The Queen Used Her Handbag To Communicate With Her Team

As the United Kingdom – and the wider world – mourns the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, many are sharing their fond memories of the former monarch. Some have recalled the subtle messages the Queen would give through her outfits and accessories. But did you know that she also used her clothing to communicate with her staff? Literally. Consider it a chic, royal version of the bat-signal.

Speaking to People Magazine, author Penavic Marshall, who worked with both the Clinton and Obama families, shared anecdotes about what it was like to visit the Queen. Once, when she attempted to hold the Queen’s handbag while she greeted the Obamas, Marshall was quickly stopped and told “We do not touch the bag […] We don’t know what’s in the bag, but we never touch the bag.”

“I did learn later on that she perhaps uses the bag as a signal," Marshall said. "If it's on one part of her arm, it means the meeting is going fine, leave me alone. But if she lowers it, it means, 'End this now. I want to go.'” (If you're planning on adapting that communication strategy the next time you're out with your friends, you're not alone.)

During an episode of Newsweek’s Royal Report podcast in March 2022, author and royal commentator Kristen Meinzer said that if the Queen moved her bag onto the floor it meant “the conversation’s over and a lady-in-waiting or someone else will come to the rescue.” If the Queen happened to place her bag on the table at dinner, it signalled “that she wanted the event to end in the next five minutes,” per the Telegraph.

And if she was “truly keen on making her escape,” People writes, she would make “the more dramatic gesture of spinning her ring, indicating that her staff should move along, pronto.”

Reporters have long speculated that The Queen carried a bag to avoid shaking hands in crowds, a strategy also employed by Diana, the late Princess of Wales and Kate Middleton since.

As for what she kept in her handbag, royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith wrote in her book Elizabeth The Queen: The Woman Behind The Throne that it usually contained “reading glasses, mint lozenges, and a fountain pen,” in addition to “a precisely folded £5 or £10 note on Sundays for the church collection plate.” She also carried a handy bag hook that she’d attach to services with a suction cup, according to the Queen’s cousin Jean Wills. “The Queen then attached the cup to the underside of the table,” she said.

The most important things in the Queen’s handbag, however, were a compact mirror and lipstick. She’d often apply her lipstick at the end of a luncheon or dinner, according to Smith, who said she had “the somewhat outré habit of opening her bag, pulling out her compact and reapplying her lipstick.” The bag also contained a variety of “good luck charms given to her by her children, including miniature dogs, horses, and saddles,” according to royal author Phil Dampier, in addition to family photographs.