event.
“In Windsor Great Park, the queen was watching Philip doing some carriage driving. However, she is not amused when a crowd of nosy photographers gets in her way,” the narrator explained.
The footage shows the queen gesturing to the crowds of photographers to disperse before yelling, “Do you mind!”
She has lost her patience with her grandchildren in public at times too. In 2016 during Trooping the Colour, Prince William knelt down on the balcony to talk to his son, Prince George, which agitated the queen who was standing right next to her grandson. William must have forgotten that so many eyes were on him but the queen reminded him telling him to get up. The Duke of Cambridge quickly did so.
When other royal family members lost their tempers
It’s not just the queen who has shown her patience wearing thin. Other royals have lost it at times as well.
Prince Philip has had a few outbursts over the years. In one instance in 2015, the Duke of Edinburgh got angry during a photo shoot to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain and swore at the cameramen to “Just take the [expletive] picture!”
Philip lashed out another time when he spotted photographer Kent Gavin at the Sandringham estate. According to Gavin, the prince shouted, “Get off my land! I don’t want you here” along with quite a few obscenities even though Gavin claimed he was on a part of the property open to the public.
Prince Harry has also gotten testy with reporters from time to time and even scolded hotel staff when they kept bringing him something he did not want.
Harry’s friend and polo player Nacho Figueras told CBS News what got Harry so annoyed prior to a match hosted by the Roma Polo Club.
“We were at the hotel where we spent the night before the game,” Figueras explained. “He talked to a person and said ‘This morning I got my coffee and I saw that you have a plastic thing on the coffee. And then I also sent my shirt and I got my shirt in a big plastic bag.’”
Figueras revealed that after that the prince went to the hotel staffers with his grievance saying, “Can we please not use the plastic!”
Read more: Warning! Queen Elizabeth II Will Not Hold Back If She is Served Something Disgusting in Her Meal
