Can you guess which children's TV soap captivated Queen Elizabeth? She even did impressions of the show!
- A clue: Her Majesty knew a surprising amount about comprehensive schools…
She was known as a talented impersonator – in private! – and enjoyed joking with family and friends.
But it still came as a big surprise when a royal insider revealed that the late Queen Elizabeth loved imitating children's drama Grange Hill. – and still performed her own ten-minute routine from the main characters in her final years.
The late royal, who died in 2022 aged 96, entertained dinner guests years after the drama ended its 31 series in 2008.
Queen Elizzabeth entertained dinner guests with a 10-minute sketch based on Grange Hill. This continued for years after the 31 series was completed in 2008. Pictured is the cast of the show in 2003
The Queen abandoned this fishmonger during a visit to the English market in Cork
A smiling queen on her 76th birthday at Windsor Castle
According to author, presenter and royal confidante Gyles Brandreth, the queen would emulate the voices of many of the main characters from the show, which centers around a school community and features favorites such as Tucker, Roland and Zammo.
A lot of his actors subsequently went on to established careers in television drama, including several who played prominent roles EastEnders.
(Todd Carty and Susan Tully are perhaps the best known).
Brandreth, a royal biographer, revealed the Queen's unlikely interest in the show during a discussion on his Rosebud podcast last year.
Despite being 51 years old when the series first aired on TV in 1978, the Queen proved an avid viewer, according to close friends of the former monarch who spoke to the author.
The presenter and former politician, who wrote a biography in 2022 titled 'Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait', said: 'Only recently did I hear from close friends of the Queen that – not many years before her death – she was at a dinner at Windsor Castle with the Queen, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, and just two other people.
'And the subject of Grange Hill came up. And the Queen performed a routine, a ten-minute routine on Grange Hill.
“She played all the characters with the accents as a complete set piece.”
The Queen's deep knowledge of Grange Hill was revealed by biographer Gyles Brandreth during a discussion on his Rosebud podcast
Queen Elizabeth shows her humorous side during the races in Newbury in 2013
The Queen with her trainer Nicky Henderson during the Gold Cup in 2009
The BBC announced that the gates on the London television series would close in 2008, almost thirty years after the first episode, claiming that the series no longer reflected the lives of children.
In its heyday, Grange Hill featured heavy stories of drug addiction, teenage pregnancy and school bullying.