To the public, Queen Elizabeth II was the doting grandmother who never put a foot wrong during her record-breaking reign. But behind palace doors, she was not one to be messed with.
The claim was made by royal author Robert Hardman, who has written a new book on England’s longest-reigning monarch, “Elizabeth II: In Private, In Public: Her Story.” It explores the rarely seen side of the late queen, who would have turned 100 on April 21.
Fox News Digital reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. A palace spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital, “We don’t comment on such books.”
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“In many ways, she was more terrifying in private than in public,” Hardman told Fox News Digital.
“I’ve always found that there are two sides to her. The public queen is the one we’re all familiar with. She was very serious, very dutiful. She didn’t smile that much. You could just tell this was someone who was very conscious of doing her duty. By contrast, the private side of the queen, she was very sparkly. She could be very direct. She was the opposite of what elderly people are supposed to do.”
“The older she got, the greater her authority,” Hardman added.
Hardman said that the queen was known for “the look,” which he described as “a silent signal of displeasure” toward anyone who crossed “an invisible line.” If one was “over familiar,” incompetent or rude, she would shoot out a steely gaze — an ice-cold warning that said everything without a single word.
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“Everyone was very scared of getting ‘the look,’” Hardman explained. “Even [former Prime Minister] Tony Blair, in his memoirs, wrote about his fear of ‘the look.’ And it was her response to something that she found disagreeable for whatever reason. She wouldn’t snap, she wouldn’t shout, she wouldn’t lecture people. She just gave them this very direct, glacial stare. And it was very clear that she was highly unamused.”
One prime minister who received “the look” was New Zealand’s Helen Clark during the queen’s Golden Jubilee tour of the Pacific in 2002. When the queen arrived at a black-tie banquet with New Zealand’s Parliament, she was met by Clark in more casual trousers.
“[The queen] was told that she needed to put on the full royal regalia,” Hardman explained. “They wanted her in an evening gown. They wanted all the pearls, all the jewels, all the diamonds, the tiara — everything. So she really dressed up for this occasion. She arrived at this banquet hosted by then-Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand. And the prime minister was wearing trousers.”
“The queen, having made all this effort, [gave] a very strong look,” said Hardman.
Fellow biographer Kenneth Rose told Hardman of “the look” that, “She just stares at the person with open eyes, absolutely no expression.”
Former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd also described a diplomatic reception where members representing more than 150 embassies and high commissions were lined up for the monarch. One ambassador arrived late and missed his slot.
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“He was very anxious not to lose the opportunity of bowing to the queen, and he shoved himself into position out of line, and he got the stare,” said Hurd. “The courtiers escorted him away to the right position. Nothing would be said.”
“When I went over the top, her eyebrows would go up, and I’d apologize,” Sir Robert Woodard, the former captain of Britannia, also told Hardman. “She hoped you’d sort out the distance you needed to keep.”
In his book, Hardman described a moment when the queen attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace, where she was introduced to a Royal Canadian Air Force officer and his Polish girlfriend. While they were in mid-conversation, the woman’s phone began ringing. Wanting to avoid “the look,” the woman tossed the phone into the crowd without breaking eye contact and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened. The queen didn’t blink.
But sometimes, the monarch wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.
“She was very direct,” said Hardman. “She was authentic. One of the things people liked about her was that they knew what they were getting.
“For example, sometimes she’d be handed a speech drafted by her advisors. She’d always read through them first and make corrections. She was once handed a speech that said, ‘I am very glad to be back in Birmingham.’ She crossed out the word ‘very.’ She just said, ‘No disrespect to Birmingham.’ She felt that was an act of insincerity.”
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When biographer Charles Moore found himself sitting next to the queen at dinner, he half-apologetically began explaining his next book, Hardman wrote. “Oh, don’t worry,” the queen told him. “I shan’t read it.”
“A senior clergyman awaiting a royal verdict on a carefully prepared sermon was both amused and bemused by her parting remark: ‘So many long words, bishop!’” Hardman wrote.
“She was once being driven around Scotland on a tour, and there’d be somebody with her, the Lord Lieutenant, a local royal representative usually in uniform,” Hardman also explained to Fox News Digital.
“Once she got to this meeting, there were people lined up to meet her. This representative was supposed to do the introductions, but his sword had gotten stuck in the car, and he couldn’t get out.
“The queen just thought, ‘Oh, this is ridiculous,’” Hardman continued. “So, she just got out of the car, went up to his greeting line of people, and said, ‘I’m afraid my Lord Lieutenant seems to be having some trouble getting out of the car, so I’d better introduce myself. I’m the queen.’”
Hardman also wrote that when a cabinet minister told the queen he spent many years in Slough, she replied, “Oh, you poor thing.” On a different occasion, when a guest remarked that she must have been looking forward to an upcoming Commonwealth summit in Uganda, she reportedly replied, “No one looks forward to going to Uganda.”
But the queen also took certain things in stride.
In his book, Hardman described that during a Balmoral shooting weekend, the heir to a nearby estate was so busy digging into his plate of venison stew that he didn’t notice the queen taking a seat at the table. “How are you getting on?” said the queen. The young earl was so shocked that “his garbled attempt at a reply” resulted in a small piece of meat landing on her face.
“She didn’t flinch,” said a source who was present.
During a state visit to the U.S. in 1976, President Ford invited the queen for a dance at the White House ball. “The Lady Is a Tramp” began to play. While Ford was furious, Hardman told Fox News Digital the queen found it “hilarious.”
“This was a favorite story [of hers] for years,” he added.
The queen died in 2022. She was 96.
“She was in charge until her dying day,” said Hardman. “And no one questioned her authority.”
