I think that just about everyone knows that the Queen always carries a purse and there’s been all kinds of speculation about what’s in it.
(btw, I don’t want to start a debate on the monarchy. I’m American but I’d love to meet the Queen.)
I’ve heard she’s a crack shot and I wonder if she has a gun in there.
Since she’s British, it is technically the royal handbag, not a purse. It’s fairly well documented that she always carries a five or ten pound note for the church collection plate.
There’s a lot of speculation about what’s in her handbag in this article:
That’s probably the closest you are going to get to a factual answer about what’s in the bag. I think it’s pretty safe to say that it doesn’t contain a gun. She has guards that carry guns. She doesn’t need one of her own.
“What’s inside the Queen’s handbag and why is it so significant?” — Hello Magazine — May 17th, 2016
Apparently no bricks …
She carries a five pound note in case she ever needs to show her ID.
The Queen is 90 years old. Even if her aim is still good, she’s probably too slow on the draw these days to effectively defend herself.
It holds the remote control for Phillip’s shock collar.
I never heard that before. Got a laugh out of this Yank it did. Well done.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned on the Dope before, many years ago I coincidentally discovered that a colleague was from the family that owns the company that supplies her handbags, with his elder brother being the one running the family firm at that time. I obviously took the opportunity to ask whether they have any inside info/family lore on what she puts in their product. The answer’s apparently no, they don’t.
If she ever wants to shoot you, she’ll take your gun.
Has anyone here actually read The Straight Dope? That sobbing sound you hear is Unca Cecil crying in his beer. A STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC FROM CECIL’S STOREHOUSE OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE:
She uses it to send coded signals to her staffers (ie if she positions it a certain way it means “I don’t want to talk to this person anymore; invent an excuse to take me away”).
When she’s introduced to a line-up of people they usually crush her hand in enthusiasm to shake hands . She keeps the thumb inside the fingers like a knuckle-duster to take the shock but keeps substances ( medical use , pain relief) in the handbag for a quick fix.
There used to be a custom - which may not have percolated up to her level - of keeping some substantial item, like a heavy glass ashtray, in there, in case the bearer needed to defend herself against some over-importunate man.
But I’d imagine it’s as simple as hanky, mints, comb, notes for any speech she may be having to make, and so on.
That makes so much sense, whatever you think of the Royal family, she has always been the epitome of decorum and discretion.
I don’t think she’d be able to fit a shotgun in there, and I don’t think sawn-off would be quite her style.
In common with a lot of the landowning upper class (and rural society generally, in places like the home counties village where I grew up) she hunts with a shotgun (and maybe a rifle, in my experience rifles were used by game keepers hunting for a job, not hunters who do it for leisure). Or rather did hunt, as a 90-year-old she doesn’t get out shooting that much anymore, I imagine.
It is NOT traditional for that kind of British society to use handguns (even before the handgun ban of the last 20 years or so). She most likely has never used a handgun.
If James Bond had a licence then Ma’am has one . A few years back a guy climbed the Palace fence and reached her bedroom and Security missed it . Never again .
You think the Queen needs a license? She IS the law. IIRC She’s the only person in the country who does not need a license to drive, for example.
The State cars don’t need number plates either.
I wouldn’t know if she carries it in her handbag for all occasions, but on occasion she has been seen to carry a parachute in her handbag.