# Queen Elizabeth II
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 7, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004 "2017-04-07T19:40:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/1 "2017-04-07T19:40:34Z")
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.😃
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/2 "2017-04-07T19:48:20Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/3 "2017-04-07T19:59:10Z")
There’s a lot of speculation about what’s in her handbag in this article:
> **[The secrets inside the Queen's handbag: discreet signals and Clarins lipstick](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/queen-whats-inside-handbag-elizabeth-ii-speech-2021/)**
>
> The Queen is rarely seen in public without her handbag by her side.
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.
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### Author:  [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/4 "2017-04-07T20:03:44Z")
[“What’s inside the Queen’s handbag and why is it so significant?”](http://us.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2016051731472/the-queen-handbag-whats-inside-significance/) — Hello Magazine — May 17th, 2016
> [@](#):
>
> It has, indeed, often been described as her “comfort blanket”. Not only does it contain personal possessions and practical items, it plays a key role in helping its owner manage her public life.
Apparently no bricks …
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/5 "2017-04-07T21:33:44Z")
She carries a five pound note in case she ever needs to show her ID.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/6 "2017-04-07T21:47:28Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/7 "2017-04-07T21:55:00Z")
It holds the remote control for Phillip’s shock collar.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/8 "2017-04-07T22:28:18Z")
> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> She carries a five pound note in case she ever needs to show her ID.
I never heard that before. Got a laugh out of this Yank it did. Well done.
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### Author:  [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/9 "2017-04-07T23:18:28Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/10 "2017-04-08T00:39:50Z")
If she ever wants to shoot you, she’ll take your gun.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/11 "2017-04-08T00:51:11Z")
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:](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/790/what-does-queen-elizabeth-carry-in-that-purse)
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/12 "2017-04-08T01:37:30Z")
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”).
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### Author:  [@Please](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Please)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/13 "2017-04-08T01:43:31Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/14 "2017-04-08T08:52:46Z")
> [@Dana\_Scully](#):
>
> I wonder if she has a gun in there.😃
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.
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### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/15 "2017-04-08T09:08:38Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> 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”).
That makes so much sense, whatever you think of the Royal family, she has always been the epitome of decorum and discretion.
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/16 "2017-04-08T09:18:36Z")
> [@Dana\_Scully](#):
>
> I’ve heard she’s a crack shot and I wonder if she has a gun in there.😃
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.
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### Author:  [@Please](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Please)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/17 "2017-04-08T10:56:14Z")
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 .
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### Author:  [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/18 "2017-04-08T12:58:34Z")
> [@Please](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/19 "2017-04-08T14:00:25Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii/784004/20 "2017-04-08T14:33:53Z")
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](https://youtu.be/S0ZFBun4WMs) in her handbag.
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