Let’s just hope she doesn’t get a job in corporate accounts payable.
“Corporate accounts payable, this is Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith speaking. Just a moment. Corporate accounts payable, this is Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith speaking. Just a moment. Corporate accounts payable, this is Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith speaking. Just a moment.”
You can’t believe everything you hear. Given the famously spartan nature of the school he went to, plus his time in the services, he’s clearly perfectly capable of fending for himself, as needed.
Except that she probably means it in good humour. She is quite likely playing on the belief of the people with her that she is very important. They are going to be embarrassed that they forgot to turn their phone off in the presence of someone they consider to be immensely important. She knows this (again, regardless of her own view of herself). They are probably going to be very apologetic. If she says nothing, they will be embarrassed at what they see as a gaffe. If she says “that’s quite all right” or something similarly polite they are going to think she is just being polite and still be embarrassed. By making a joke of it, she breaks the tension.
I’m no kind of fan of the royals, but I understand from what little I bother to read about them that they do have to spend half their life making very nervous people feel sufficiently at ease to be able to converse with them, and that they are consequently reasonably good at it.
This thread reminds me of something - might have been a (rather odd) Trivial Pursuit question and answer, although I am not certain on this point, nor on the exact wording of the question:
Q: “When the Queen Mother calls the Queen, how is she put through?”
A: “Your Majesty, Her Majesty. Your Majesty”.
(Obviously the question dates from a time when Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was alive.)
If this is in any way accurate, it implies that even close relatives don’t (or didn’t, at that time) ring straight through to the monarch, but were forwarded by a secretary, who would ensure that both parties knew when they were connected and whom they were talking to.
“is” already uses a “z” sound at the end, so creative misspelling wasn’t really necessary. Though I guess there’s some esthetic appeal to seeing it written that way.
One particularly interesting part of this particular prank was that it was conducted partly in French. The Queen speaks fluent French (she’s addressed the Canadian parliament and French senate in French) and when the DJ suggested they switch to French, she simply rapped out, “Bon, allez.”
It seems most logical that since she knows who is calling, she would answer with, “Hello <insert person’s name.>”
However, what if she is called by someone else (an operator or something) before being patched through? I think “Hello?” would be most likely, or “What is it?”
Yes, I’m bumping a zombie thread, with a question asked in 2009, to alert y’all that this question is now addressed by Elendil’s Heir in a Staff Report that is planned to appear this coming Tuesday (30-Oct-2012)
Congratulations, Kimmy_Gibbler! And congrats, Elendil’s Heir on nagging TPTB sufficiently to get a Staff Report issued!
If she has a cellphone, one wonders what her ringtone is-well, besides, “God Save the Queen” or “Rule Britannia”. I shudder to think how Phillip probably answers the phone.
Anecdotal, but she * does * have a cell phone… I read a story where the pilot of her aircraft had to respectfully request her to stop using her phone during take off, (Possibly not so respectfully ,)
