Although Queen Elizabeth II is one of the most famous modern
figureheads of Britain's monarchy, Her Royal Majesty is a private person. It
seems like that's not the case behind the scenes, though.
Rumor has it that there's a tape floating around of the
Queen and her sister, the late Princess Margaret, singing children's songs for the Queen Mother way back in 1990,
as a gift for her 90th birthday. A pianist named Laurie Holloway, who helped
work on the Queen Mum's 90th birthday shindig, revealed that only one copy was
made. The 77-year-old told The Times, "I don't think the title was written on the cassette, so it might be
stored somewhere and no one will realize its significance."
So, now we know that in addition to her love of Corgis and her insistence on
using a personal bagpipe player as her morning alarm, Queen Elizabeth II apparently has a decent set of pipes herself. Holloway described her and her
sister as having "good family voices," adding, "They would sing
to me without accompaniment, and I would then play in their key." The
Queen Mother loved the present, but for some reason wouldn't spring for a tape
player for the castle, so she'd go to her car to listen to her daughters sing.
Royals, eh? (People)