Angela Rippon, a renowned royal reporter who will be covering King Charles III’s coronation for Australian TV next month, has opened up exclusively to Express.co.uk about her memories of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The royal expert, 78, admitted that she had a very “mischievous” sense of humour and cheeky grin, although she can’t divulge exactly what jokes Her Majesty might have cracked, due to confidentiality.
“I had the pleasure of meeting the Queen on a number of occasions and she was the one who presented me with one of my awards,” Angela explained.
She had received an OBE from her back in 2004 for her services to Broadcasting, The Arts and Charity – and has described the moment as one of the finest of her life.
“It was also a huge privilege and a huge pleasure to meet her,” Angela exclaimed, adding that, in person, “she was very tiny”.
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She suggested that when she was younger, she had seemed taller.
“She had a mischievous grin, a mischievous sense of humour and what was lovely was she was always interested in the people she was actually talking to and what they were doing,” Angela reminisced.
“It’s lovely, I think, for anyone who has ever met the Queen when she was alive to be able to say: ‘I met the Queen’.”
However, curious fans won’t be treated to further details, as she wants her experience to remain a closely guarded secret, explaining: “Any conversation I’ve ever had with the Queen is private!”
Meanwhile, Angela shared the late Queen’s passion for charitable causes – especially in relation to raising awareness of Alzheimer’s, a condition suffered by her late mother.
Her work for the Alzheimer’s Society has brought her into contact with the royals in the past, and she clarified that the charity has a very special patron – Princess Alexandra.
“She’s absolutely wonderful. It’s superb to have a royal patron who turns up when she can and she has a wonderful understanding of [the condition],” marvelled Angela.
Angela has had direct experience of how important the cause is, having previously been a carer for her mum Edna, when she had to join her “parallel universe” to avoid upsetting her as her memory began to fail.
“I think everyone who’s a carer for someone with dementia goes through a very, very sharp learning curve,” she clarified.
“[You must] keep remembering [that] very often it is the disease which is affecting the person, not the person themselves, and that behind all of the horrors that can come with dementia, they are still very much the person you love and care for.”
A third of us will develop dementia in our lifetimes. Alzheimer’s Society vows to help end the devastation caused by dementia, providing help and hope for everyone affected. For more information or to donate visit alzheimers.org.uk
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